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

The later pages of this are likely relevant. They're all quite complacent about the perils of ownership.
My '08 n53 e91 330i M sport has not yet shat itself and continues to be an enjoyable place to spend some time.

The range is now not quite enough in the winter to do all the stuff we want to do.

Google says the batteries are £4k (~£5k with £1k cashback).

If everything else is aok that might be an option. Initially that sort of number seems big when set against say, a 2nd hand Octavia, but given there should be little wear on the other items you'd expect modern electrics to do 250k easily with much lower serving costs. At that point it seems better value replacing the battery every 100k.

Long term I wonder if that is what the car market will look like. I also wondered if manufacturers would start offering facelifts on existing cars and building them to facilitate that - sort of like the way the OG Smart Cars were meant to be able to swap coloured panels. Idk if it would solve the savage environmental cost of consumers buying cars every 2yrs, but you do need something to help alter that behaviour as it's hard to see the economics changing any time soon

Thats rather more than I had expected for a battery.

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I have also asked for clarification on what damage they are referring to on the wheel.

Does seem like a lot. But then I've only ever bought motorbike batteries.

For the last one I splashed out on a high torquing Motobatt one after years of cheap jobbies. Was <£60.

looks consistent with a good one on eurocarparts (plus labour)
I guess all the bits are gonna be pricey!

It has begun

I wonder what the difference between that and all the other ~£250 Boch ones for Mercs are?

Thankyou for this. Very helpful, what mileage is yours at?

Wow - that's a normal car battery for doing normal battery things? Or is a fancy one that gets used somewhere other than were you'd expect it.

Probably one that chucks out enough amps to turn a 5.xL engine over and can repeat it safely!

47k, so anything fun that's likely to go boom is ahead of me, not behind me. Age is taking its toll on everything that perishes just the same though.

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This is probably my favourite styling of any modern BMW. Coupe in particular.

I flipflop between loving the milk-froth moustache on the front and wishing I had the more modern LCI, but the longer I own it the more I think this version is the right answer. The e92 m3 has aged really well imo. Modern enough, but not bloated.

@Dammit Check https://www.te-taxiteile.com/ or similar german shops for MB parts. When I had a W124 I got everything from there paying 20-50% of prices here in Sweden. Often got original or better quality parts as well

That battery is £320 with the discount code they give you at the top of the page

I had been giving great consideration to a GLE500e as my next vehicle but I suspect your updates on modern big Merc ownership will quench that!

Google says the batteries are £4k (~£5k with £1k cashback).<

Rather puts the Merc 12V battery in perspective..

I called MB Guildford for a quote on the battery, £350 fitted inc VAT.

My Leaf will probably start needing the usual suspension stuff at 8 years old so I'm thinking that it may be optimal to make that somebody else's problem. My thoughts are to lease a golf sized electric hatchback with sufficient range to handle all family duties and to look for something more exciting as a second car than the current Giulia (lease runs out next year).
However who knows if there will be competitive lease deals next year with Brexit and general COVID gloom. Also with current WFH, do I really need two cars?

I think the car industry is wholely unprepared for the end of ICE. Their entire business model is predicated on shiny palaces, overpriced servicing and small print finance packages. The German big three certainly haven't introduced anything recently electric that one would actually want to buy. BMW seem to have abandoned the I3/I8 concept in favour of ugly bloated electric SUVs. The SUV general nightmare doesn't seem about to end soon!

Whether the electric skateboard chassis happens where you choose a bodyshell over a generic powertrain/platform, who knows?

Wow - that's a normal car battery for doing normal battery things? Or is a fancy one that gets used somewhere other than were you'd expect it.

It's a start/stop car, so it has to be happy being discharged to run all the auxiliaries for a while when the engine is stopped, plus smoothly restart the engine. Over and over and over again.

That would quickly kill a cheapo starter battery.

Bring your strongest words whence you go back to collect it.

Also I'd get that price from MB Guildford in writing for the inevitable moment where they try to claim it's not the same battery or some other nonsense.

You'll enjoy sliding a print out of that email across the table no end.

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Mercedes Benz service is rubbish. Commercial or private they just don't measure up and in many cases are plain dishonest. After nearly 20 years of it I've come to enjoy bypassing the faux posh vibe they try and present and treat them without a hint of respect from the minute I have anything to do with them. It actually improved the service!

Will be interesting to see if they put a keeper on the electrics when they change the battery becuase they have been known not to and deliver the car with the sat nav locked and all the post code history gone.

very good