My new car.....and it's not a ZT :-(

guru · 7th January 2015, 21:36

Well after just over 3 very happy years with the ZT-T it's time for a change and sadly because I'm not a great fan of the MG3 or 6 it's not going to have an MG badge on the front, so today I ordered one of these:

Sadly I can't post of picture of my actual car because it turns out it takes aggggeeeeeessss for some people to hammer it together, I'm still awaiting a delivery date but apparently it's looking like I'll have to wait until the end of March! Still means more time to enjoy the ZT.

I am pretty excited as it's my first ever brand new car and being able to choose the colours and exact spec was nice however it's also shocking how expensive it gets for instance one of the options I chose cost more then my entire ZT

Specwise it's the C300 Hybrid which means 0-60 in 6.5 seconds and 78mpg combined average. The nice folks at Mercedes let me borrow one for a couple of days and it is something else to drive however the hybrid system takes a while to get use to.

One thing that I did find interesting is that with all the cars I looked at I got back into the ZT after amazed by the fact that my 11 year old car was just as good to drive, in fact I actually preferred the ZT over the Jaguar XF and found the new 5 series dull in comparison. I think it says a lot that our old MG's can still cut it even when compared to much newer metal.

Anyway I'll have the ZT for a few more months and even when I don't I'll still be a frequent visitor. I'll advertise the ZT here in the next couple of weeks as having been in the club for the last 2 owners (Tam and I) it would be nice for it to go to an enthusiast. I do have someone local who's already asked me about it however they are just looking for a cheap source of transport when really I want someone to carry on looking after it.

Pumpwater · 7th January 2015, 21:44

Congratulations on winning the Lottery!!

iandb1970 · 7th January 2015, 21:46

In my view hybrids are the way forward although I was very impressed with the all electric Nissan Leaf I was in recently also.

Nice car BTW! Enjoy.

Departed 32016 · 7th January 2015, 22:13

Wow big change, from the Zt. to a car thats in the high £30ks...
Interesting that you've gone for the diesel hybrid too. I worked for Lexus and had the is300h for a while, as you say once you've mastered the hybrid system and electric brakes it's great.

guru · 7th January 2015, 22:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pumpwater

Congratulations on winning the Lottery!!

Ha ha if only, I think I'd have gone for the C63 if I had!!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by iandb1970

In my view hybrids are the way forward although I was very impressed with the all electric Nissan Leaf I was in recently also.

Nice car BTW! Enjoy.

I must admit I was never really sold on the idea of a hybrid however having test driven the C220 which had the most annoying stop start ever and was a little lacking the salesman persuaded me to try the C300 Hybrid and I was amazed how well it worked. Driving on electric only is a little odd at first however the diesel engine starting is seamless unlike the non-hybrid which is just annoying. The weirdest thing though is 'starting' the car only for nothing to happen except that a few lights come on, it's only when you're moving faster then the electric motor can handle on it's own that the diesel engine kicks in.

Actually scrap that, the weirdest thing is actually the self parking. Not only only does it seem strange letting go of the wheel to park but on my first attempt the car crashed itself into a very high kerb! I don't think I'll trust that system too much and wouldn't have ordered it however it comes as part of the AMG pack so no option there.

guru · 7th January 2015, 22:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by kieranswood

Wow big change, from the Zt. to a car thats in the high £30ks...
Interesting that you've gone for the diesel hybrid too. I worked for Lexus and had the is300h for a while, as you say once you've mastered the hybrid system and electric brakes it's great.

Yep, I would probably normally have had a couple of cars in-between and worked my way up but I couldn't really see any reason to change from the ZT which I still really like.

The brakes didn't bother me too much but Mrs Guru wasn't overly impressed at first. I do like knowing that some of my braking energy is being recovered rather then it all being wasted as heat.

Organiser · 8th January 2015, 14:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by guru

The brakes didn't bother me too much but Mrs Guru wasn't overly impressed at first. I do like knowing that some of my braking energy is being recovered rather then it all being wasted as heat.

I hope the brakes are better then the last Porsche Cayenne hybrid that I drove, 8,000 miles on it and when you braked they stay stuck on when your foot was off the brake pedal. It was an interesting drive to London on the M40, I left it at the London Porsche dealers after telling the owner it was unsafe to drive!

I prefer to do my own braking thanks.

Nice looking car your new MB though.

