rantingYoof

One of the reasons my dad bought it was the spec. When I found it for sale, I told him that the 'Elegance' was, basically, the 'luxury' specification. When we were looking at it in London, I told him that it looked like the first owner had basically clicked a 'Select All' button when faced with the options list. Both of us love finding the top-spec top-specced cars...a long time ago I found him a V-plated 3.0 Omega Elite which had all options ticked as a factory demonstrator. Even a built-in phone which worked. Nicely bought. My dad will be chuffed it's still within the Autoshite fold.

There must be some sort of phobia relating to seeing things like that, because I find those absolutely fucking terrifying for no reason I can put my finger on.

To move this on. A 'coupe-fied' five door SUV is the most offensively pointless and unnecessary body shape of any vehicle type in existence.

There is nowt much more depressing then seeing an Audi A3 convertible in Bosch white, clagging away in a traffic queue proudly displaying a '1.6TDi' badge.

It sounds like @Zelandeth has been issued a Planning Contravention Notice. https://etplanning.co.uk/what-is-a-planning-contravention-notice-pcn/ A standard and perfectly normal, if heavy handed in this instance, procedure when an enforcement team has been notified (usually by a neighbour) of a potential breach of planning regs, and needs more information. The Council is obliged to investigate any alleged breaches of planning regulations that it is informed about. However, it's reflective of the state of things with Councils and funding that, for this particular sort of alleged breach, a PCN is considered to be more appropriate than an officer simply swinging past the site to have a chat with the homeowner about things. In this instance, one 30-minute site visit, a quick peek inside the garage and any outbuildings for evidence of ramps, tools and other paraphernalia assocatied with intensive vehicle maintenance and repair (i.e. to the degree where @Zelandeth could attempt to earn an income), and photographs of the vehicles in question, all would quickly allow an experienced enforcement officer to arrive at a profressional opinion that, clearly, there is no evidence of business activity. A PCN is a very simple, quick way for the Council to push the onus more onto the alleged contravenor with regards to evidencing what use is taking place at the property, without having to pay someone to visit the site etc. With that in mind, as I mentioned above, answer the questions on the PCN honestly, do a thorough, photographic documentary of your entire property, all outbuildings, all storage areas, to show that you do not possess the tools or equipment required to operate a vehicle repair/maintenance business from your home address. In the referred to by @BorniteIdentity, the issue was the sheer quantity of vehicles likely exceeded what was considered to be incidental to the residential use of the dwellinghouse. Simply put, if the land around/within the dwelling and its outbuildings was being used for storing vehicles and associated paraphernalia more than it was being used as a garden/driveway, it would dance more on the line of a storage use, than residential. It's a really grey area, though, and I'm not familiar with established caselaw on the matter (I'm sure it's dealt with on a case-by-case basis anyway).

About 600hp and over 1000nm of torque. Through a four speed auto (reinforced obvs). It was bloody insane and brilliant.

Same. I wish I'd known about them before they became valued at £NOPE moneys.

It's a bit of an archaic engine to be fair (no bad thing). 3.2 18v, seems to be more thirsty than 24v six pot engines I've driven. I did 200 miles on mostly NSL dual carriageways with traffic with no hypermiling, and achieved 30mpg. But it was only used for town runs in the dead of winter and was on 15mpg. The 3.0 24v Omega MV6 was a few mpg higher on comparable journeys. I think a straight six BMW would probably do even better. Neither of those have the wodge of torque that arrives with the Mercedes though. Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

The rear parking sensors are not, as far as I know, audio-based. There are light bars on the roof and on the dash, and they light up green, amber, red etc as you get closer to the car or surface you are reversing or driving up to. You should be able to see the light bars easily in the rear view mirror. I can't answer the SBC questions, other than to confirm that the car's done that since my dad picked it up and it hasn't been mentioned by any of the garages that have had the car in for MOT or servicing since. I'm glad it's served you well on your trip back south-east.

This model postdates the 'avoid sharp glances or it will collapse into a pile of particles' era of Mercedes build quality. Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

Honey Badger is winner. Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

SAM 1. What a guy.

Will people be as likely to fondly remember this unnecessarily cheerful-faced gurning lump of crossover in 30 years? Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

Someone buy this absolute unicorn of a thing and I guarantee* to buy it off you as soon as I can stump up the funds. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202306299089470 Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

Woof. Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk