Hi

I normally post on here prior to buying a new car asking for help with the choices but on this occassion I just went and bought one so thought I would feedback with impressions of the car thus far.

Previous weekend cars have included the Mk1 Audi TT (225) which was excellent and a Volvo C70 Cabrio (which was not!). We fancied another 4 seat cabrio with a bit of performance and a degree of cachet and always like the look of the Merc so after a bit of time spent online researching what was out there we flew down last March from Edinburgh to Stanstead then got the train up to a dealers specialising in reasonably priced older prestige cars in a small town near Cambridge where we bought the thing for just under 4 grand. I was aware that we were buying what many people consider to be 'the wrong sort' of Mercedes i.e. 4 pot engine and wait for it.... a manual gearbox! but I prefer manuals and the supercharged 181 bhp engine seemed to have a good rep from what I could tell online

The drive back home was always going to be interesting with an unknown quantity and an older car but it aquitted itself really well. The halfway home point was near Masham so we stopped off there overnight and sampled some of the excellent beers brewed in the town. What really surprised us was the fuel economy which came in at a shade over 40mpg and that figure has since been replicated on a long run down to Suffolk and back from here in Scotland.

I'm glad I got the supercharged 1.8 engine because it's an absolute peach. The Mercedes blurb describes it as an attempt to get the smooth silky charachteristics of a 6 pot motor but with the advantages of a lighter and more economical 4 pot and they're not wrong. Don't get me wrong, it's not a performance car by any means but it will shift when you floor it, is nice and torquey, very quiet and smooth and as I say unexpectedly economical. The 6 speed manual box is slick and easy to use (no regrets there) and the only thing that took a bit of getting used to was the weird handbrake arrangement (foot operated to apply just to the left of the clutch then manual release lever under the right hand dash). totally counter-intuitive and not the best combo with the manual box, always felt like I could use an extra arm at first! but like anything you get used to it and it's fine now. The car is on 16" allows but doesn't look 'under-wheeled' the up side is that it rides very comfortably with none of the scuttle shake the Volvo had but is still surprisingly good fun to drive on the twisties with a good weight to the steering which is probably helped by the rear wheel drive (I think this might be my first RWD car since a 1979 Datsun 140Y purchased in 1987!)

What is very surprising about the car is just how quiet it is for a rag-top, it's a lovely cruiser and swmbo reckons it's the quietest car we've ever owned. The top itself raises and lowers very quickly and with non of the problems we encountered with the Volvo. Top down, it;'s a nice place to be but as with all 4 seat cabrios the purchase of a wind-deflector really helps matters in terms of buffeting. Decent amount of space in the back too with very comfy seats. Boot space is also better than the Volvo, even with the top down.

The car has been pretty reliable thus far with only a dodgy engine temp sensor to report but we did manage to find a good Merc indy in Glasgow who we will use for any future work.

Negatives? Well the stereo is rubbish and er, um that's about it. MOT's due soon so fingers crossed for that but we reckon the car's a keeper, it looks lovely in the mid grey/blue metallic and I find myself using it more and more instead of our day to day Mk7 Golf TSi. It has something of that well-engineered feel that the Mk1 TT had and I think we must have got the facelifted version that came in after Mercedes sorted the rust problems that so badly affected their early 2000's cars as there's not a trace of it.

Jeez, that was a long post!