Tom

P.S. I have two Rover 825's going up for sale soon, if you know anyone?

grivas · 8th January 2015, 14:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by guru

Ha ha if only, I think I'd have gone for the C63 if I had!!!!

I must admit I was never really sold on the idea of a hybrid however having test driven the C220 which had the most annoying stop start ever and was a little lacking the salesman persuaded me to try the C300 Hybrid and I was amazed how well it worked. Driving on electric only is a little odd at first however the diesel engine starting is seamless unlike the non-hybrid which is just annoying. The weirdest thing though is 'starting' the car only for nothing to happen except that a few lights come on, it's only when you're moving faster then the electric motor can handle on it's own that the diesel engine kicks in.

Actually scrap that, the weirdest thing is actually the self parking. Not only only does it seem strange letting go of the wheel to park but on my first attempt the car crashed itself into a very high kerb! I don't think I'll trust that system too much and wouldn't have ordered it however it comes as part of the AMG pack so no option there.

An excellent colour, well done and enjoy the car, hybrids not for me however, be very careful a single scratch on a Merc can push some countries into bankruptcy service and repair costs range from frightening to very frightening and extend to suicide inducing, but all these are irrelevant if you enjoy the car, best of luck

Departed 32016 · 8th January 2015, 14:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by guru

Ha ha if only, I think I'd have gone for the C63 if I had!!!!

I must admit I was never really sold on the idea of a hybrid however having test driven the C220 which had the most annoying stop start ever and was a little lacking the salesman persuaded me to try the C300 Hybrid and I was amazed how well it worked. Driving on electric only is a little odd at first however the diesel engine starting is seamless unlike the non-hybrid which is just annoying. The weirdest thing though is 'starting' the car only for nothing to happen except that a few lights come on, it's only when you're moving faster then the electric motor can handle on it's own that the diesel engine kicks in.

Actually scrap that, the weirdest thing is actually the self parking. Not only only does it seem strange letting go of the wheel to park but on my first attempt the car crashed itself into a very high kerb! I don't think I'll trust that system too much and wouldn't have ordered it however it comes as part of the AMG pack so no option there.

The self parking is good, but it doesn't get you out! That's the problem I always had... My focus has and also the perpendicular too, amazing technology

biggles 1957 · 8th January 2015, 16:20

Hope you have more luck than I did with a Mercedes! I bought my first brand new car from them and the sales experience was second to none - a real pleasure and I thought I'd really made a good choice! However, the after seeing service was abysmal. In its first year it had to have two diesel injectors changed (separately) and both were seized into the head. It had three new windscreens in the first few weeks until a distortion free one was finally fitted.
After about a year, the whole rear suspension had to be changed. New brake discs after less than 10k miles - they must be made of cardboard because I am not heavy on the brakes at all. Problems with electric windows going down and staying down - in a blizzard! Loud knocking at front n/s - new strut read. Wait a week for that and what did they do? Changed the front o/s one by mistake! Back in again for the n/s to be replaced.

It had light beige upholstery and every time it went back to the main dealer there were oily hand prints on the seats and door trim. I still have three unopened packs of seat covers and paper mats etc that they dumped in the footwell and never used! One time I had to drive home sitting on dustbin bags because they'd steam cleaned the seats to try to get the oil off!

When they took things to bits, they always failed to put all the clips etc back and 'lost' various bits. Every time I collected it the radio had been returned and was left on very loud (I'd fitted a fancy pants fold out screen and audio system) and the report would say things like test driven, no noise heard. I'm not surprised because the radio was on full blast!

It cost me next to nothing to run though because it spent a lot of time in the dealers and it was all done under warranty! A lot of the problems were clearly down to the muppets at the dealership, but I've never had a car plagued with so many faults. I was really disappointed with my first experience of a brand new car. After two years of ownership I took it to another Mercedes dealers 50 odd miles away and swapped it for a brand new Smart car which has been almost trouble free for 10 years now. My Moggie Traveller knocks spots of that Merc and so does my Rover 75.

Perhaps I would have been better off to have avoided the main dealership...

