Passport at the ready - UPDATED

[Lons]

What the heading says. I've dug it out ready for my long trip to Bristol as I've heard they're a very suspicious lot when it comes to Northern invaders.

Driving down on Friday hoping my dodgy knees hold out and unfortunately have to come back on Saturday so just an overnight close to the dealer.. I'm changing my car and arrangements to have it delivered fell through so needs must.

So you lot down there have had a lucky escape as I was originally planning on staying a couple of nights. Roger might not escape a flying visit if I'm not too knackered though.

 

[Dr.Al]

Good luck with the border crossing. If you get in trouble, the password is "Gert Lush" and there's a useful guide for visitors

 

[Lons]

Good luck with the border crossing. If you get in trouble, the password is "Gert Lush" and there's a useful guide for visitors

Unfortunately "gert lush" in a Geordie accent could possibly get me arrested. At best it could sound like get lost and the worst I'd leave for your own imagination.

 

[Malc2098]

Well, now there's a thing. If my negotiations work, I'll be getting my passport out and driving up to Liverpool on Friday because I'm changing my car, too.

Perhaps we can wave at eachother as we pass on the M5.

 

[AndyT]

Sorry to miss you Bob.
Still, looking on the bright side, if your new car turns out to be a lemon, you'll have to come back to complain in person and we can meet up then.

 

[marineboy]

What’s the new jam jar Bob?

 

[AndyP]

Jeez you two, are second hand cars so difficult to find locally?

 

[Malc2098]

Jeez you two, are second hand cars so difficult to find locally?

Yes. The last three cars I've had all did over 130,000 miles each and I had them for ten years each. I don't want to buy a new car and have it depreciate. So I try and either get nearly new, under a year old, or very low mileage for its year, which this one is. It is from a main dealer because they can throw in a free 1 year warrantee, free one year roadside assistance, a free first MoT and a couple of other bits. Then I have it serviced at my local garage.

 

[RogerS]

Well, now there's a thing. If my negotiations work, I'll be getting my passport out and driving up to Liverpool on Friday because I'm changing my car, too.

Perhaps we can wave at each other as we pass on the M5.

Or even maybe on the M6

 

[Lons]

What’s the new jam jar Bob?

Same as my current car apart from being petrol rather than diesel. A MB GLC premium plus. It's not new, registered 0n 24th Dec last year and more mileage than I'd like at 8500 but exactly what I want, I only cover around 4000 miles pa and at the time of doing the deal only two approved used listed in the country of the age, spec, colour and price I'd consider, hence the long journey.
New price is over £70k which I can neither justify or afford and I got more than £21k off new list as well as a good price for my 9 year old car.

Any bugs are likely to have shown up by now and with 2 years and 3 months of manufacturer warrany left it made sense to me. I got them to give the car it's first service 3 months early and fill up the tank rather than the £10 worth they usually put in, about a thimble full at current price.

It's the same colour and looks very similar from the outside so I could have saved myself some eye rolling, just swapped my personal plates across and my missus would never notice, until she got in the car that is.

 

[Lons]

Yes. The last three cars I've had all did over 130,000 miles each and I had them for ten years each. I don't want to buy a new car and have it depreciate. So I try and either get nearly new, under a year old, or very low mileage for its year, which this one is. It is from a main dealer because they can throw in a free 1 year warrantee, free one year roadside assistance, a free first MoT and a couple of other bits. Then I have it serviced at my local garage.

Black SUV but you'll get some very strange looks from all the other drivers if you wave at all of them.

 

[Blackswanwood]

Same as my current car apart from being petrol rather than diesel. A MB GLC premium plus. It's not new, registered 0n 24th Dec last year and more mileage than I'd like at 8500 but exactly what I want, I only cover around 4000 miles pa and at the time of doing the deal only two approved used listed in the country of the age, spec, colour and price I'd consider, hence the long journey.
New price is over £70k which I can neither justify or afford and I got more than £21k off new list as well as a good price for my 9 year old car.

Any bugs are likely to have shown up by now and with 2 years and 3 months of manufacturer warrany left it made sense to me. I got them to give the car it's first service 3 months early and fill up the tank rather than the £10 worth they usually put in, about a thimble full at current price.

It's the same colour and looks very similar from the outside so I could have saved myself some eye rolling, just swapped my personal plates across and my missus would never notice, until she got in the car that is.

I’d hazard a guess that one of the most noticeable differences will be how many things have moved to being controlled via the touchscreen Bob.

Very smart looking car.

 

[AndyP]

Is it a push button start Bob?
6 months on with my Touran and muscle memory still makes me try and insert and remove the key from the steering column.
Hope it has a button for auto stop start. Some new cars have to be done on the touch screen every time you get in the car.
I also hope you can easily turn off the speed warning beeps and lane control. And if you put anything heavy on the back seats you may need to plug the seat belts in.
Far, far too many gadgets offered as standard on modern cars.

 

[Lons]

I’d hazard a guess that one of the most noticeable differences will be how many things have moved to being controlled via the touchscreen Bob.

Very smart looking car.

Yes Robert. Externally the grill and centre star are different, running boards more shaped but little else however the inside is completely different with a new centre consul and large screen unfortunately touch which I'm not keen on and all the steering buttons apparently are haptic touch whih might take a bit of getting used to after my physical ones.

I didn't want to lose the 360 cameras, upgraded sound and a number of other things I've been used to for nine years plus this has head up display which I think all cars should have for safety.
My current car has a factory electric towbar and if I want one I'll have to get an aftermatket kit fitted but I might just sell the trailer and not bother. It could get me out of a few family jobs.

