Awaiting 'introduction' morning 5/21.



Waiting for import documentation.





Licensed and on the road some 200 miles from 'home'.



After a minor 'misunderstanding' with the car, I'm ecstatic!

In the introduction by the technician he asked about changing mph to kph which he did for me. On the autobahn cars were passing me while I traveled @ 80-85 kph so I decided to keep up with them. Cruising around 110 kph we had a panic stop and I damned near didn't make it. Didn't like the brakes at all. Shortly after, I discovered I was cruising in Miles per hour, not kph, which was the reason for what I perceived a lengthy stop. It cruises quite well to 110 mph and the brakes are entirely adequate. Haven't refueled yet but will know in a couple of days about consumption.

Only question I have concerns the run flats. In going over the car I was introduced to the tools for 'changing a tire'. Why? Are you going to roll it down the autobahn to a repair shop? In mine with the Harman-Kardon, the amplifier is in the spare tire well. The Add Blue is a filler to the rear of the amplifier.

I'll know more in a few more days and hopefully have better internet connections where I'm going. Right now I'm loving it!

 

Congrats on your new MB!! Enjoy the roads over there they are fantastic!

 

Beautiful!

I have my ED order in place with delivery date scheduled on Monday, August 26. It's going to be 2014 GLK250 model with unknown at this point Base Price. I assume the option prices stay intact.

When you come back it would be very interesting to hear how things went this time with ED.
Quick question - if my flight arrives on Monday morning at 8:40am in Stuttgart will I have enough time to take delivery, have factory tour and lunch on the same day? Or should I go to hotel on Monday and take delivery next morning?

In California you have to have front license plate, but here in Michigan I will have a few ugly holes in front bumper unless US dealer agrees to fix them. Will they clean up this German label "D" on the back or do you like it?

 

My tourist delivery cars always had a front plate as well as at the rear. The German "D" is probably a stick on. I left most of the paper on the D plate with a minimum part sticking on the paint. That made it easier to get it off and clean up the paint. You might even be able to put it on the glass. Sometimes I didn't bother with the D.
From my experience, I would recommend taking the day you arrive to rest and walk around Stuttgart. The next day you will be fresh and better able to enjoy the factory tour and the delivery experience. I also like to spend that night at Sindelfingen so I can be fresh, with my new car, as I head out on my trip.

 

The delivery was smooth as silk for me and the best experience of the 3 cars on which I have taken ED. Never a hitch with anything.

I would never try to get the delivery on the day of arrival. You would barely have time to get luggage and get yourself to the delivery center. While the autobahns are good and fast there is still traffic to contend with. You could barely get there in time for lunch possibly starting the process for the export permits and licensing. Lunch and about an hour for the tour then finishing up the process then driving to a hotel while you're suffering from jet lag, would be much more than I'd want to handle. It could happen, but why? The numbers of persons taking delivery at the center is extensive. They deliver several hundred cars daily and you could be forced to wait, as I did two years ago. This time we arrived at 8:30, were first in the center, started the paper work, and had time for coffee before the 10:30 tour. Then a great lunch and finish up the paper process to await an available tech for taking delivery of the car with as extensive a review as you wold like. We pulled out about 2:30 and were on the road immediately. They take your luggage when you arrive, check it, and then load it in the car for you. All first class!

You have answer on the decal they stick on. It can be put on anywhere at the rear. On the E350 it was on the window and it's still there two years later. They also give you a grill badge attesting to the Euro delivery. Likely I'll leave mine on this time as well.

There are a few things around Stuttgart that should be of great interest to any true car buff. I arrived several days early, again toured the Mercedes Museum, which can take a whole day and is extensive. Incidentally, they had an engine from the diesel version, like mine, on display at the museum. I have pictures but uploading with the poor connections is lengthy and I've given up while traveling. I also went to an interesting museum just north of Stuttgart, the Sinsheim Museum, which is also extensive. Along with many rare Mercedes they have many other brands, including many Grand Prix and Indy cars. There are airplanes, war relics, etc. Well worth the hour and a half drive. The Porsche museum is also worthwhile.

 

You should check out the V8 Hotel. It is 1km from the delivery center and is part of an old airport so there is easy parking. It is not one of the MB hotels so you have to pay for it but it was not that much. If you are into cars you must not miss this place. Get a theme room.

There is the hotel, a restaurant, a car museum, Ferrari dealership, Bentley and Lambo dealerships all under one roof.

 

FUEL MILEAGE, CALCULATED FROM FILLUP AND MILEAGE, 32mpg the first tank, now 24mpg the second tank. Second distances include about 30-40% traffic and city driving and the balance highway and toll roads at pretty good velocity with a full load in car, 5 people and luggage.

 

The 3rd and 4th tanks of fuel yielded 32.6 MPG in some very difficult driving conditions. Now almost 2K miles on the clock and not a single complaint.

