C350E ordered

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robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Saturday 28th May 2016
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Major issues...

I have been stuck at Winchester service since 9:30am as the charging plug will not disconnect.
I have been waiting for a Mercedes tech to show up for over 2 hours as I write this.
My wife has told me I am not allowed to plug the car in again if she and the kids are with me.
Great start to the holiday not..

I have looked online and it seems this is a relatively common

I will probably be having a conversation with the fleet company on Monday regarding rejecting the car.
I have had it 5 weeks any ideas on if this is possible?

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Saturday 28th May 2016
quotequote all
All fixed.

Mercedes Benz breakdown call centre were useless. Luckily when the tech arrived he knew exactly what he was doing and took about 10 minutes to get us going. Turns out the issue is very common and mainly happens at motorway chargers. When I get back I will do a quick guide on what to do if it happens to you.

Glad we didn't have a plane or ferry to catch though.

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Saturday 28th May 2016
quotequote all
Apparently the issue is when the plug itself isn't in the best condition. I will do a little write up wh I get home, but the fix is basically this.

Open the boot and on the righthand side (same as the charger flap) there is a black plastic cover. On the saloon this can just be carefully removed. On the estate there is a bump stop secured by a torx fastner that needs to be removed first. Once the cover is removed there is a fine wire pull string. You just have to pull this whilst wiggling the plug.

The fix took less time to complete than the paperwork.

Like I say I'll do a proper write up next week, but if you've got an estate make sure you have a t30 torx driver with you.

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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So the comment about rejecting the car was a bit ott, but not being able to trust motorway chargers would be a game changer.
I too have suffered with the sat nav. It's very slow and has failed once requiring a restart.
A bit of a shame because in all other ways it's a cracking car.

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Sunday 5th June 2016
quotequote all
OK as promised here's the low down.

This is the piece of trim you need to remove.


As in my previous post you need a T30 torx driver to remove the bump stop (not on the saloon apparently)


You can then remove the panel. Ease the top out first as that's where the push fit fastner is.


Here's the little wire you ar looking for.


I've pulled it up so you can get a better look.

Then just put it all back together.

If you don't already have a spare Torx driver to leave in the car you can pick up a full set for just a tenner in halfords. Very colourful too.


robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Tuesday 7th June 2016
quotequote all
If you had had the problem you would know rather than suspect.

Believe me I tried everything to get the plug out before calling support out. I was there for 2 1/2 hours.

The advice is only to get someone out of a similar fix, not trying to be clever and certainly not to advise people to dismantle their car.

Personally I wish someone else had posted similar before I got stuck.

Feel free to ignore it.

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Monday 13th June 2016
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How have you managed to get so many miles on it so quick? Lovely car btw

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Friday 24th June 2016
quotequote all
I do a lot of motorway miles, so the mpg is only averaging 40.3, I get 11p a mile, so every mile costs me around 1p or around £25 / month. My BIK saving is around £150, so overall I'm much better off whilst driving a better car. Win, win.

Added benefit was beating a Cayman in an extremely childish traffic light gp last week. (Yes he was trying)

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Friday 8th July 2016
quotequote all
So a quick update.

I have done a fair few mile this week (around 900 in fact) and have had something of a revelation.

On Tuesday I drove to Wales for a meeting setting off with 100% Charge. When I got to my destination I had averaged 40.9 MPG, which is in fact my average over the 6000 miles or so I have done in the car. The following day I drove home, starting with no charge and still averaged the same.

Yesterday I was going to do a similar amount of miles, but crucially before I set out I forgot to change to Eco mode. 200 miles later my average for the journey was 45.5 MPG. Did the same today and got 43MPG (Had the A/C on all day today though)

So as a result I would recommend running in comfort and not ECO.

Give it a go, I'd be interested to know the results.

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Tuesday 12th July 2016
quotequote all
I'm driving to Lowestoft and back so will do the same. I'm hoping for 45+

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Thursday 14th July 2016
quotequote all
I've been managing around 43mpg on a couple of decent journeys (300+ miles) it's either the car loosening up a bit or the fact that comfort mode better suits my driving style.
Overall I'm now pretty happy. If only it had a third bigger fuel tank and a sat nav that didn't take a fortnight to work out a route.

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Saturday 29th October 2016
quotequote all
My boss ordered one in September. He has been quoted a delivery of end of December. So I guess three months. Another colleague has ordered a BMW 330e he placed the order at the same time and so far they haven't given him a lead time.

