From XC60 to Porsche Macan or BMW X3?

[Rocinante]

Referencing the discussion on what impressions certain cars give out, I refer to the "Urban Dictionary" website.

Volvo Driver
"Volvo drivers are people who value quality and safety over ostentation. They are often liberal, well educated, and upper middle class......."

BMW Driver
"Self absorbed, self important assholes."

Audi Driver
"is a driver on the road that tale gates , cuts other cars off and zig zags in traffic."

Mercedes Driver
"Rich ass mother ****ers who think they own the road and have no sense of direction"

Jaguar Driver
"Cocky driver that sleeps with a lot of women and wears Burberry ties."

No definition for Porsche Driver.

No offence intended, I'm just quoting the 'dictionary'.

[tem]

Volvo Driver

My son calls them boring old f--ts.

tem.

[NigelDay]

Originally Posted by tem

Volvo Driver

My son calls them boring old f--ts.

tem.

Nothing personal then !!

[tem]

Originally Posted by NigelDay

Nothing personal then !!

Bet you cannot guess?
Son is a BMW driver.

tem.

[andrewpain]

Originally Posted by raymondcoia

Referencing the discussion on what impressions certain cars give out, I refer to the "Urban Dictionary" website.

Volvo Driver
"Volvo drivers are people who value quality and safety over ostentation. They are often liberal, well educated, and upper middle class......."

BMW Driver
"Self absorbed, self important assholes."

Audi Driver
"is a driver on the road that tale gates , cuts other cars off and zig zags in traffic."

Mercedes Driver
"Rich ass mother ****ers who think they own the road and have no sense of direction"

Jaguar Driver
"Cocky driver that sleeps with a lot of women and wears Burberry ties."

No definition for Porsche Driver.

No offence intended, I'm just quoting the 'dictionary'.

Clarkson used to say that Saab drivers were likely to be architects or dentists. More stereotyping....lots of us do it:-)
Anybody who wears a trilby while driving is to be avoided as a potential accident. Or just too bloody slow.
Back to front baseball cap and/or seat tilted back almost horizontal - ditto, except for the slow part!.

[MikeIOW]

Originally Posted by andrewpain

Clarkson used to say that Saab drivers were likely to be architects or dentists. More stereotyping....lots of us do it:-)
Anybody who wears a trilby while driving is to be avoided as a potential accident. Or just too bloody slow.
Back to front baseball cap and/or seat tilted back almost horizontal - ditto, except for the slow part!.

I went to a Saab evening once (as a valued customer!)...got chatting to another customer....who was a chiropractor: reckoned Saab seats were THE best in any vehicle!
I happen to agree. Although I'd have Volvo as a very close second

FWIW, just asked my children about what they think of when they think about Volvo drivers. Son said "a human". Daughter said "Old Man".
Must work harder to spend their inheritance before I depart......
Funny kids....

[Arianne]

Okay, back to reviewing cars folks.

But first, do you not think this thread has seen some amazing topic diversions...

• Fridges and washing machines
• stereotyping the human family based upon the car they drive (that sounds reliable)
• capitalism and socialism - friend or foe (anyone from Venezuela care to join the discussion?)
• data protection and privacy of forum members
  I am still waiting at Kings X station for a fellow member to come and collect me following repeated requests on this thread while travelling down on business via Virgin East Coast
• etc, etc

If we try really, really hard there is a remote possibility that this thread, deploying the combined firepower of so many forum members, will catch up and overtake the apparently unassailable EGR turtle thread. We must believe, fellow Volvo members

Introducing the Mercedes SLC 200 AMG line

So here is an interesting experience which relates to our quest to find a sporty little two seater, perhaps a cabriolet, to supplement our upcoming RR Velar.

Earlier in this thread I related how much we enjoyed our experience with the Porsche dealer (718 Cayman from Edinburgh, Kinnaird Park) and the awful but funny interaction with ‘Archie’ from BMW, Edinburgh (Newbridge).

The third car in the shopping list was a Mercedes SLC. I know, not exactly the cutting edge of sports cars but a nice little number, good value and a hard-top cabriolet (handy when you have a family of Swallows living with you every Summer as they would wreak havoc on a fabric roof. And there are not that many decent looking hard-top cabriolets around these days as they are too expensive to design and manufacturer for small volume sales).

Mercedes at Newbridge is a big, fancy dealership. It looks good and feels good. The facilities for customers are top drawer and the support staff were excellent. My coffee on arrival was from a funky bar area and was superb, the loos were of five-star hotel standard and they have a business lounge which is almost better than the world-class office accommodation that my company leases in the city centre - I could happily work from the dealership all day on wireless via Citrix Gateway. So far, so good.

On arrival our Sales Executive (let’s call him……. Arnold) was a bit busy and so he threw us the keys, told us to have some fun and off we went. Great.

Testing the Mercedes Benz SLC AMG line



... and off we went, all the way to Carluke and the wild roads of Lanarkshire before we realised that we were lost, the satnav wasn't enabled and GoogleMaps was stuck as we had dropped the mobile signal on the iPad

Nice car. We liked it. Not as sharp as the BMW for handling and not as hard core as the Porsche. As you would expect. But it handles well and its party trick is being two cars in one. With the hood up it's a quiet, sporty little two seater which looks good to our eyes. With the hood down (which you can operate at up to 30mph unlike the BMW) it is a completely different car.

