rscholl

I'm going to Stuttgart end of next week to collect a 2018 C63S Coupe. I have done Euro delivery on a BMW a couple years ago and had an amazing experience. I have not been to Stuttgart before.

For anyone who has picked up a MB at Sindelfingen, any tips or suggestions on the experience?

I'm staying at the Hotel am Schlossgarten. Is that hotel in a good location for getting around the city and to the factory? I'm arriving late morning. Should I fit in the MB museum tour that first afternoon?

Did anyone set up private car service to the hotel or are taxi's fine and easier? Is train or taxi easier to the factory?

Any interesting sites to see in or near the city that are fun for driving? I have an AMG factory visit scheduled one day and on another day I am driving or taking train to Frankfurt for the auto show.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

dwpc

I can't offer any suggestions, but hope you can answer a couple question: How did the European Delivery affect your dealer's price negotiations? Was the MB Euro Discount and destination credit applied after the dealer gave you his price or did the dealer try to blend it into his discount from MSRP?

rscholl

On AMG cars it's 5% Euro delivery discount plus no destination charge. That's separate from any discount you could get from a dealer, at least in my case. I got a little discount on top of that, but not a whole lot. I'm happy since I'm leasing and also got tax credits.

gfmohn

while jetlagged oI picked up the C280 you see below in my Signature 11 years ago. However, my German wife has a grandson who lives in Stuttgart with his mother. So I see Stuttgart more like a native than a tourist. The Hotel am Schlossgarten is across the street and around the corner from the Hauptbahnhof (Main Railway Station). As in all German cities, the Hauptbahnhof is the main transportation center. Subway connections from the airport to the Hauptbahnhof are easy. The hotel is one block over from Königstrasse, the main shopping street of Stuttgart

I assume you will check into your hotel first. It's insane to pick up your new car in Stuttgart directly after an overnight flight. There you are, jetlagged, driving a complex car you have never driven before, on the jammed autobahn into Stuttgart. What could go wrong? Do you know where the lights are and how the automatic lights work? There are a lot of tunnels in Stuttgart, and some are very dimly lit!

The roads in Stuttgart are crazy. From Mitte (Downtown), Stuttgart spreads out up several narrow valleys, with sides so steep that there are many vineyards. There are side streets so steep that they turn into stairways and back again, without changing the street name! My first GPS would try to take me down these stairways! The expressways can have sharp curves and steep hills, taken at high speeds. You can come over a hill crest, around a curve, and there is your exit -- maybe on the left! I specifically have in mind the B14 autobahn from the MB Kundencenter (Customer Center) to either your hotel or the Mercedes Museum. That autobahn goes through the neighborhood where my wife's grandson lives, so I am very familiar with it.

To plough on to the Mercedes Museum on the same day you pick up your car sounds like one of those tourist death marches. This is a great museum, and you should be fresh and sharp to really enjoy it. If you insist on picking up your car on your day of arrival, at least take a freestanding GPS with you (one you have become already familiar with or, better, your partner has become familiar with). The COMAND system is not easy to learn, and you do not want to be struggling that system on those expressways.

Even if you take a taxi from the airport to your hotel, I recommend saving your Mercedes taxi vouchers for the long ride to Sindelfingen. Sindelfingen is 20 miles SE of Stuttgart. It is a long train ride from either your hotel or the airport, and you will wind up in Böblingen, on the other side of the Autobahn from the Kundencenter. It's a 20-minute walk to Kundencenter (30 minutes, if you're dragging your baggage from the airport!). There is a bus stop a 10-minute walk (or 15, with luggage) from the Kundencenter, but that is three changes from the airport. Your taxi vouchers are good from either the airport or the Hauptbahnhof. The taxis at your hotel will probably take your vouchers. If they don't, just walk around the corner to the square in front of the Hauptbahnhof (Arnulf Klett Platz).

You will have a great experience. The staff will make you feel very welcome, but with that cool professionalism that is the corporate image of everything that is Mercedes. Get there in time for lunch; you won't have to eat dinner! (The mid-day meal is the main meal of the day for Germans.) Make sure that you (or, especially, a female partner) don't miss the gift shop.

The delivery hall is huge, like an airliner hanger. When the giant doors marked Exit/Ausfahrt slid open and I drove out onto the streets of Sindelfingen and then onto the autobahn (with my German wife beside me), that was one of the happiest moments of my life. I was greatly disappointed that I was not able to repeat that experience when I purchased my present C300.

rscholl

Thanks for the info. I actually picked it up last Friday. I arrived the day before and did the MB museum that day. Worked out great. Have had a great time here. Managed to drive to Frankfurt yesterday to check out the auto show (quite an experience...I don't think I've seen that many people in one spot, especially in the Mercedes Hall...shoulder to shoulder 10-20 deep around the AMG cars!). Then stopped in Heidelberg on the way back to Stuttgart ; great little town.

The Hotel am Schlossgarten had been great. Nice and central and big, safe parking garage underneath.

Dropping the car off tomorrow back in Sindelfingen...very sad to see it go so soon...will do the MB factory tour again, eat lunch at the center and head back into town.

Porsche factory tour and museum in Zuffenhausen was also a great experience as was the AMG factory visit today.

Thanks again for the tips!

Tonyf

New here wanting to know who is the best dealer to work with to do a EDP ?
On a AMG s63 I have talk to Herbert and he will only give me a 3% discount and I have talk to MB of Beverly Hills they are at 5% both have said that is it. Any help would be appreciated.