 

Car came ashore in Long Beach, CA @ 6AM 7/25, a total of 7 weeks. Pretty darned good considering it was turned over to the shipper in Nice, France on June 7, and had to be transported by them to Bremerhaven, all the way across Europe, for loading. Long Beach VPC is really stacked right now and presumably so is US Customs so I really don't expect to get the car in Northern California before the 8th to 10th of the month. Hope I'm luckier than that and not too much beyond that!

It's been a great experience, not only with the car in Europe, but with MB USA and the shipper. Also kudos to my dealer who has provided me with a car pending delivery of mine. All first class with great communication. A far cry from what it's been in the past.

 

It only gets better! End of the journey and took delivery today though it was here yesterday!



Can't say enough good things about my experience and ALL the folks with whom I dealt, Mercedes Benz US and all the folks in their Euro Delivery section, the shipper/expediter from start to finish, and particularly my Euro specialist at the dealer with whom I dealt. All first class!

Slight delay in the delivery came about because of a couple of minor scratches sustained in Europe. When it arrived at VPC, M-B called as VPC couldn't find them. I had mentioned them in passing to one of the ladies. I pointed out where they were and they were repaired, at no cost to me! How can you beat that?

When I walked into the dealer this AM there was an obstacle in the showroom right in front of the the door which I had to walk around. When we got the formalities done, he pulls off the cover of the 'obstacle'. It was my car, all detailed, pretty and clean like it came out of the factory! Nice touch!




By chance in the picture above, the car it's replacing happened to be parked outside next to it. Gonna like this one better than the E350 BT!!

 

Congratulations!!!

I hope to have the same experience as you are with ED and Mercedes Benz US folks since my delivery date is in the next 10 days.

 

I'm sure you will, and I hope it's even better than mine, if that were possible!

Have fun over there! Where are you driving? Don't overlook visiting the Mercedes Museum for which you will have free passes. It's in Stuttgart and opposite direction of the factory.

 

The problem is I am arriving in Stuttgart on Monday morning and Museums are closed that day and next day, on Tuesday ( I hope with new car) drive off to Dusseldorf area for a week. What do you suggest to see/visit on Monday in Stuttgart?

 

The Porsche Museum is in Stuttgart, you might try it. Also, I went to the Sensheim Museum which is about an hour north and west of Stuttgart. They have many, many cars, including Grand Prix cars, Maybach's, may Mercedes, and many others, along with war memorabilia and airplanes. Lots of history there. Big place with lots to see. Worth the trip. Believe there is a train that goes there if you don't have a car.

I didn't go to the Porsche Museum but son-in-law, who is a Porsche lover, did and he raved about it. Didn't interest me enough to go but if I do it again, I will. He took a train which is right across the street from the Graf Zeppelin where we stayed. A taxi would likely get you there as well.

 

I will take delivery of my E250 at the factory in Stuttgart in September. Very excited, but I am concerned about drilling holes in the front bumper, as I normally go without a front plate.

Does anyone know what I should expect?

 

I worry as well and there is nothing you can do about this - the German law requires front plate in the beautiful front bumper. I just hope my final delivering dealer in MI ( or VPC on my request ) will fix the holes.

 

You WILL have a plate mounted on the front bumper, and there ARE two holes drilled in to it for mounting. Those plates now must stay on until the vehicle is shipped from Europe. It used to be that if you wanted the plates (I did it two years ago and pulled the plates off in Paris in order to retain them) you pulled them off yourself and brought them back. This time the shipper forced me to leave the plates on there advising they had to remain until out of Europe. I was concerned that on arrival at the VPC that memorabilia would be lost forever. The plates were still on the car when it arrived at the dealer but I had cautioned about my desire to shipper and the dealer.

On top of that I had the only frustrating experience of this entire acquisition. I have personalized plates which I wasn't allowed by the dealer to pull off. Legally they are mine and I could have forced the issue but everything considered I left them on the E350. After the new car was documented and registered some couple of hours after turning the other car over, the dealer delivered them to my home some 50 miles away. That forced me to install them. They had attached their plate frame when I took delivery. In removing it from the front mounting, one of the screws kept turning. Something was broken in there. It's made out of their usual hard rubber/plastic and the boss into which the screw fastened, had broken from the Mercedes frame. I Mickey Mouse'd that for mounting the plate but one of the other bosses also broke as I started the screw into it. Poorly manufactured part which I had to re-engineer, repair and remount. Mercedes will be replacing it but my repair may be better than the replacement which could have the same manufacturing defect as mine.


You can see the two detached bosses and easily see where one in the upper right had been partially attached. The other is on the edge of the photo on the left side. Originally they are as the one in the lower right. When molded I'd guess the mold was a bit off center and only about a fourth of the base had ANY attachment to the balance of the frame.

Two other sheet metal screws go through the flat part of the plate and into the bumper. The hole through which the screw passes is out of the picture is to the right and below that upper right screw. Its matching hole can be seen in the upper left corner.

