Never thought the day would come

[V6Matty]

for me a few years back it was a toss up between n S-Type and the 211, only reason the 211 won was its an estate which i need. i do suspect that my next car will be a XF Sport Break, all the reviews are much better than Merc which is such a shame.

 

[Rory]

My dad has always been a Jag man, I'll always be a Merc man and we banter about our two makes so you won't be surprised at our amusement when the Jag vs Merc ad came out, great fun.

Is that because you each think your respective brands are the best, or is it more a familiarity thing?

I don't feel loyalty to any brand - got my MB as a I wanted a medium size diesel estate, but I really wanted an auto and there wasn't much choice of autos at the time.

 

[AGordCL]

Is that because you each think your respective brands are the best, or is it more a familiarity thing?

I don't feel loyalty to any brand - got my MB as a I wanted a medium size diesel estate, but I really wanted an auto and there wasn't much choice of autos at the time.

Interesting question actually, I think the former is the case though, that's where the banter comes from.

I never used to have any loyalty either, but since owning my first Mercedes, going to Mercedes Benz World and doing a driving experience, learning more about Merc history and joining the forum here I have formed a sort of 'bond' with Mercedes, they have a sort of homely feeling if that's the right word. Of course I still love cars made by other makes, I am a car boffin and petrol head, but my daily driver will always be a Mercedes I think.

 

[ernieh]

Now that we know what the insurance are going to pay out on our write off, I too have been looking round and found both 'sales inhibitors' and 'sales executives', from the utterly unprofessional to someone who actually was trying to find me a car and couldn't do enough to help, given that my wife is still unable to visit a showroom following our accident.

It is clear that while they all want to sell cars, Some franchises are interested in customers and their needs.

Ernie

 

[Ricardo_e220]

for me a few years back it was a toss up between n S-Type and the 211, only reason the 211 won was its an estate which i need. i do suspect that my next car will be a XF Sport Break, all the reviews are much better than Merc which is such a shame.

Couldn't agree more. I love the look of the xf estate! That said I saw a cls shooting brake the other week and the wife went wooooo like that.... Perhaps if they depreciate like the saloon.

I have found BMW the worst -

 

[jberks]

Thanks all. Wasn't sure what reception I'd get. Sounds like my feelings are not so uncommon.
The new beastie does look a lot bigger than the my E. To be fair it is slightly wider but I suspect it's the overall stance and the sport grill.
For the salesmen I didn't want fawning over, just a little investment from them and a vague feeling they cared. Their appalling attitude didn't stop me getting an E, I could have gone elsewhere or even outside the dealer network but it did nudge me to look elsewhere and I suppose for that I should be thankful.

Through the difficult early days of my career I always dreamt that one day I'd have a Merc. I've since been fortunate enough to have 3 and loved them all. Mercs are great cars. I bought the last one saying that if I needed a car for 10 years and 200k it was the sensible choice. 9 years on and 170k it's still a brilliant car, still no rattles and totally reliable. Even the battery is the factory original! I was 'playing' on Saturday on the A64. A couple of daft buggers in a BM and an Audi pushing along a little quicker than permissible. My old bus kept up effortlessly and serenely, as she always has. So no criticism, in fact I just hope the Jag can measure up.
So I'm not going to slag off Mercs, I'm still a big fan. But The 212 simply didn't thrill me the way I was hoping and maybe the idea of a change after all these years has had some small impact too. All I can say is I'm really quite excited.
My mechanic has agreed to buy my car today. He knows how good it is so paid me considerably more than the trade in offer. Good deal for both of us.

The Jag dealer is HA Fox in Leeds (used to be Minster). It's 3 miles from home and en-route, hence I popped in. So far they've been fine. Salesman attentive and extremely knowledgable. When I commented that it was missing the split/fold rear seat option he told me they were easy to convert and would throw that in. Pretty sure the Merc guys wouldn't have a clue what was possible. Only complaint so far is the interest rate on their finance offer, but I suspect there's a little negotiating room left and if not, my Bank has made a suitable alternative offer. That and they're trying to flog me wheel and tyre insurance but fairs fair, they're only trying to earn a living and it is running on 20" wheels which I'll no doubt kerb in the first week. Still I think I'll self insure or spend the extra on an extended warranty instead.

 

[bennyboy]

And for those of you interested in bargain motoring,early, clean sub 100000 mile 3L S types all under £2000.........

 

[teddycatkin]

Yes -you just need a classic old MB for w/e driving and hobby now ? (the older the better)

 

[V6Matty]

Couldn't agree more. I love the look of the xf estate! That said I saw a cls shooting brake the other week and the wife went wooooo like that.... Perhaps if they depreciate like the saloon.

I have found BMW the worst -

i do love the look of the CLS and if they drop like a stone then i may be tempted, but the boot space doesn't look too good with them after having a propper look around a few weeks ago (bored at lunch so took a walk around the dealership round the corner), the back is very sloped so i would always wonder if things will fit, compared to the XF's rear which is a little more upright like the 211 or 212. oh well i don't have to make the decision yet or at least not until something seriously goes wrong with the old girl.

JBerks
Mind if we ask what you got for your old girl? yours has 60k more miles than mine currently but sounds like it could have been in a similar condition.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Only complaint so far is the interest rate on their finance offer, but I suspect there's a little negotiating room left and if not, my Bank has made a suitable alternative offer. That and they're trying to flog me wheel and tyre insurance but fairs fair, they're only trying to earn a living and it is running on 20" wheels which I'll no doubt kerb in the first week. Still I think I'll self insure or spend the extra on an extended warranty instead.

