Long boring introduction from a newbie

[Dontellimpike]

Hi all Mercedes owners and experts.
Please forgive my 2 minutes of utter petrolhead fatuous drivel but I've just joined and there was a thingy saying "introduce yourself".
I'm a sort-of retired mechanical design engineer from the Black Country who started at Girling in the mid 1980s and I've spent a lifetime repairing, driving, tuning and saving a litany of cars - from helping my dear dad fix his Rover 2000 to owning many Fords, Vauxhalls, beloved Fiats, a Rover 213S, a terrible Peugeot 104 saloon (pre- hatchback), my bessie mate Morris Minor Traveller and a memorable Lancia Fulvia Zagato 1.3S which turned out to be mainly made of filler.
But in November 2019 wife allowed me to buy a 2010 S212 E350 CDi 231bhp Blue Efficiency Avantgarde. This is the one with the extra wide estate tailgate so all the name badges fit on.
I could only afford one with serious miles - 130k but- my grief- what a car. This thing has an exquisite interior, ridiculously wonderful glistening paint, a sensational quiet, smooth but refined deep growly engine with infinite warp power, and it feels invincible. There are no rattles, still feels tight and daughter calls it Mighty Max.
It obviously won't dive down lanes like my 2nd love Fiat 128 SL 1300 coupe used to, but it will smite all before it on other roads unless they're in the serious kit. If this is the diesel, what's an AMG like?
By the way I still have the fantastic 128SL - or whatever remains are still in the tin shed I call a garage - and it HAS to live again. Wife & I did all our courting in it round Solihull and would love to recreate those incredibly uncomfortable back-breaking nights.
I've waffled enough. I have already drunk from the cup of knowledge in the brilliant help sections and have to say thank you to the geniusses (genii?) who have devoted time to provide this saviour-level info. It saves a poor wretch like me from falling into bankruptcy with expensive fixes when sometimes I can do it myself.
Please keep well and all best wishes to M-B Owners everywhere.
Cheers

 

[Blobcat]

Hello and welcome

 

[Wighty]

Welcome buddy . Yes loads of us genii (not me ) have saved a fortune from being on the forum

 

[A.J.]

Hi and welcome to the forum

 

[mioba]

Great intro and welcome to the forum. Stick around and share the MB journey.

 

[Srdl]

Hello and welcome. That’s a proper introduction and makes a change from some of the briefer one liners we get.

I had the 231bhp engine in my E Coupe which I had for 8 happy years and 67k miles. You don’t come across much that will beat it because the power delivery and torque are so effortless. And I have gone for an AMG now (albeit only the milder 367bhp) and that is even more fun. There have been a few cars like Golf R or BMW 2 series that have been surprised by what looks like an ordinary SUV at first glance.

 

[SL63 Mark]

Great intro. Yes, the 6 cylinder turbodiesels are incredible, but the AMG versions are in another league.

 

[dry run]

Welcome

 

[sonic]

Welcome I am from the Black Country originally (Faggots Peas, & Banks Mild) now living just up the road in Staffordshire. You were lucky I started in the mid 60's with a 6 volt VW Beatle, but it was reliable. I now have a E350CDI 2011 265bhp version, a great car.

 

[John Laidlaw]

Welcome

 

[00slk]

Hello and welcome.......not quite a true petrol head, I didn't see an Alfa in your list
I had a 74 Fiat 124 Sport, amongst a few others

 

[Smith124]

Another Black Country upbringing here. I'm long exiled but the scent of Banks's brewery on weekday afternoons in Wolverhampton is still a memory (I'm sorry to say). I had a Fulvia Coupe - lovely car - and other Italians including a V6 Alfa 90 saloon, which was a great way to commute from London to lecture at Warwick University in this and that (twenty years ago the roads offered a little more elbow room than they do today). I always wanted a Fiat 124 coupe but stumbled on a Merc C124 almost a decade ago and just moved into my second. Cheers

 

[Rotorhead500]

Welcome I am from the Black Country originally (Faggots Peas, & Banks Mild) now living just up the road in Staffordshire. You were lucky I started in the mid 60's with a 6 volt VW Beatle, but it was reliable. I now have a E350CDI 2011 265bhp version, a great car.

Bet you got range-anxiety in that one...!

Welcome aboard OP!