(Which isn't on the drop down list)
We now have one of these as a pool car - a 1.2 petrol top of the range thingy - drove it for the first time the other day and was very impressed!
Driving along the motorway at average of 60mph , I was returning late 50's mpg. My 2.0 diesel ix35 does about 40 if I am lucky!
Don't know how it would be on a long motorway journey but certainly the about town and along the motorway journey that I took, impressed me.
As a pool car though its going to have many users and I have been tasked with the training of any potential drivers. No longer is it a case of the indicators are on the left, and the wipers are on the right and on you go.
Now I need to explain stop start, hill control, mirror blind spot warnings, auto handbrake, keyless entry, sat nav, Bluetooth etc etc !
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If a pool car, which surely is going to be used by a wide range of people at possibly short notice, requires training before being used is it really fit for purpose ;-)
In fact IMO any car that requires training before it can be used has been poorly designed!!
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AT least 50% of people are untrainable - they are either Nobby-Know-Alls or just can't take it in (the can but won't types, and the would but can't).
Good luck with that.
Maybe put a Quick Start sheet in the car, with some FAQs? (you have to go with people's learned behaviours - no good giving them the 200 page manual).
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Every different pool car has to have someone train them on it?
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And warn anyone with a pacemaker about keyless entry and go.
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If you need to read the manual to drive it - as opposed to operating something complex like a PC - it's too complex.
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>> If you need to read the manual to drive it - as opposed to operating
>> something complex like a PC - it's too complex.
>>
...which is pretty much what HJ says in his review.
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Seriously !
In 2014 you think you can just jump in and thunder off down the road without a second thought of I'm driving two tonnes of machinery and I have't a clue how the handbrake, lights and wipers work.
Insurance is going to get pricey.
Lots of people moan about electric handbrakes do they even realise they work on all four wheels including ABS on some vehicles/brands when the car is moving switching to rear wheels only when the car is at a stand-still ?
Last edited by: gmac on Sun 29 Jun 14 at 17:26
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>> Every different pool car has to have someone train them on it?
>>
In it. Bit nearer the controlly bits :-)
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I expect the vehicle operation procedures instructor will be required to wear a hi-viz vest and hard hat while carrying out the training, will have to produce, in triplicate, an operator suitability and compliance certificate before releasing the vehicle which in turn of course will have to be fumigated after each use in case in the process of being used it passed within 20 metres of someone who once smoked a cigarette or knows someone who has?
Shine a light.
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Humph, thankfully you couldnt be further from the truth!
It will be me showing each person all the controls, a "you alright with that " and on your way!
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No, no, no RFDH. Very first thing that's needed is a risk assessment, in line with the Car Requirements and Applications Policy. And the very putting on of hi-viz can itself be dangerous, so don't just rush in willy nilly! Only then can training begin ;-)
Last edited by: PeterS on Mon 30 Jun 14 at 06:24
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... And the very putting on of hi-viz can itself be dangerous, so don't just rush in willy nilly!
Something wrong with that technique for a start.
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Indeed so. It gives an entirely new meaning to hi-viz.....
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When being shown how a BMW 3 series works for my Olympic volunteering we all had to wear hi viz - no helmet though. This was in the car park of a Marriott hotel. Quite what the regular guests returning to their cars without hi viz vests thought of us I couldn't tell you!
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That's shocking. No cones or warning triangles. What blatant disregard the IOC has shown setting up a training area in the middle of a public area with no flag wavers to scream at Joe & Josephine Public the imminent danger they have placed themselves in.
I do hope lessons were learnt.
;-)
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Having said all the above, I've had my car 33 months and 94 thousand miles and I still don't know what all the switches are for !
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You used the plural, I thought Mercedes E class had everything on that single stalk.
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>> You used the plural, I thought Mercedes E class had everything on that single stalk.
>>
Whilst it's true that indicators, lights, rear wiper, dip/main beam are on one stalk, in reality because the lights come on, turn off and dip automatically, and the front wipers are also automatic, the only reason to use the stalk most of the is for indicators. As in any other car. There's occasionally the need to turn on the rear wiper. That's about it :-)
For me the sat nav functionality is best accessed using voice recognition, which works pretty well. That just leaves audio (iPhone) to be controlled by the central controller. Generally media/playlists/ and a quick scroll down. Unless you've decided to kill time by watching a DVD. Getting that to work work is black magic as far as I can establish, but primarily because a DVD is not just a movie anymore :-)
It reality the tech in the MB is more intuitive to access than many cars I've driven IME.
Last edited by: PeterS on Mon 30 Jun 14 at 20:10
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>> It reality the tech in the MB is more intuitive to access than many cars
>> I've driven IME.
>>
I was given (unusually) an E350CDi as a courtesy car on a recent visit to MB - I daresay I might have got these eventually, but figuring out the stalk electronic gear selector and parking brake would certainly have caused me significant hesitation.
Even the B Class on my last visit had a random push/pull electronic handbrake which is entirely manual - they only work automatically on the autos, apparently.
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>>
>> I was given (unusually) an E350CDi as a courtesy car on a recent visit to
>> MB - I daresay I might have got these eventually, but figuring out the stalk
>> electronic gear selector and parking brake would certainly have caused me significant hesitation.
>>
>> Even the B Class on my last visit had a random push/pull electronic handbrake which
>> is entirely manual - they only work automatically on the autos, apparently.
>>
Mine has the column shift, which again bar putting into 'D' at the beginning,and 'R' or 'P' at the end of the journey is never touched. A simple push with one finger to select any of the above. If you're really lazy I think it puts itself into 'P' if you open the door while stationary with it in gear! Otherwise the steering wheel paddles are used if I want to drop down a few gears quickly. And, I'm slightly ashamed to say, I never use the parking brake...
:-)
I agree though that the New FWD platform used in the CLA and B class cars, which I've had on loan from the dealer, while having pretty slick manual gear changes (a) have a reverse gear that's not that intuitive to find and (b) have an electronic handbrake that I mastered through luck than anything else :-)
Last edited by: PeterS on Mon 30 Jun 14 at 21:31
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>> A simple push with
>> one finger to select any of the above.
>>
That's fine once you know!
Bit like when autos starting being interlocked with the brake pedal - easy once you know, but baffling if you don't.
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>> I agree though that the New FWD platform used in the CLA and B class
>> cars, which I've had on loan from the dealer, while having pretty slick manual gear
>> changes (a) have a reverse gear that's not that intuitive to find and (b) have
>> an electronic handbrake that I mastered through luck than anything else :-)
>>
You don't use the handbrake during normal driving as they have a "hold" feature - but you'd never know it existed, or how to use it, unless you were a Merc buff or someone showed you.
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It's alright for the smart asses to extricate the Michael here, but I've seen more-than-enough kit ruined by idiots who 'thought' they knew what they were doing.
It must be nearly 20 years since I was driving an agricultural tractor towing 5-tonnes of grain-trailer ………………. totally unaware of the significance of the hare/tortoise lever. At the last second, I just managed to steer round the side of the barn rather than go straight through it - Laurel & Hardy style.
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Aye well maybe, but would you loan your car to anyone who had to be shown how to drive a Nissan Qashqai?
;-)
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Nissan - New Qashqai - PeterS
