Mustard

Back to the UK with the SL350 after 1,200 miles through France & Spain with the wife - thoroughly enjoyable and the car is simply great. Quiet, so quiet, especially roof down, wind noise well suppressed, and the car feels quicker than I expected. VERY economical, saw 28.8 mpg (25 mpg US) on a 200 mile mixed but mostly motorway trip and averaged 26 mpg. Impressed with the great seats, very comfortable, and the very roomy boot and various bins, especially the chilled centre bin and glovebox. Nice touch. Instruments clear and the night/day feature really useful. Pleased with the Jasper/Alpaca combo, but would get wood wheel and gearshift next time. So much interest in and appreciation of car everywhere we went. Had a group of French cheer out loud as we drove past them; bit embarrassing. Car sounds good too, especially top down. Tuned exhaust gives a nice low-note burble at low speeds, almost V8 ish, but certainly not typical V6 as some commentaries have suggested. Engine sounds a bit, er, tappity sometimes for no obvious reason, but top-up only and low speeds only. This is a very good engine.

A few reservations about the ride, with a lack of bump-thump suppression at lower speeds of say 20-40 mph, (could be the Michelin Pilot Sport tyres) although the high speed ride is excellent. This car covers ground without fuss or drama. A few niggling faults (water dribbles into boot, annoying reflection from binnacle onto screen, the stupid position of the indicator stalk, no MPH to KPH although manual says you can, (change to RoW rather than UK spec according to Richard - see thread), no continental switching of the low beam pattern of the bi-xenon’s which didn't please a lot of French drivers. The cut-off pattern of Bi-xenon’s on low beam is abrupt and sometimes frustrating; ordinary lights do give more ambient light to enable you to look ahead. Hi beam is simply amazing. Phone (Nokia 6310i) did not always connect to COMAND, low front apron not always covered by front park distance controllers so beware of low curbs, visibility of the info in the binnacle ovals is impossible through polarising sunglasses, but they do remove the windscreen reflection problem. Nav screen slow to refresh. Storage of wind deflector was a problem for us. Bad blind spot in left mirror for RHD car driving in Europe – be warned.

Not sure whether I ever got to the point where ABC would have made a lot of difference to my impressions - car feels light, smaller, tighter than expected; responsive, and corners well – I would want to try ABC out before I could be sure it was a worthwhile £3,000 option. (No explanation as to why it wasn't available for my car).

We had no wet weather driving, so not all conclusive, but you do sometimes feel the weight of the car. Bit slow overtaking up some hills, you know the engine is working. Gearbox is matched well for cruising, not so well for press-on driving. Steering is just superb - well weighted, far more direct and accurate than I have ever had in any other Benz.

On spec everything I had I thought was right - Keyless Go, TV, Comand (but it can be distracting), PDC (totally essential), dynamic seats good although massage feature gimmicky, no pano roof (which I wouldn’t now personally want) but I would have the seat coolers next time. Nothing else needed, this is a very well specified car. I really like the standard 7 spoke wheels.

All in all this SL350 is an exceptionally good car, and a great car in terms of styling and comfort. Feels smaller than it is in reality. A few design faults - especially the stalks IMO, and entry-exit not so easy with wide & heavy door - no worse I guess than any low car. On reflection probably everything we would want in a continental cruiser/tourer. Its no supercar, but I simply can’t see why you would want more than this car in any country where you couldn’t exceed 100 mph frequently.

France is a very beautiful country - superb creative tasteful food - but very average wine all trip - they are losing the wine plot and big-time, methinks.....


Will post a few pics shortly.....

NastyAluQuadra

Glad to hear you like it. They are quite nice aren't they!

I take it your digital speedo is MPH only. Let us know if you get it changed to RoW setting and how you get on. I'm still a bit annoyed about it, but after a few weeks don't really care that much!

Due to try a 350 without ABC in a few weeks so it'll be interesting to see how it compares with the 500.

Nice to see you're getting 26-28mg. I got 33mpg on a gentle cruise at 65mph today, but usually get 20 - the exhaust note is just too addictive around town/in tunnels.

Interested to know more about the massage seats thing.

SL Boy

Enjoyed reading your first experience of the 350 and welcome to the SL owners club.

I think both your engine performance and fuel consumption will improve after a few more miles. I have now done almost 2000 miles in my 55 - it seemed fast enough from the start but is even more responsive now. Fuel consumption on a typical west London mixed urban/motorway trip has improved by 2 to 3 mpg over the same trip when the car was new.

