Ahh that's good to know that the tacho doom has been in the making for more time than I thought. Do you have to run your tacho even when 'off-duty' as you would a full truck, and have an operator's licence and so forth?
Yes I've heard about the adaptive brake lights, I didn't realise you had to self-cancel the hazards though, which could be embarrassing for the less attentive drivers on the motorway after the classic panic braking incidents! How does the Start Off Assist feature on the auto - is it anything to do with system for holding the brakes when the pedal is released during hill starts? (I assumed that was an ECOgear/manual related option, and that the auto would hold it on hills anyway with the creep from the torque convertor?)
(Off topic alert, again
)
(One of) my current jobs is based at Killingholme, organising imported/exported cars, vans and trucks on and off the ships and around the various storage compounds for Mercedes, Mazda, Ford, Vauxhall (GM; Opel, Cadillac, currently Saab...) Chrysler (Dodge), Volvo, Scania, Renault Trucks and possibly, if we win the contract, a company most recently known for being comprehensively shafted by the modern media over a few recall issues...
As you've guessed by now I deal with plenty of box-fresh NCV3s of different specs, but also more or less the full model range from the european marques we cater for, which while paying me less than handsomely, feeds my hunger for sampling different cars nicely indeed. Tackle ranges from the poverty spec Corsa 3 cylinder granny chariot to the fully loaded Scania 620ps V8s. What does make me happy is the high percentage of 350 CDI optioned W212 and C207 E Classes coming through - there should be tons of them floating about on the market, upholding
the law with relatively few vulgar four cyclinder diesels spoiling things! In fairness the new four-pot is great in it's own right, and is definitely the right choice for Sprinters, but its NVH levels in something as silent and waft-tastic as an E class are unacceptable, the six is barely a whisper by comparison. The new model really is a return to form, to the 'hewn-from-granite' Es of old.
Whilst lurking around here reading up info on T1Ns before a potential purchase, I couldn't help but spot some pics of yours, which led me to the rather tantalising post you opened this thread with a while back... I did half-wonder if your Euro 5 would pass through our hands, and recently kept an eye out for all things green called SuSan, but to be honest I'd hoped it went elsewhere given some of the less than sympathetic driving that goes on from time to time, particularly in the compounds on the other side of the water by all accounts... Also the neighbouring Lindsey refinery of national fame provides an excellent coating of industrial fallout on the MB cars that we keep for stock, and the chassis and fleet-spec vans that are parked up for a well known lease company...
As it happens I was re-watching the Transit/Sprinter crash test video last night, amongst other things on the 'tube - sure makes for shocking viewing doesn't it! I think I was originally drawn to it after seeing a crashed low-roof transit being recovered - it had rolled over and the roof/top of the A pillars had caved in significantly - the roof line above the top of the bulkhead had folded cleanly like a piece of stiff card! A friend of mine thankfully finished off his hateful LDV Convoy recently, with it folding a wheel under itself against a high kerb after sliding on ice. The passenger managed to drop his wallet through the resultant hole in the cab floor whilst stepping out of the van!