It struck us that we could have lots of fun in the SLC, enjoy driving with the top down and she is a nice cruiser for longer distance journeys too.

Neat tricks (we've never owned a cabriolet before) include something called 'air-scarf' that gently blows warm air onto the back of your neck from the seat so you don't get cold, a great nine-speed auto box, configurable dynamics that actually feel different from each other and a decent size boot with the roof up.

There are big discounts to be had on MB’s boutique but unloved (by journalists) SLC. This allows us to personalise the car and make it what we want it to be.

All was well and we returned to the dealer ready to talk terms. And thereafter it all went wrong as the Sales Executive stumbled from one disaster to the next..

When the quote arrived for the configuration we had sent through to him, Arnold had chosen to include some suggested Option Packs that we didn't request because he thought it would be a good idea. We never asked for him to design our car and, since he isn't paying for it, we expected the build to be exactly as we had requested. And guess what, loaded into the quote was Total Loss Protection (GAP to you and me).

Okay, do we look like rookies? I think not friends. Arnold clearly hadn't read this thread! Who amongst us hardened band of Volvo forum members would ever be so dim as to buy our GAP insurance from a dealership - hugely expensive and fewer features than the policy we can all buy on line from ALA.

So we called and explained how disappointed we were with his performance. He was apologetic, agreed to provide the correct quote and remove the £499 Total Loss Cover (his earlier quote was opaque so we couldn't split out the price of the insurance – a practice which is actually illegal in the U.K. You are not allowed to try and sell a car and this insurance cover at the same time to a client, let alone load in the price into the cost of the car itself).

Ten minutes later Arnold called us back to explain that he believed the ambient lighting package was included with the folding mirrors option. Really? They're strange bedfellows, don't you think? Like a manufacturer bundling heated seats with autonomous cruise control! So we checked and explained that he was wrong. He checked and called back to confirm that he was indeed wrong! We checked again with each other and decided to take our business elsewhere but he didn't clock that at the time!

Yep, we projected the current experience forward through to delivery and realised that the chance of actually getting the car we ordered was small. This would not be a joyous journey with Arnold 'looking after us'.

Last Thursday we arrived at another dealership. Same Group but Coldstream. Coldstream is in the Borders and life is simpler, slower and more friendly here than in the City of Edinburgh. If you can cope with the mud, sheep, quad bikes and Suzuki Jimney's then it's a wonderful place to live. We like it! The previous day I had called and explained that, if the numbers in the deal were right and the service excellent, this dealer would have the fastest, simplest sale of an SLC ever. No test drive needed. We just turn up, do the numbers, get assurance about service and after-sales before placing the order. All they needed to do was offer a good deal, do decent client relationship management (starting with the handshake of course) and know that the Mercedes SLC has four wheels on each corner and the roof folds down.

Walked in, drank tea, chatted, negotiated and then negotiated a bit more – like you do. We secured a cracking deal, better than the first offer from Edinburgh and had a great time. Mercedes, like BMW, needs to discount to sell their cars unlike JLR who won't discount on their Velar for obvious reasons). Bodes well for the period through to delivery which is December as it's a factory order.

Honestly, the first guy (Arnold) could have had this deal if he hadn't been greedy, incompetent and sloppy.

Hope this has been helpful for others as the truth is that poor salesman and saleswomen are scattered everywhere. When you bump into one then walk away. Conversely, there are some good ones out there too and all credit to the guy at MB Coldstream, he restored my faith.

Best wishes to all - have a good Tuesday!

Arianne

[tostex]

Why are british people so fond of cabriolet cars? This is an honest question.

[soupytwister]

Originally Posted by tostex

Why are british people so fond of cabriolet cars? This is an honest question.

British people don't drive cabriolet's properly. Cabriolet's aren't just for sunny days. They are for much more than that!

I live in Scotland. It's often cold, and it can rain I also have the typical fair complexion of my countrymen. I actually preferred driving around in autumn/winter/spring with the roof down than in the summer. In the summer I had to worry about flat caps & sunblock. Eurgh.

Winter. Roof down. Heater up. Wooly hat on. Gloves on. Fantastic. Can't beat it. Why do you think motorcyclists enjoy it! It's invigorating. Refreshing. Makes you smile. People think you're nuts, but so what. You're like Biggles wafting around the clouds in your Spitfire

To anyone who has a convertible, try it. You will be "converted" If not, get back in your tin-top - you will never appreciate proper wind-in-your-hair motoring as it's supposed to be.

<rant off>

[Arianne]

Originally Posted by tostex

Why are british people so fond of cabriolet cars? This is an honest question.

The good people of Britain buy more cabriolets than folk in hot countries. Our climate is close to perfect for them.

As the previous poster said, having the top down on a very hot day with bright, strong summer sun is not a pleasant experience. What you want then is a roof and climate control.

In the Spring and Autumn the sun is less intense and the conditions more favourable. And it is a wonderful experience. Very little turbulence and perfect for the country roads where we live and when poodling around the small Borders towns scattered across our County.

Soupytwister, I hadn't clocked that the clear, crisp winter days could also be good fun. I will let my Son know as the car is really his (and of course, Mrs A).

Regards to all,

Arianne