NastyAluQuadra

I'm paying EUR1200 (GBP800ish) a year fully comp with 7 years NCD here in Germany for my SL500

Looks like it'll rocket to EUR3000 (GBP2000ish) when I return to UK.....

Mustard

Paying £715 comprehensive cover with £520 excess, European cover, Protected NCB included.

Mustard

Speedo is MPH only, and asked two MB garages why. Both said French cars can change from KPH to MPH, but neither could explain why it was not he other way. Glad we've got Richard on the forum.

Massage seat is just the air chambers moving around slowly and randomly. I'd expected the full Madame Le Pain's treatment. But the side bolster and lumbar ajustment is really worthwhile.

Had a real nightmare day getting the car registered - the local DVLA office was incredibly rude and obstructive; wanted to register the car as second hand! With 100,000 illegal immigrants lost in the UK, why do they want to know my whole holiday itenarary to register a bloody car? This place is getting very police statish.

Mustard

Past experience suggests about 4,000 miles is needed to settle it all down. Also noticed the difference using Shell 98 petrol over Elf and Total. I reckon at least 5% better MPG.

What does the 55 average, Paul?

NastyAluQuadra

....definition of second hand (or not "NMT") is >6000km AND >6 months old. Strange your VRO would get this wrong.

I take it you exported it tax free from France (or Spain) and are paying tax in UK? Or did you have to pay tax in France, now plan to pay in UK and reclaim it back from France?

So I guess the massage just inflates and deflates like the normal multi contour seats from previous benzs, but now automatically? I don't know why, but I had this vision of them vibrating fairly vigourously like those seats you sometimes see in service stations (loosening your fillings, that sort of thing!).

blueSL

Glad you've got your car at last Mustard, even without ABC . The SL350 will be a popular choice and seems to me to be much better value than the CLK55 which is about the same price.

The mileage you're getting is impressive. From my SL55, I get 21 "on a run", more usually 15 - 17 and I tend to use Shell Optimax, refilling when I see a place with it.

I was dubious too about the seat massage function but it's great in the winter with the seat heating on. Still don't find the seat cooling to be worth the bother - maybe my ample sized buttocks are blocking all the holes .

NastyAluQuadra, insurance for an SL55 for an old dog like me is about 1200 but depends on where you live of course. Most of the difference is due to the value of the car rather than its performance.

cone

Hi, do you have pictures of your new car? Are you planning to disable tv interlocks for watch tv in motion?
Regards

Mustard

Pictures shortly, Cone. Need to reduce the size a bit. Had some great Tapas in Spain BTW.

Don't think I can trust myself not to peek at the TV if it was permanently on. Was distracted enough by the Nav. Haven't had a good picture yet either.

Mustard

blueSL

OK, Mustard, the indicator stalk has obviously made a bad impression, what is it you don't like about it?

Mustard

I have to say BlueSL it is the one thing that really did annoy me on the trip - and frankly its most probably because I was used to the BMW.

But the stalk is badly placed. Its low on the left side, does not fall easily to hand, and the number of times I hit the cruise control, one time with worrying consequences, was unbelievable. Keep in mind it was new, and I seem to remember its been in the same place for years, but I just could not hit it intuitively at any time - it always took a glance, or a feel or a check. I was often late indicating.

Now I know it all should be eventually logical and totally intuitive, and probably is to most of you, but I just think its poor design, and in this car a bit of an anachronism. Can't get used to it, and it truly annoys. (me)

On the other hand, i just love the feel and operation of the chrome bezels and switchgear for the a/c and vents. Brilliant.

BTW, still ended up with perforated leather, despite best efforts to avoid it. Hot days in France did make me think cool air blowing on the bum might have been, er, a bit of a relief! No good, eh?

blueSL

Must be something to do with the way Mercedes place their controls, it feels fine to me but it's exactly the same as the older SL. I think you'll get used to it - I assume you're holding the wheel at a quarter-to-three...

I think the seat cooling would be better if they actually blew cold air rather than just ambient air; they're relying on the wind chill effect to cool you down and using chilled air would be better. Mind you, if MacDonalds can get sued for serving hot coffee, imagine the risk to Mercedes of giving you frost-bite...

Mustard

SL Boy

Average 19.6 miles per UK gallon over 1800 miles. On a 60 mile mixed motorway/out of town run best figure is 23.6 mpg