A point of interest which may be of use to you!!

I'm sure i saw an ad online last night to the effect that all franchised XF cars are subject to a two year service and warranty offer starting today.

If so I thought that you ought to know before you hand over your hard earned cash.

 

[Wozza14]

Mercedes sales people are now like timeshare sales people do not care about the brand or customer but volume and how many they can sell, I may go down the Jag route shortly as customer service was king.

 

[Corned]

Can't fault your thinking there, jberks. A man after my own heart! Or rather, I'm hopefully going to be a man after yours.

As soon as I can stomach the cost to change (I am a Yorkshireman after all), I'm right there with you.

 

[Rotorhead500]

Funnily enough, I'd been having a casual browse at XFs when I stumbled across this thread... I may have accidentally found myself sitting in an XJ today...

But I love the CLS...

 

[C16RKC]

I've had a 2003 and 2008 model XJ, I'd avoid - the suspension is very harsh (although you will not notice during a test drive...) and is very tiring on long journeys.

I've had nothing but Jag XJs since I was 21 years old and the switch to Mercs was purely due to the drastic changes that have been carried out on the XJ.

However from what I have heard... the XF is a smashing car!

 

[jberks]

JBerks
Mind if we ask what you got for your old girl? yours has 60k more miles than mine currently but sounds like it could have been in a similar condition.

Sure - dealer offered me £2,500, got £3,200.
On the finance front, and per Malcolm210's comment, the dealer couldn't get to the bank figure and was £300 more over 3 years. But they announced a 'national used car event' starting during the week ( 2 days after I bought it) so he's sneaked me onto that - get 2 years free servicing and an extra years warranty so worth the extra.

 

[The Pan Man]

I read jberks OP with a keen eye, It's no surprise to all on here that I did not like the 212 and I also said that it had started to grow on me a little as more and more of them were seen on the roads.
When I bought the E500 I was in a car that I always liked with a great trim level that had cost the original owner a lot of money, their loss my gain.
The sales team that I dealt with at the time were great they wanted to sell me the car that I wanted to buy, BUT a couple of months later they had all been moved on i.e. sacked. Now I do not know why but I have not been to that dealership since the touch up stick episode and will never do so again.
The people buy from people saying is so very true.

I state again now I have no thoughts of selling the 500 at all it's just passed 40k miles this last week, hardly worn out is it.

 

[Warrior]

Not sure if you've seen my thread here, I made the same jump 7 months ago

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=124779

Pro's and cons yes, but generally I love the Jag and still look forward to walking out to it every morning

 

[Warrior]

Your experience with the two respective dealers shows how JLR have improved and Mercedes gone backwards. JLR WANT your business, Mercedes EXPECT your business.

John this is very true and something I noticed immediately when I bought mine.

I noticed soon after purchase that the chrome was peeling on the top of the tailpipes, not serious but I wanted to put it right so I went on the owners forum to ask if anyone had any idea's on re-chroming or replacing, costs etc, bear in mind my car was already 4 years old and out of warranty so I wasn't expecting any help from Jaguar on this.

A fellow forum member told me to email customer services at JLR and try them for maybe a bit of a discount on new ones, the customer service people came back almost immediately and seemed genuinely concerned, they asked a bit about my cars history but were particularly interested in me, and in particular what marque I had come from, I got the distinct feeling from our discussions that they are very keen to woo MB & BMW owners into Jags and keep them there.

Anyway within 48hrs I had a lovely email from a JLR customer services guy apologising for the problem and telling me to print the email and take it to my local Jag dealer who was to order and fit replacement tail pipes and contact this guy at JLR direct who would authorise the cost which was around £250!!

To say I was incredibly impressed by the level of genuine customer service shown by JLR is an understatement, and gestures like this are definitely going to help them pull their target buyer towards Jag ownership.

 

[exjag]

I get a strong déjà-vu feeling reading this. If you'd read a Jaguar owners' forum some years ago the sentiments expressed about Jaguar dealers, customer service and cars, would be very similar to the ones being expressed today about Mercedes-Benz. Maybe under their new Indian ownership Jaguar Landrover have had their arse kicked and have been told to get competitive. After all, billionaires don't become billionaires by being dictatorial and supercilious toward customers. Perhaps that is the key, Tata is a family owned conglomerate, whereas Mercedes-Benz isn't.

The relative worth, in the widest sense of the word, of individual vehicles can boil down to a matter of opinion, but customer-relations is much less arbitrary, it's basically black or white, and most people would agree on whether general customer service is good or bad.

I was going to say that such things wax and wane, but thinking back ten years to when I changed from Audi I had dealings with several Merceds-Benz dealerships, none of which showed the remotest interest in selling me a car, quite the opposite of the interest I received from Jaguar. I bought a Jaguar and stayed with them for ten years, their level of service, in the full sense of the word, being totally satisfactory throughout.

I have mixed feelings about Mercedes-Benz and haven't really (thankfully!) had enough experience of dealerships to be able to give a reliable opinion, though two of my three visits to two different dealerships resulted in formal complaints.

My car itself, apart from some idiosyncrasies, which have taken some getting used to, has thus far been ok, touch wood, (except that the quality of the plastic 'chromework' is laughable) and as it fulfills all my criteria I intend to keep it a while unless it starts to fall apart.

Mercedes-Benz appears to have been waning for some years. It seems that it needs to start waxing. I wonder if the Tata family could get interested?

 

[mercmancdi]

hopefully the jag is great fun ! either way looking forward to the day you come back to Mercs

Guess what I always end up with a Merc , even an older one to hobbie with
,,it's in the blood.