Mercedes-Benz CLS 320 CDi - A Surprise 'Thank You' Present

[mwstewart]

This isn't a particularly PH type of car but it has a little story behind it that I thought was worth sharing. It started (too many) years ago now when I was at Uni; my parents pretty much bank rolled me through that and it's something I've always been greatful for. They also let me stay at home for a few years after whilst I was finding my feet in my career, so I've always wanted to give something back when I'd worked myself into a position to do so. This post is about what I've got for my Dad as a thank you for that, and also the amount of time he's spared over the years to helping me do ridiculous things to cars. There have been days in scrap yards, in the pouring rain, changing suspension on a gravel drive in the snow...you get the picture Mum's present is not remotely PH so isn't covered here

So onto the present. I'm at a point in my career/life where I'm in the fortunate position to give something back, and Dad being a car enthusiast - probably not quite so extreme as I but he likes cars nevertheless - I wanted to get something to replace his '03 A4 Cabriolet. He had a soft spot for the original Boxster but in reality I don't think that would be practical and I didn't want to buy something that saddled him with more repair/maintenance costs than the A4. The other car he had always liked was the Mercedes CLS, or the 'Banana' as I call it. I think they've aged well and being based on W211 E they are good cars that come with a pretty good level of equipment. Off to Autotrader I went...

I discarded the usual suspects that had kerbed alloys, grubby interiors, patchy history etc. and stumbled across two potentials - I say only two, because after covertly sounding out his choice of colour I had to discount silver and black, and also black leather. If you've looked at CLS's you'll know that criters excludes 98% of all CLS's for sale! The first was Mystic Red with cream leather & located 230 miles away in Devon, and the other Indium Gray with Alpaca Grey leather, was 25 miles away in Melton Mobray. Braced for a day-long road trip with my g/f I thought I'd try Dad for a final colour selection - covertly of course. I had to tell him I was 'just looking', and thankfully got away with it. Even more thankfully, he preferred the car that was 25 miles away!

Here are the dealer photos:






I left a deposit over the phone on Monday and paid the rest via bank transfer that day. The car was at a Land Rover dealership in Melton Mobray called Marshall, and I explained the situation to them and they said they would make the collection special for us.

Roll forward to yesterday evening. I told my Dad I was coming to pick him up to take him for some food, and we would be calling via a Land Rover dealer to collect some stainless steel fuel pipe for my Fiesta project. He hadn't twigged at that point. When we got to the dealership I explained the situation and he was pretty much speechless. The car was under a silk cover in the showroom and the salesman, Chris, unveiled it. Here's my Dad with the car:


Me and Dad:


I was actually blown away with how good the sales experience was, so if anyone is looking for a Land Rover or Range Rover, speak to Chris Pullen at Marshall (no connection of mine). Chris made the handover really quite special and this was given the car is worth a fraction of some of the new Range Rovers they retail; for example he sat in the car with my Dad and went through all the controls etc., and dad also got a hamper from them:


So that's it, it felt good to give something back. Thanks for reading.

Edited by mwstewart on Thursday 21st August 13:02

[mwstewart]

Thank you all for your wonderful comments.

mak2503 said:

Brilliant.

I did this a few years back for my mum and dad when I purchased a Volvo V70 for them. I never got the special treatment for them that you got but I hid the car round the side of my house. I invited them over and told them I was cleaning the car for the new owners and they have just arrived. They then clicked and were chuffed with the car.

It is a nice thing to have done and your dad looks really pleased with it. Sadly my dad passed away a few years after that but I was always grateful that I had the chance to give him something back for having me.

To many happy years motoring in that beautiful car.

That's a great way to do it and a very nice surprise. I bet they were pleasd Sorry to hear of your loss.

ManOpener said:

A properly heartwarming story that filled me with admiration at your kindness, tinged with a little jealousy that, as much as I'd love to do something like this, I can't see myself being in a position to any time soon.

Are you going to be subjecting his car to some of your incredibly skilled and well-thought-out modifications in the near future?

Don't worry about the car - it's just a lump of metal. Whatever you choose to do will be apprecaited just the same, I am sure

Actually I have been looking at the later type of Sat Nav, Bluetooth, and parking sensors. That's Christmas and Birthday presents sorted for a while

Max M4X WW said:

Lovely gesture Mark, I had wondered what your Dad was driving at the moment as I remember seeing the A4 in photos of yours a few years back!

Does the A4 become a new project car for you now?

Cheers Max. His next door neighbour has shown an interest in the A4, so hopefully it will be an easy sale. No more projects for me as I keep getting distracted from the Fiesta. I want to concentrate on that again.

jonah35 said:

Lovely car, lovely gesture, nice to read.

Now your dad can return the favour and buy you some jeans that are long enough to cover your ankles

[mwstewart]

Cheers all

[mwstewart]

Fattyfat said:

As an aside, I don't know the spec of the CLS but how do you rate the 320CDI engine and 7G box?

I've been waiting to spend a bit of time behind the wheel before replying, but I can now report that the engine is a peach. I have a fair amount of experience with the modular inline Diesel range i.e. 3.2 6 Cyl, 2.7 5 Cyl, and the 2.1 4 Cyl (which is still used in the current range). I found the modular engines to be a little coarse when cold & especially so on startup, but once warm were relaticely OK. The V6 by comparison is silky smooth and makes a very pleasant sound to boot. It has that trademark Mecedes relaxed combustion noise - if you know what I mean. Performance wise it's as much power as you'd really need in a waft wagon and returns near enough exactly what the old 5 cyl used to; It overtakes effortlessy aand returns 47 (real) MPG on a motorway run and 37 combined.

The 7G is good; shifts are imperceptible, but to be perfectly honest I never really had a problem with the old 5 speed during 'normal' driving! Where the 7G excels is its - relateively - quick change speed, but in something like a Diesel CLS it's more of a fringe benefit than something that makes a real difference.

[mwstewart]

I helped Dad with a few bits on the car.

COMAND NTG2.5 Retrofit
The NTG2.5 is a HDD based unit that was introduced around 2008 and replaced the DVD based unit which would have been fitted to this year of CLS (pre-facelift) at the factory. I forget now what I had to do to fit it - there were some wiring changes - but it's all in and working with Bluetooth and integration with the instrument cluster.


Colour Coded Steering Wheel
The CLS had a black steering wheel as standard, which I don't mind, but Dad prefers it in the same colour leather/plastic as the rest of the car. He sourced an Alpaca Grey steering wheel and airbag from a W209 CLK; the same type of wheel is fitted to many of Mercedes car from this era.

Fitting was quite simple, but there are a couple of things to watch out for: 1) for some reason the wheel is not keyed and can be refitted off-centre, and 2) the clock spring and steering angle sensor are delicate, so be careful.


The CLK wheel didn't have provision to hold the steering wheel module (silver box), so I bonded it to the wheel instead.


Complete. The carpets are not filthy - they just turn a brown colour when wet!

[mwstewart]

B'stard Child said:

What made me chuckle was that it's taken over a year

OK what next?

Haha, I've been very slow to update the thread Parking sensors next.

[mwstewart]

J4CKO said:

I have just got a 2008 CLS 500 and I love it...

Ahh, you must have the 5.5 engine. Nice! The 219 is I think a classic design and will age very gracefully.

I am very impressed with how it feels on the road.