Have fun over there. If you care to communicate re your venture, send a PM. I'll be happy to answer any questions I can.

 

My bumper is chromed plastic. It's the AMG package so don't know if the cars without that package are chromed or not. But, if it's chromed, I wouldn't see any way they could fix it to make it invisible. Best solution might be to insert a chromed screw into the holes as patching and painting with 'chrome' paint would likely be worse.

 

The area is called the flugplatz, which was an America military air base after WWII. The entire complex is called Meilenwerk and it's been updated recently. The Ferrari/Maserati/Porsche dealer is now across the street along with a Harley Davidson dealer. A McLaren dealership is now in the main building. It really should be part of everyone's visit, it's at the same exit you take for Sindelfingen which is the city where the factory is located. You never know what cars they will have since it's not only a dealership but it's also a place where people can store their rare sports cars. There is a few rare Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and an original Ford GT40.

 

Today took ED of 2014 GLk250 BT. All experience as described in this tread. No complains at all. A lot of food and excellent service. First class!!!

Today covered 420 km from the Delivery Center to Dusseldorf area. The average speed was 85km/h ( brake-in period) and computer showed 5.5 l/100km - not fully loaded car with just one driver. The detailed report will be later with pictures.

The car is great!!!

 

Just was thinking about you as I went through my front license plate problem.

If you'll look closely at your plates, the front one is mounted on the upper portion of the bottom half of the grill. There are NO holes where the USA version of mounting goes on the lower cross bar. I'm presuming those are drilled at the VPC when the car arrives over here and is prepared for USA use. On that basis I'm completely certain that through those fine ladies in the European Delivery section of MB-USA, New Jersey, that they can arrange delivery without the front license mount and therefore no holes in your bumper. I can't see where mine was mounted. They either replace or somehow repair those holes in the upper cross bar.

Congratulations! Glad your experience was as good as mine!!!

Which tour did you get, the E class or the C class? For your sake I hope it was the C class which is longer and more complete than the E class. Looking forward to reading about that.

 

Here are the pictures of the screws in the plate holder in the front bumper... I'll see what my local MI dealer says about this.

 

I'm in the process of planning European Delivery of GLK 250 / probably not until Spring of 2014. Wondering if there are recommendations for drop off city. I've figured out that I will be best doing it somewhere in Germany. Other than that is one city safer/better for the car than another?

 

Don't know what your conclusions are that it's best to drop off in Germany but I really don't think it matters much. The drop-off is pretty straight forward and like any transaction, it depends on the employees that receive the car as to whether the experience is pleasant or not. You aren't dealing with Daimler employees, but separate contractors. Drop-off away from Bremen, from where the car will be transported, takes a few days extra since it has to be trucked up there to whatever ship is next on the schedule for your destination. I'm pretty certain they don't leave daily so there is not only a delay for the time to truck it there but for the next vessel going to your port of entry. The only thing you might save is a bit of time if you were to drop it off in Bremerhaven which is the nearest drop-off from where it will be shipped. That could also be a wait, as would the car's arrival at the docks to await the next vessel bound for either Baltimore, Brunswick or Long Beach. I certainly would not plan my experience around the few days you might save based on the drop-off point. I would NOT plan any trip to Europe based on just that factor, except for the drop-off points where there is a surcharge, like Italy and Spain. Even then, if spending time in either of those places, or any others with a surcharge, I'd consider the trip and the experience first before money played any role in a decision. I can't imagine a few days extra to ship the car should have any role in any decision. You'll have anxiety for the wait even if it was just a week, so what's another few days extra?

Some folks I met on one of the trips, dropped off their car in Italy. It got to Los Angeles before mine did when I dropped off in Paris. Drop-off point really doesn't matter.

I've dropped off two cars in Paris. The first, quite some years ago, was a very good experience. The second was not, but that was based on the shipper's employees and a minor screw-up on my part. I was aware that Parisians, like New Yorker's or Angeleno's (Los Angeles,) are a different breed, and you can get some pretty different experience based on the individual and not the location. That can happen anywhere.

In every case I've planned my trips on me and my desires. I'd suggest you do likewise. If you want to pursue my experiences, PM me, we can exchange emails and I'll be happy to give you the benefit of my experiences and thoughts. I can't imagine too many others want to hear the gory details.

Be aware that Europe is cold until late Spring. Winter is not a great time to be traveling in a strange country in winter conditions, especially if language is difficult. My first trip was in October and I went to Switzerland and into the Alps, drop-off in Paris. Thank God for the trains and flat cars on which I traveled the majority of that country. I did encounter light snow on the mountain roads, which wasn't a problem. You can get snow from October to April.

 

I wouldn't mind hearing them, or at least a subset of them. Timing-wise, I can't make a European delivery work for the GLK that I have on order right now but I swear that I WILL do at least one European delivery eventually. So yeah, I wouldn't mind hearing anything that helps me start planning early.