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We went to Beaconsfield yesterday and I took my eldest along to Mercedes to have a look at the #5. Spoiler: I almost bought MG Cyberster GT, which was next door.
Mercedes didn’t exactly go out of their way to impress. I’d called ahead in the morning to check they were open and booked a slot. When we arrived, there was only one Smart in the showroom (I think a #3), with the rest being Mercedes models. A couple of staff were busy with an elderly couple buying Mercedes, while the others deed their best to show how very occupied they typing away at their computers.
After about 20 minutes of waiting, someone finally came over and, rather reluctantly, took us outside to show the Smart #5 they use for test drives – looked like the basic Pro trim. He unlocked it and immediately went back inside. Obviously, the car locked itself again, so we had to ask for it to be opened once more.
First impressions were awful: the passenger door handle, which should have been as shown in the promotional images, was missing – just exposed parts and cables. I didn’t take photos as I wasn’t sure if that would be allowed.
That aside, the car itself felt very comfortable, even compared to my current Skoda Enyaq 85x SportLine. The driving position is higher with plenty of space, which matters to me, especially as BK – I sometimes need to adjust my leg’s position or deal with the shuttle lock system.
Rear passenger space is on another level compared to the Enyaq: much more room and noticeably easier to get in and out. The boot floor has two options: flat or dropped down like the Enyaq. That said, the Enyaq’s boot is definitely deeper – I would say by 5 inches at least. The #5 does have a frunk though, so cables (or in our case, Costco pack of 48 × 500ml water bottles) can go in there.
So the main concern isn’t the car, but the customer service. Will Mercedes actually provide a good ownership experience, or is this more about ticking the EV box for EU compliance?
After that, we popped into MG next door. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the IM6 on display, but I did get to sit in the Cyberster GT. It’s listed at £64,000, but the salesperson was already talking closer to £50,000 as this was pre-reg and admitted they’ve sold one for £46,000. If only it had a rear bench for an 8 stone dog.
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Apologies for briefness and spelling mistakes.Motability Skoda Enyaq SportLine 85x April 2024 (unhappy customer - Ombudsman pending)
Motability Mazda CX-60 PHEV July 2023 (unhappy customer - early termination on mechanical grounds)
Motability VW Touran Family Pack May 2019 (happy customer)
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You might be better off visiting DAF and look for something suitable for the dog
🙂 🙂 🙂
I have spent enough years buying cars for the dog first.
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Apologies for briefness and spelling mistakes.Motability Skoda Enyaq SportLine 85x April 2024 (unhappy customer - Ombudsman pending)
Motability Mazda CX-60 PHEV July 2023 (unhappy customer - early termination on mechanical grounds)
Motability VW Touran Family Pack May 2019 (happy customer)Kezo That was my first real car 1n 1975 after the Invacar, albeit a Daf 44 not a truck.
I wasn’t old enough to drive by the time production ended, infact I was still in junior school, but seem to remember my uncle having a mucky water coloured one!
I saw an MG Cyberster GT on the road in Chichester this very morning. The roof was down – despite it being freezing cold, windy & drizzly here on the South Coast today – with a
real pair of posers‘glamorous’ couple in their mid-60’s driving it… real Barbie & Ken types with fake tans, fake teeth, fake hair (in his case) and a plastic surgeons’ dream patients. They were alongside me in the heavy traffic from roundabout to roundabout to roundabout (Chichester is worse than Milton Keynes I’ll have you know!).Fabulous looking car in this beautiful deep metallic red colour mind. I did chuckle to myself on a couple of occasions. I hope the Cyberster has bloody good heated seats & hot air blower. Poor sods are probably spending the rest of the Easter weekend in bed with Lem-sips, hot water bottles and a box of tissues.
kezo I think the first to use a form of CVT with one rubber belt.
Daf were taken over by Volvo about 1977 with the Volvo 340 actually a Daf (Dutch)design which would have came out as a Daf if they had not been bought over by Volvo. The Daf 44 was ideal for hand controls, as gear was simply back for go forward and forward for reverse (which could go as fast in reverse) and neutral only for when working on the car. I think for when stopped at lights, you took pressure off throttle and used hand break, no creep forward. Small auto’s were hard to find in those days, mostly mini’s or Hillman Imps. Sorry I am digressing, no Smart Cars then.
I quite like the look of the smart #5.
I have ASD and thus have difficulty with social and understanding information, written and verbal. I process information in logical blocks, before I reply. Sometimes I'm right and sometimes I'm wrong.
I also have a corneal visual condition, which makes me visually impaired without daytime, or daytime bulbs, among other disabilities/conditions.My recent PA had a two seater, two tone Smart Car and loved it. It looked very smart and well finished inside.
I saw an MG Cyberster GT on the road in Chichester this very morning. The roof was down – despite it being freezing cold, windy & drizzly here on the South Coast today – with a
real pair of posers‘glamorous’ couple in their mid-60’s driving it… real Barbie & Ken types with fake tans, fake teeth, fake hair (in his case) and a plastic surgeons’ dream patients. They were alongside me in the heavy traffic from roundabout to roundabout to roundabout (Chichester is worse than Milton Keynes I’ll have you know!). Fabulous looking car in this beautiful deep metallic red colour mind. I did chuckle to myself on a couple of occasions. I hope the Cyberster has bloody good heated seats & hot air blower. Poor sods are probably spending the rest of the Easter weekend in bed with Lem-sips, hot water bottles and a box of tissues.Don’t know about you, but I could give that couple a fight in a number of surgeries I went through. Otherwise I wouldn’t be on the scheme 🙂
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Apologies for briefness and spelling mistakes.Motability Skoda Enyaq SportLine 85x April 2024 (unhappy customer - Ombudsman pending)
Motability Mazda CX-60 PHEV July 2023 (unhappy customer - early termination on mechanical grounds)
Motability VW Touran Family Pack May 2019 (happy customer)There was a time when the MG TF was on Motability the stepspeed cvt and also the automatic Mazda RF was as well, which I think Mazda has dropped the auto MX5. But as we know the Abarth evs been taken off scheme and any coupes which there is not many anyway seems strange to me saying to disabled in a supposedly free society not allowed due to no choice seems anti disabled in a way.
There was a time when the MG TF was on Motability the stepspeed cvt and also the automatic Mazda RF was as well, which I think Mazda has dropped the auto MX5. But as we know the Abarth evs been taken off scheme and any coupes which there is not many anyway seems strange to me saying to disabled in a supposedly free society not allowed due to no choice seems anti disabled in a way.
Convertibles were also dropped by Motability in their culling.
I have ASD and thus have difficulty with social and understanding information, written and verbal. I process information in logical blocks, before I reply. Sometimes I'm right and sometimes I'm wrong.
I also have a corneal visual condition, which makes me visually impaired without daytime, or daytime bulbs, among other disabilities/conditions.
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