Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Drove the DS today down the A303 from home and dropped it off in Ottery st Mary. Sweet drive again- needs a bit of work. Engine tuning, hydraulic leak , height correction and new exhaust parts. Hopefully will drive even nicer when I pick it up😎

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These don’t have self levelling like the e class then?

I’m going to call the Mercedes place in Aigle this morning, with my school boy French. Pray for Neil.

And yes, I’d say around 120 litres.

Nope, purely mechanical. When I bought it one of the springs was broken, I think what has happened is that the other one has now joined it. Again, if they’d asked me I would have told tbt garage to do both sides.

“je pense que la suspension arrière a un ressort cassé à droite“

Last time I was in France I got a puncture on the hire car, about 1km from picking it up at Nice airport. It was 37 degrees in the shade but luckily there was a garage over the road. I sauntered in and loudly and confidently announced, in my long forgotten French, that I needed help as I had a tyre made of prawns (en crevette). They laughed at me and shooed me out.

I changed the wheel myself, in the heat, on the edge of a main arterial road, whilst my family looked on and enjoyed their first ice cream of the holiday.

We they still laugh about it.

Again, if they’d asked me I would have told tbt garage to do both sides.

That’s a bit shit by the garage, I’ve had a few springs brake over the years and in all bar one case they said both should be done and in the one exception, my current small van, the mechanic said on this one don’t bother because it’s a slow old heap .

Pity the poor service tech trying to understand me

And of course the car is sitting evenly at the Mercedes garage. “C’est un bruit de tintement....”

Well, I was 100% wrong, and happy to be so.

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"Bien, c'est €750, m'sieur"?

Free, which was both unexpected and pleasant.

Ah, you're in Switzerland, aren't you? I can see this would be the kind of thing that Swiss amour-propre might lead them to so as a courtesy, but as you say, pleasant and unexpected.

I bet they could source you a subframe.

I was pretty horrified by the price of a pizza in Switzerland.

I dread to think what a sub frame for Merc would cost over there.

Anyway, glad to read that the spring issue wasn't an issue.

But €750 for adjusting your handbrake?

I bet they could source you a subframe.

LOL

I asked about the sub-frame and got the same response as from Mercedes UK- would sir like to purchase a C63?

That's a pretty damning indictment.

They should have asked enough questions about your trip to ascertain that you needed an E63 estate.

Incidentally the subframe was the reason my parents finally swapped their merc this year. They went for the batshit E63, and its amazing.
I almost like it as much as our xc40.

Woah, you live near Rickard Rydell ? :)

I think you'll like today's spot too, its a version of the Imp I've not seen before, and I've not really appreciated them up to now, but I like the look of this. Great little city car and I bet its great fun out on the lanes too.

A Sunbeam Stiletto

Must be pretty nippy in reverse to require all that rear lighting!

Is there a 'van' thread? Kinda want one.

I think I want a 'combi'? So have space for at least 5 adult passengers and then have space for gear at the back in a separate bit.

Is there a go-to model of combi? I've looked at 'Renault Trafic Sport'(?) and 'VW Kombi Highline'(?) both of which have bits I like and bits I don't.

I'd quite like to have 55" (or more) of interior height so I can stack light stands vertically / strap them / hang them on the wall in the storage space at the back.

I'd prefer automatic but not essential.

I'd prefer short wheel base.

In addition to the height I'd love it to be able to accommodate a single item this big: 45.9″W x 24.7″L x 40.9″H and have some kind of ramp or electronic tail lift so I could get it out safely on my own.

Lastly - I'd love to be able to fit in a 2.72m tube - or 3 of them. Without having one of those pipe tube things you see on top of vans.

Does such a thing exist. Could I get it for say... 40 grand?

Can you get the Toyota Hiace in Europe? I don't remember seeing them 'til I got down here... I've seen a few tricked out examples that look pretty good... For a Toyota bus...

Yeah you can