7th January 2015, 21:36	#1
guru Posted a thing or two MG ZT, Rover Sterling, MG ZS EV & BMW X5 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: The Norfolk Broads Posts: 1,491 Thanks: 20 Thanked 196 Times in 117 Posts	My new car.....and it's not a ZT :-( Well after just over 3 very happy years with the ZT-T it's time for a change and sadly because I'm not a great fan of the MG3 or 6 it's not going to have an MG badge on the front, so today I ordered one of these: Sadly I can't post of picture of my actual car because it turns out it takes aggggeeeeeessss for some people to hammer it together, I'm still awaiting a delivery date but apparently it's looking like I'll have to wait until the end of March! Still means more time to enjoy the ZT. I am pretty excited as it's my first ever brand new car and being able to choose the colours and exact spec was nice however it's also shocking how expensive it gets for instance one of the options I chose cost more then my entire ZT Specwise it's the C300 Hybrid which means 0-60 in 6.5 seconds and 78mpg combined average. The nice folks at Mercedes let me borrow one for a couple of days and it is something else to drive however the hybrid system takes a while to get use to. One thing that I did find interesting is that with all the cars I looked at I got back into the ZT after amazed by the fact that my 11 year old car was just as good to drive, in fact I actually preferred the ZT over the Jaguar XF and found the new 5 series dull in comparison. I think it says a lot that our old MG's can still cut it even when compared to much newer metal. Anyway I'll have the ZT for a few more months and even when I don't I'll still be a frequent visitor. I'll advertise the ZT here in the next couple of weeks as having been in the club for the last 2 owners (Tam and I) it would be nice for it to go to an enthusiast. I do have someone local who's already asked me about it however they are just looking for a cheap source of transport when really I want someone to carry on looking after it. __________________ My car history http://m6jkk.com

7th January 2015, 21:44	#2
Pumpwater Loves to post Rover 75 CDTi Firefrost Red Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Durham Posts: 470 Thanks: 96 Thanked 55 Times in 38 Posts	Congratulations on winning the Lottery!! __________________ Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow they may make it illegal.

7th January 2015, 21:46	#3
iandb1970 Avid contributor Rover 75 Connoisseur SE Tourer 2.5 V6 Auto Hi-Line Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Highclere Posts: 233 Thanks: 30 Thanked 10 Times in 9 Posts	In my view hybrids are the way forward although I was very impressed with the all electric Nissan Leaf I was in recently also. Nice car BTW! Enjoy.

7th January 2015, 22:13	#4
Departed 32016 This is my second home Rover 75 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 5,190 Thanks: 101 Thanked 257 Times in 145 Posts	Wow big change, from the Zt. to a car thats in the high £30ks... Interesting that you've gone for the diesel hybrid too. I worked for Lexus and had the is300h for a while, as you say once you've mastered the hybrid system and electric brakes it's great.

8th January 2015, 16:20	#10
biggles 1957 Regular poster Rover 75 Connie SE 2.5 V6. Copperleaf. Morris Traveller. 86" Series 1 Land-Rover. BMW K75RT Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Leicestershire Posts: 89 Thanks: 3 Thanked 11 Times in 8 Posts	Hope you have more luck than I did with a Mercedes! I bought my first brand new car from them and the sales experience was second to none - a real pleasure and I thought I'd really made a good choice! However, the after seeing service was abysmal. In its first year it had to have two diesel injectors changed (separately) and both were seized into the head. It had three new windscreens in the first few weeks until a distortion free one was finally fitted. After about a year, the whole rear suspension had to be changed. New brake discs after less than 10k miles - they must be made of cardboard because I am not heavy on the brakes at all. Problems with electric windows going down and staying down - in a blizzard! Loud knocking at front n/s - new strut read. Wait a week for that and what did they do? Changed the front o/s one by mistake! Back in again for the n/s to be replaced. It had light beige upholstery and every time it went back to the main dealer there were oily hand prints on the seats and door trim. I still have three unopened packs of seat covers and paper mats etc that they dumped in the footwell and never used! One time I had to drive home sitting on dustbin bags because they'd steam cleaned the seats to try to get the oil off! When they took things to bits, they always failed to put all the clips etc back and 'lost' various bits. Every time I collected it the radio had been returned and was left on very loud (I'd fitted a fancy pants fold out screen and audio system) and the report would say things like test driven, no noise heard. I'm not surprised because the radio was on full blast! It cost me next to nothing to run though because it spent a lot of time in the dealers and it was all done under warranty! A lot of the problems were clearly down to the muppets at the dealership, but I've never had a car plagued with so many faults. I was really disappointed with my first experience of a brand new car. After two years of ownership I took it to another Mercedes dealers 50 odd miles away and swapped it for a brand new Smart car which has been almost trouble free for 10 years now. My Moggie Traveller knocks spots of that Merc and so does my Rover 75. Perhaps I would have been better off to have avoided the main dealership...