MERCEDES 310D
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The bad news is that it has rained quite a bit since the last report on CMs Mercedes-Benz long term test van. The good news is, that in keeping with its other abilities, it allowed the 310D to show how good a submarine it is.
The combination of a high driving position and a diesel engine means 3101) drivers need have no fear of the elements. Driving on wet motorways, through puddles at the side of the road or even fording floods is no problem for our big blue shed on wheels. While we cruised confidently two metres above the road surface with a clear view, car drivers were either hurtling into the motorway spray, or sitting on the hard shoulder with drowned electrics. It is tempting to suspect the straight sided body would attract dirt during inclement weather. In fact the reverse is true. It stays remarkably clean in the wet and dry alike. Apart from one-offs for photogi aphic purposes, the 310 has only needed a wash every 6,000 miles during regular servicing.
• Respectable
In the interim it stays clean enough to be respectable. When it does need a clean, you probably won't find a car wash capable of taking its 2.3m height. But whether you use a brush and bucket, a pressure washer or a roll over, the lack of contours means the body is easy to clean.
At around 12,000 miles, the engine loosened up noticeably. Unfortunately', the dog-leg first gear hasn't improved.
Judge the gate right and the gear engages with only the lightest touch on the stick. Stopped, there's a fighting chance of selecting first gear with the minimum of effort.
But even at a snail's pace, or when the gearbox is in its usual grumpy mode, physical effort is still required if you insist on selecting the bottom cog.
Where first gear comes into its own is in traffic jams—it is so low that you can often Creep along on tickover without having to keep depressing the clutch. This provides a most welcome alternative to an aching left leg.
If traffic jams make you reach for a cigarette, you had better have some matches too. The 310D lacks what Mercedes-Benz calls a cigar lighter. While M-B may feel this omission is in the interest of the driver's health, the power supply is often utilised by mobile phones and other equipment.
Despite the extra miles on the clock, the 310D is still noisy, which causes driver fatigue on longer runs. The five-cylinder engine has distinct boom periods as it works up the rev range. Selecting your road speed carefully helps to keep the din to a minimum.
Despite frequent use of first gear, the van is a lot more driveable when fully laden. It appears most of the van's energy is taken up with pushing its large frontal area through the air. Loading almost a tonne and a half in the back is more of an irritation than a drawback.
The 310's unladen ride is a lot better than most vans and improves with a full load. As power steering comes as stan
dard, you don't need bulging biceps to pilot the loaded Mere along a twisty road.
The full height bulkhead restricts the size of the cab. With warm air available within about half a mile from start up, keeping the windows clear is not a problem.
But you must remember to leave the nearside vent on and pointing towards the side window. At low speeds, if you need to resort to the two-speed blower to keep the windows clear, there is a considerable noise penalty.
• Restricted
As the van has run-in, the repeated opening and shutting of the door has worked the nearside mirror loose. Despite the restricted cross-cab access, the nearside door gets a fair amount of use on round town drops. Having leapt back in to the cab and got out into the traffic, it is annoying to find the mirror has inched in too far to be of much use.
It came to light during the van's second visit to Puttocks of Guildford that Mercedes-Benz has reduced the Ti's service times. The upshot was that its second service (at 12,000 miles) cost a little over £50 as against £76 for the 6.000 mile service. This brings the total servicing costs to £226.28 which will see the van through to 18,000 miles. 0 by Colin Sowman