New Car Time?

[Teflon]

Not really! But we (Mrs Teflon & I) paid an afternoon visit to Brooklands Museum today. On the way, we stopped off to have a nosey around Mercedes Benz World.

A number of very expensive cars to look at, among which was this one:





(pics taken on 'phone, so not too great!)

It was one of the less expensive cars, priced at a modest £125K on the road, and very nice it was too . The thing that really bugged me though, was that the ongoing VED cost for this car was quoted as £140. That's less than half the cost for my 2.0 Rover .

Given the potentially lower day to day running costs, I did consider making a part exchange offer for the car. I was thinking my car for the Merc, plus a cash lump sum from them to reflect the differing value between the current run of the mill German car, and the fast appreciating (!) classical British motor car they would be getting .

They were very busy though, so in the end, we went on to Brooklands and had a very nice ride in an old bus:



The Mercedes guys will be kicking themselves when they realise they missed out .

That VED cost though - really doesn't seem fair Grrrrr

Cliff

[FLYING BANANA]

Glad they missed out on that deal.

[BillyMG]

What a beautiful ... bus!!

[Teflon]

Originally Posted by BillyRover

What a beautiful ... bus!!

It was rather nice. Doesn't seem that long ago that you would see tham in service.

Cliff

[Jim Jamieson]

Don’t get me started on VED charges.
I too grudge paying out for the V6 Conny which is more than double the cost of our CLS, it’s absolutely crazy.

[Heddy]

The grille look very menacing.....for a bus

[BillyMG]

Originally Posted by Teflon

It was rather nice. Doesn't seem that long ago that you would see tham in service.

Cliff

Before my time but I drove more modern buses - not modern like you see now but more modern than that one. My Dad drove those two man buses and often talks fondly of it. Interestingly, there was a bus route which ran past our house when I was a kid and my Dad used to beep his horn as he flew past in the early evenings - my mum used to say, 'there's your Dad!' as we were having tea in the kitchen. Years later I drove that same bus route and beeped my horn to (unfortunately only) my Dad as I flew past - seems like a lifetime ago now as I took up an interesting career world's apart. I drove some buses during my time, which had over 2 million miles on the clock! They'd been running every day bar the odd repair for the best part of 30 Years! You could always tell because you'd let your foot off the break in an automatic on a hill and it'd roll backwards lol. We sold some of them to India where they apparently used them for a million or so more miles before cutting the top off, putting the engine in the back of the roof and using them as a boat!! I have a picture somewhere ... Nobody ever talked about the moon club with old buses ...

[SD1too]

Originally Posted by Teflon

It was rather nice. Doesn't seem that long ago that you would see tham in service.

You can still enjoy the original Routemaster on route 15 from Aldwych to Tower Hill, complete with conductor.

Go for it Cliff whilst you still can.

Simon

[steve-45]

Don’t get me started on VED charges, a friend has just bought a couple of year old Skoda diesel and it has FREE VED !

No wonder the car buying public is so confused with the government sending out these mixed messages !

[Teflon]

Originally Posted by Heddy

The grille look very menacing.....for a bus

It's how all buses should look in my view .

Originally Posted by BillyRover

Before my time but I drove more modern buses - not modern like you see now but more modern than that one. My Dad drove those two man buses and often talks fondly of it. Interestingly, there was a bus route which ran past our house when I was a kid and my Dad used to beep his horn as he flew past in the early evenings - my mum used to say, 'there's your Dad!' as we were having tea in the kitchen. Years later I drove that same bus route and beeped my horn to (unfortunately only) my Dad as I flew past - seems like a lifetime ago now as I took up an interesting career world's apart. I drove some buses during my time, which had over 2 million miles on the clock! They'd been running every day bar the odd repair for the best part of 30 Years! You could always tell because you'd let your foot off the break in an automatic on a hill and it'd roll backwards lol. We sold some of them to India where they apparently used them for a million or so more miles before cutting the top off, putting the engine in the back of the roof and using them as a boat!! I have a picture somewhere ... Nobody ever talked about the moon club with old buses ...

Some fascinating memories there. I had a couple of uncles who were "on the buses" in the Manchester area in the early 60's. I remember my first visit up there as a small boy, I was astonished to see blue buses. Couldn't believe it. 'Round our way in Surrey, we had either traditional red buses, or "Green Line" buses (which were green, of course) and I was firmly convinced that all buses, every where in the world, were the same colour. Witchcraft to a small boy .

Originally Posted by SD1too

You can still enjoy the original Routemaster on route 15 from Aldwych to Tower Hill, complete with conductor. ..........
Simon

I had no idea, I thought they were all taken out of service some while back. Nice to know that some are still in proper use .

Originally Posted by steve-45

Don’t get me started on VED charges, a friend has just bought a couple of year old Skoda diesel and it has FREE VED !

No wonder the car buying public is so confused with the government sending out these mixed messages !

That was my thoughts exactly. For all the expensive cars they had on show, there where none that had ongoing VED costs as high as my Rover.

Cliff