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

The motor/cyclist in me dies a little at the thought of driving without ever opening the window for fresh air. Having said that any car I've had without AC, especially in the winter, find you're a DJ with the heating and window controls to get the screen to clear. Ironically I hate sunroofs, so lots to ponder.

Cars and motorbikes are very different.

In the land of the modern fiat panda, the 1.2 has aircon while the 1.1 doesn't as it sucks too much power and won't tick over.

1kw = 1.35hp

I know cars aren’t making anywhere near max hp most of the time but that’s not a lot of power in a modern car.

Do you really give a shit when you are sitting in a cool comfortable environment.

Ever had heat stroke from being in a car? Don't recommend it, but can tell you how much it cost in Arizona to get re hydrated with a few bags of saline. Thank God I had medical insurance.

EDIT: that comes across as confrontational, it is not. Have experienced it and really don't want to again. Dehydration is a real issue while driving.

Picking a fight with the wrong guy, my a/c is on 365 days a year ha ha

Why is this still being discussed?

If someone could make an argument for how taking the A/C on off switch away from users and having it always active would help a manufacture sell cars I'm all ears.

The problem is there isn't one - it will not help them sell cars. So they won't do it.

(Regional variations may apply - obvs. if you are selling in to Saudi Arabia for example...)

Laughing Gas canister through my 2 month old tyre..... the hole is took big to plug, so new tyre it is.

I can’t understand why the c**ts throw these things all over the roads/parks/fields. Just put them in the bin!!

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Did you see BMW mulling over making seat-heating an in-app purchase for owners of their latest cars? You could do the same with the HVAC, licence the air-con for only six months of the year, have it come on automatically based on the profile on your phone when you get in the car/blend air-con zones based on the mix of phones in the car.

I admit to leaving the air-con on in my 911 when I have the roof down because the ECU keeps the revs higher at idle when you do that, and otherwise it feels too low when you are stopped at lights.

Impressive.

I remember my Grandad telling me about how this happens.

Its the front that throws the projectile to the rear presenting it at the right angle to withstand the impact and pierce the tyre.

Not seen it on a hollow vessel before tho. Only nails.

I just went back through my history of the C55 (which I've tried to keep as complete as possible), my expenditure on the car to date has been £11,800 purchase price, then £11,900 on maintenance and so forth. I bought the car in March 2018.

Makes my 6k purchase price and 4k in maintenence since November 2019 seem almost ok ha ha

Lol, I don't actually firmly believe the option should be removed, of course it would put people off, in the same way removing sport buttons from cars would.

In my opinion they're pointless, but I'm not the majority, and the majority like options and modes with buttons.

My argument was more that if you have aircon, in my mind, it makes no sense to ever switch it off

I've been advised that I should get the rear sub-frame refurbished at some point relatively soon, as these are NLA from Mercedes, so best to refurbish before they get haggard. That's going to add around two grand to my maintenance figure I think. Cars, who'd have one.

Another way of looking at it would be that I paid £11,800 deposit for the car and then ~£500/month since. I wonder what new car I could have been in for that?

Probably an m6

I got to say, when you bought it I was expecting the costs to be more than 11k after a couple of years.
Seems a pretty reasonable example of ownership tbh. 20k-ish in after two years and you own it.

Anything new then and owned by now for the same cost wouldn't really excite. Anything interesting you'd still have years left before you were done. Anything leased, you'd soon be looking at replacing / buying.

With the older Mercedes I would stay away from Mercedes dealers. I know it makes you think you're getting the best job done but in my experience the mechanics and sales staff really don't care about the older cars. I've found a decent local garage and the whole experience is better. OK, no unlimited fancy coffee.

I used to feel that Mercedes given a blank cheque would look after the car properly but that impression faded a few years ago. Bear in mind this is for a one owner car that had nearly 20 years of blank cheque Mercedes servicing. Maybe just the local Mercedes garage is a bad one.

I've used the local Mercedes dealer once - they fixed the thing I asked them to fix, and broke something else. I'm not using them again.

Dredging up the a/c chat. My old transit's radiator decided to spring a leak on the day we had to drive overnight from Zaragoza in Spain to Turin in Italy. The only thing that can make a 16 hour, overnight drive more fun is 9 people sweating to death in 30 degree weather with the heating on full blast to stop the engine overheating and only 2 windows up front to ventilate the van. Probably didn't help the MPG either tbf.

Mercedes-AMG C 43 4MATIC Edition Saloon (with no options - couldn't find the estate for some reason):

48 Monthly payments of £540.28

Retailer offer price £45,540.00

Customer Deposit £7,488.25

Total Deposit £7,488.25

Purchase Activation Fee £10.00

Amount of Credit £38,051.75

Optional Purchase Payment £18,825.00

Total Amount Payable £52,256.69

Duration of Agreement 48 months

Annual Mileage 10,000 miles

Excess Mileage Charge 15.6 pence per mile

Fixed Interest Rate 5.78%

Representative APR 5.9% APR

Edit: so after 4 years, you have spent £33.5k excluding consumables and servicing, and you don't own the car.

You prob could have bought a 340i touring aka a Toyota supra estate.

Guy i know just bought one with the mppsk and its pushing 350bhp with a full warranty.

I want this but even with the wild pre-reg deals that are inevitable, I don't think I'll be able to afford it.

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/316bhp-arteon-r-big-fast-handsome-vw

Not a massive fan of the new VW styling that seems to be taking it's cues from Japan. It looks like a prototype Civic Type R. Do not like. Much pointy. Very angular.

What sort of money is it?

All the German marques are copying Japan. Role reversal.