 

[Lons]

Is it a push button start Bob?
6 months on with my Touran and muscle memory still makes me try and insert and remove the key from the steering column.
Hope it has a button for auto stop start. Some new cars have to be done on the touch screen every time you get in the car.
I also hope you can easily turn off the speed warning beeps and lane control. And if you put anything heavy on the back seats you may need to plug the seat belts in.
Far, far too many gadgets offered as standard on modern cars.

I quite like the gadgets Andy and yes you can at least turn down the sensitivity of lane control and panic braking etc. I need to play with it for a week or so to get it to my preference but I'm used to the features and yes it has a physical start/stop button very similar to my current model.
One of the features I've never dared try is to allow it to park itself and that's unlikely to change with the new one.

I'm pretty sure I can link it to a digital key on my iphone through wallet which I can see being useful as long as automatic opening is disabled. I'm looking forward to picking it up but saying nothing anywhere near my car that it's being traded in as it's bound to throw a wobbly and break down.

 

[RogerS]

Is it a push button start Bob?
6 months on with my Touran and muscle memory still makes me try and insert and remove the key from the steering column.
Hope it has a button for auto stop start. Some new cars have to be done on the touch screen every time you get in the car.
I also hope you can easily turn off the speed warning beeps and lane control. And if you put anything heavy on the back seats you may need to plug the seat belts in.
Far, far too many gadgets offered as standard on modern cars.

We’ve got push button start on our 1999 registered Wee Beastie. No touch screen thankfully….were they around then?

 

[AndyP]

I had a play with auto park in a car park. Straight reverse between two cars. I have not yet tried a kerbside parallel park.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Well if either of you two fancy a break on the way to/from your destinations then you both need to pass within about 1 mile of my house to get there, so feel free to drop me a message if you want to arrange a brew/toilet stop.

 

[Woodbloke]

Yes. The last three cars I've had all did over 130,000 miles each and I had them for ten years each. I don't want to buy a new car and have it depreciate. So I try and either get nearly new, under a year old, or very low mileage for its year, which this one is. It is from a main dealer because they can throw in a free 1 year warrantee, free one year roadside assistance, a free first MoT and a couple of other bits. Then I have it serviced at my local garage.

Pretty much the same here, but SWIMBO prefers to buy new if at all possible. We do though, try and get 100K+ miles from each except our Defender which we gladly parted with after 33K miles as she started a new job and a daily commute in a Defender up the A303 didn't appeal so it was swapped for something slightly less thirsty and a lot more reliable! - Rob

 

[Lons]

Well I've been and gone and done it!
Drove the 360 miles on Friday with a stop for an hour with Mark (Trim) for a very welcome break and a coffee. The coffee was free but he didn't tell me one of his dogs would steal my shoe. ) It's the first time I've had the pleasure of meeting Mark and his lovely wife and it was a nice experience. Thanks for the invite and hospitality mate.

Anyway the trip down was truly horrible once I got south of the lakes on the M6, Friday traffic I guess with huge congestion issues, variable speed limits which I can only hope I didn't fall foul of and that continued most of the journey which excluding the stop resulted in seven hours of solid driving. I had provisionally planned to visit Roger that evening but was too cream crackered to make the trip. Sorry Roger.

Into the dealer the following morning and everything went smoothly until I came to transfer payment. I've banked with HSBC since 2022 and they've been excellent but knowing this unusual payment would be intercepted I rang earlier in the week to notify tthem in advance and maybe put a note on my account. "Not possible sir but if it's declined a quick simple phone call will sort it out".
Did it hell. Payment made via digilink / Worldpay the link originated in front of me by the dealer was declined after 10 minutes so I duly 'phoned and got an agent with a thick Asian accent, difficult to understand and he couldn't grasp the fact I was sitting in the showroom of a main Dealer of a well known national company, the keys to my new car in my hand but couldn't drive home until my money was released. He insisted I ring Worldpay for confirmation but couldn't explain exactly what was required so I did but they said it was nonsense.

I rang back to get a woman with the same accent and attitude only interested in giving me the same scammer advice over and over again until frustrated, embarrassed as the place was full of other customers and agitated I had to firmly insist a number of times that she must release my payment. IMHO a British native language speaking staff member would have understood the situation and resolved it quickly and the issue is not one of race or creed but of language and communication.
I completely support and appreciate the need to protect our money and the bank's exposure to risk and potential compensation but that while perhaps an extreme case was arduous and I will never allow it to happen to me again.

The episode soured the experience, cost me over an hour delay in leaving and meant that instead of a liesurely drive home I covered it in six hours including only one 20 minute coffee stop. To rub salt into the wound I missed the start of the England match.

My knee jerk reaction was to switch banks but having slept on it I've sent appropriate feedback to the CEO and calmed down. On the plus side I absolutely love the car though the sheer volume of additional tech is going to take some time to get used to.

 

[Woodbloke]

Anyway the trip down was truly horrible once I got south of the lakes on the M6, Friday traffic I guess with huge congestion issues, variable speed limits which I can only hope I didn't fall foul of and that continued most of the journey which excluding the stop resulted in seven hours of solid driving.

About par once you get south of the Lakes. I used to drive up n'down the M5/6 to Carlisle to see No.1 daughter but I won't do it anymore so we prefer to let the 'train take the strain'. Twenty odd years ago No.1 son was at Edinburgh University, so the drive was then done in the Defender fairly regularly which took hours and monotonous, bloody uncomfortable hours in the thing, even with posh leather seats - Rob

 

[Lons]

With hindsight Rob I should have sold the car locally which I could easily have done and flown down but I thought it was too much hassle. You live and learn but I won't be buying another car anytime soon so it's a moot point.