Hi all. I finally took a test drive of a 200K with 5 speed auto yesterday and have to say that I was impressed. The car is every bit as good as it looks. The car is extremely solid on the road and performance (although not half as good as the 350!) is impressive. I was expecting the car to be slower than it was and even with the auto box it was quite lively. The other good thing I picked up on was the exhaust note sounding rather sporty!.
All in all I was not disappointed with the car at all and just makes me want mine even quicker than I can get it!.
I have on order an Iridium silver 200K 6sp manual with black leather and 17" alloys (same as on 350). This will be a November build with the car being ready beginning of December. As my wife and I are flying to Germany to pick up the car under Merc's Personal Delivery scheme the salesman has told us that if we were him, he would wait until beginning of January to get the car then it will be classed as a 2005 car which will be beneficial when we come to sell re a greater value!. The only problem being that we want the car ASAP!!. What would you do?. Wait 5 weeks longer and maybe gain in the long run or get the car as soon as you could?.
Lastly, we are toying with the idea of the Audio 50 APS as an option as we plan to travel around Europe quite a bit over the next few years. Anyone any experience of this item as to whether it is worth it?.
Anyway, I look forward to your responses.
All in all I was not disappointed with the car at all and just makes me want mine even quicker than I can get it!.
I have on order an Iridium silver 200K 6sp manual with black leather and 17" alloys (same as on 350). This will be a November build with the car being ready beginning of December. As my wife and I are flying to Germany to pick up the car under Merc's Personal Delivery scheme the salesman has told us that if we were him, he would wait until beginning of January to get the car then it will be classed as a 2005 car which will be beneficial when we come to sell re a greater value!. The only problem being that we want the car ASAP!!. What would you do?. Wait 5 weeks longer and maybe gain in the long run or get the car as soon as you could?.
Lastly, we are toying with the idea of the Audio 50 APS as an option as we plan to travel around Europe quite a bit over the next few years. Anyone any experience of this item as to whether it is worth it?.
Anyway, I look forward to your responses.
Member
The salesman is probably right that a 2005 car will have slightly better residual value in two or three years time than a 2004 one, even though they are both 2005 model year cars of course. To me, that seems silly but if it matters to a lot of buyers, then it should be considered. But where do you draw the line? Wait until 1st March and there's a registration change which also affects the future value slightly (again unfortunately). In your position I think I would be inclined to wait 5 weeks and think of it as a late Christmas present.
I have ordered COMAND for two reasons. One, it looks great! Two, it will be useful for the trip home from the factory via Austria, Switzerland and France then to the UK. I can't say if this particular system is worth £2K, but I've been using a portable Garmin GPS V unit with street level mapping and routing of the whole of Western Europe for a couple of years now, in various countries (including UK of course). IMHO, if you are going to be travelling a lot, then some sort of similar system, whether COMAND or one of the new portable ones at 25-50% of the price, is essential. The easy option is COMAND but it is expensive. You should also consider things like the Garmin StreetPilot 2660:
http://www.garmin.com/products/sp2660/
This is about £1K and the real win over COMAND is that you can use it in any car. Alternatives with colour screens start at about £500 (iQue 3600, TomTom Navigator).
I have ordered COMAND for two reasons. One, it looks great! Two, it will be useful for the trip home from the factory via Austria, Switzerland and France then to the UK. I can't say if this particular system is worth £2K, but I've been using a portable Garmin GPS V unit with street level mapping and routing of the whole of Western Europe for a couple of years now, in various countries (including UK of course). IMHO, if you are going to be travelling a lot, then some sort of similar system, whether COMAND or one of the new portable ones at 25-50% of the price, is essential. The easy option is COMAND but it is expensive. You should also consider things like the Garmin StreetPilot 2660:
http://www.garmin.com/products/sp2660/
This is about £1K and the real win over COMAND is that you can use it in any car. Alternatives with colour screens start at about £500 (iQue 3600, TomTom Navigator).
Senior Member
davand - I would definitely wait the 5 weeks, agonising though it might be. I had a similar dilemma with my SL55. The car was October 2002 production and could have been collected in early November. I waited til January to get a 2003 registration and in view of the difference in value now I am glad I did.
As you are planning trips in Europe I would definitelty recommend a Satnav option. The Audio 50 APS is a good halfway house between a Garmin unit and the full COMAND system but it is not a DVD based system. A DVD based system like COMAND has the whole of Europe on one disc. The Audio 50 is CD-ROM based with one country per disc and if you are intending to visit several countries you need to consider the cost of buying a Travel Pilot DX disc for each country at £100+ per country. There is a CD-ROM disc available called Major Roads of Europe and thats exactly what it is. You need the individual country discs if you intend to go off the main routes. The other problem is some of the CD-ROM discs are woefully out of date - Spain for instance has few of their new roads that have been added over the past 5 years.
So to sum up the Garmin solution is the least expensive and covers the whole of Europe. COMAND also covers all Europe but is the most expensive but it also has a region 2 DVD drive for watching movies. Audio 50 is midway between on cost and fine if you dont want to visit many countries.
As you are planning trips in Europe I would definitelty recommend a Satnav option. The Audio 50 APS is a good halfway house between a Garmin unit and the full COMAND system but it is not a DVD based system. A DVD based system like COMAND has the whole of Europe on one disc. The Audio 50 is CD-ROM based with one country per disc and if you are intending to visit several countries you need to consider the cost of buying a Travel Pilot DX disc for each country at £100+ per country. There is a CD-ROM disc available called Major Roads of Europe and thats exactly what it is. You need the individual country discs if you intend to go off the main routes. The other problem is some of the CD-ROM discs are woefully out of date - Spain for instance has few of their new roads that have been added over the past 5 years.
So to sum up the Garmin solution is the least expensive and covers the whole of Europe. COMAND also covers all Europe but is the most expensive but it also has a region 2 DVD drive for watching movies. Audio 50 is midway between on cost and fine if you dont want to visit many countries.
Thanks for that Steve and SL Boy - the info you've posted is of great help to me. I think £2000 for the COMAND system is a tad expensive and the Audio 50 will be a pain in the backside if you have to purchase seperate CD's. Decisions, decisions!!.