On another note: mine is coming up for its first service. I'm going to reset the MPG after that to see if I can better the 41.5 mpg I've averaged so far. Still considering I really don't drive it in with a mind for economy it's actually not bad.

Still love it.

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Monday 14th November 2016
quotequote all
There is no point putting in a fast charger as the car isn't equipped to use it.

The charger you get with the car has two modes slow and fast. Fast is twice the speed of slow and requires a 13amp socket. So that's the fastest you can get (around 2 hours). Getting a local electrician to put in a 13 amp socket off of my existing fuse board cost me about £80 including the outdoor socket. A proper charger will likely cost several times that.
Fast charge will probably have to wait for the next generation.

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Monday 14th November 2016
quotequote all
RicksAlfas said:
Mine won't fit in the garage either sadly. I mounted the charger inside the garage and fed the curly flex through a hole in the side of the garage and it just dangles on a hook waiting for me to back the car up to it. It works for me as the main garage plug is by the door. You need to be careful not to use cheap extension leads, so if you can, a proper charger installation would be great.
I would refrain from using an extension lead at all if I had the choice (That's why I got the socket fitted) If you do have to use one make sure its heavy duty and completely uncoiled prior to use.

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Monday 14th November 2016
quotequote all
Kermit power said:
robemcdonald said:
There is no point putting in a fast charger as the car isn't equipped to use it.

The charger you get with the car has two modes slow and fast. Fast is twice the speed of slow and requires a 13amp socket. So that's the fastest you can get (around 2 hours). Getting a local electrician to put in a 13 amp socket off of my existing fuse board cost me about £80 including the outdoor socket. A proper charger will likely cost several times that.
Fast charge will probably have to wait for the next generation.
I thought they could take a 32A charge?
Maybe.... I was told 13 amp. I have used the bigger chargers and they take a very similar amount of time as the fast charger on a 3 pin plug. I will check the book and report back.

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Monday 14th November 2016
quotequote all
I had a look in the owners manual and there is no mention of maximum current only voltage. It did mention you can change the charging current through a menu so I had a look at that and this is the choice you get..

Doesn't say what maximum is though. Is it were 32 amp I would have thought it would say.
also I pulled this page from the quick guide.

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Monday 14th November 2016
quotequote all
RicksAlfas said:
Kermit power said:
I thought they could take a 32A charge?
16A I believe.
Yup. It's says so in the second paragraph of the manual page I posted above.

You will need the other cable though. I wa given both with mine for some reason.


robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Monday 14th November 2016
quotequote all
Kermit power said:
robemcdonald said:
Yup. It's says so in the second paragraph of the manual page I posted above.

You will need the other cable though. I wa given both with mine for some reason.
I think the reason is because that's what it says on the standard spec list!! hehe

They come with one cable for standard home sockets and another for commercial charging points.

On the latter point, am I right in thinking that these look like a complete ball ache? I'd rather naively assumed you'd just be able to rock up to one and either get free power (depending on how trendy lefty the local council is) or just use a credit card, but from what I've seen so far, it's not that simple, and it looks like I'd have to sign up to multiple schemes if I wanted flexible coverage away from home?
Once again yup. It is a total ball ache seemingly every council or area seem to have their own non interchangeable cards. Each seem to have an annual £10 or £20 fee plus additional charges when you use them. If you do the same journey and use the same charger it could be worth it, but I seriously doubt it. In most cases you will get further simply by putting the same amount of money in as petrol. Charging at home and work is the way to do it if you can. You may get lucky and find the odd council run car parks with designated bays and 240volt plugs, but these are quite rare I still bring the cable with me just in case.

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Monday 14th November 2016
quotequote all
RicksAlfas said:
I haven't signed up for any public charging.
I can't ever see me being parked somewhere for two hours which has an available charger.

robemcdonald said:
Yup. It's says so in the second paragraph of the manual page I posted above.

You will need the other cable though. I wa given both with mine for some reason.
Apologies Rob, I missed your post. Yes, I got both cables too.
To be honest I only noticed it said so after your post. I was backing you up.

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,833 posts

197 months

Tuesday 22nd November 2016
quotequote all
JonV8V said:
The Beaver King said:
No idea what this is about? Are you charging it off AA batteries?

Mine will charge fully in around 2 hours....
Not my car, just an example of an unsociable @#** blocking a charger
So people should refrain from buying one in case they block a public charger for two days?