Jones’s Maiden Voyage

We are leaving for Ro today. I will be boarding the ferry in about 3 hrs time, and head straight for the motorways. Not gonna hang around, hoping by Tuesday the latest to be there. We have our own place in NE Bucovina region, if you venture that way give is a nudge, we have space and can show you interesting spots around.
The border crossings are better on smaller places, Ro is in shengen now, so only random checks. We cross at Satu Mare. Also download vintrica app, and buy vignette and Rovinete online. You will need one for Hu and Ro. There are ANPR scanners that picks you up, don't go without it.

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Raul said:
We are leaving for Ro today. I will be boarding the ferry in about 3 hrs time, and head straight for the motorways. Not gonna hang around, hoping by Tuesday the latest to be there. We have our own place in NE Bucovina region, if you venture that way give is a nudge, we have space and can show you interesting spots around.
The border crossings are better on smaller places, Ro is in shengen now, so only random checks. We cross at Satu Mare. Also download vintrica app, and buy vignette and Rovinete online. You will need one for Hu and Ro. There are ANPR scanners that picks you up, don't go without it.

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Thanks! Do we need the vignette / rovinete if we avoid motorways? We’ll have to do that in Austria as we don’t have V5C - although it is now registered with DVLA, thank goodness.

And many thanks for the invitation! Do you have a town name I can put in my app so we can spot when we’re close? PM me if you prefer. Would be lovely to get some local insight.
 
Town is Suceava, vignette in Hu only for motorways. You will need reg number.
Rovinete is for all roads and you will need the Reg and vin number.
Let me know when you enter Ro and what border crossing you may choose. Most of traffic should be on the way out, as the holidays are almost finished and diaspora heads back to work and kids back to school.
 
Thanks. We’re thinking of crossing in the northwest - so Satu Mare might be the one for us too? Our big concern is lack of V5C - we don’t have a copy as DVLA we’re still working on it when we left.
 
Jane NotRog said:
Thanks. We’re thinking of crossing in the northwest - so Satu Mare might be the one for us too? Our big concern is lack of V5C - we don’t have a copy as DVLA we’re still working on it when we left.
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I feel for you. I tend to cross in between shifts, not 6am 12pm and so on. The border guards have juristriction 50km inland from border, so they can stop on random anywhere within that distance. Don't speed and don't give any reason to be stoped as you will need to produce the V5, along with the driving licence.

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Wondered how you finding the Mercedes end of things ti drive.... 🤔
Also do you have that distance control thingy that has nearly caused me to crash about 3 times today already! Lol it's the feature that when your in cruise control it brakes when things pull in, in front of you etc, mine is a bollocks, it's automatically slowed to practically zero mph when it sees a car ahead indicators on turning left to go off the road, people travelling behind nearly crashing into me!
IMHO there's far too much technical crap on these vans, needless to say ive now disabled about 90% of mine! 😂
 
Raul said:
We are waiting to board now, may cross each other on the way down. If roads are clear, I will be in Germany this evening.
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We’re currently in Friedberg, just outside Augsburg. Hoping to make fairly swift progress through Germany.
 
CaptainPaul said:
Wondered how you finding the Mercedes end of things ti drive.... 🤔
Also do you have that distance control thingy that has nearly caused me to crash about 3 times today already! Lol it's the feature that when your in cruise control it brakes when things pull in, in front of you etc, mine is a bollocks, it's automatically slowed to practically zero mph when it sees a car ahead indicators on turning left to go off the road, people travelling behind nearly crashing into me!
IMHO there's far too much technical crap on these vans, needless to say ive now disabled about 90% of mine! 😂
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I am really enjoying it. Bear in mind I treat driving like a chore that I don’t dislike so: I prefer it to ironing but prefer cooking to driving.

Also, I like driving aids, it’s a mystery to me why people think manually interacting with a box of gears through a metal linkage is a requirement to be a proper man. With that:

The Merc cab is a massive upgrade on the fiat - it’s not really a fair comparison, the cab and chassis is six years newer and probably costs 20% more. I love automatic, I like the cruise control too - even the distance although I just tend to set “far ish away” and forget it. Denby had cruise control but on a manual it was just painful. I get that you don’t like the way it shifts - it does feel to stay in too low a gear pulling away and keeping a speed up a gradient but I can live with that.

I have a love hate relationship with the Merc gear stick. I like that it’s so small and out of the way but I do keep putting the van into reverse when I’m changing lanes on the motorway.

There’s other bits of cab that are much better too: Apple CarPlay on a really quite remarkable screen. The aircon is fierce - it’ll cool the whole van. Extra cupholders (see, I warned I wasn’t really into cars :-)

The really surprising this is that Jones is much quieter than Denby. I really thought one downgrade we’d have going from PVC to Coachbuilt was rattles. Maybe all that EuraMobil marketing about 80mm thik floors and space age glue holding on a super stiff wall system has something to it.

The seats are comfier too.
 
Rog NotJane said:
I am really enjoying it. Bear in mind I treat driving like a chore that I don’t dislike so: I prefer it to ironing but prefer cooking to driving.

Also, I like driving aids, it’s a mystery to me why people think manually interacting with a box of gears through a metal linkage is a requirement to be a proper man. With that:

The Merc cab is a massive upgrade on the fiat - it’s not really a fair comparison, the cab and chassis is six years newer and probably costs 20% more. I love automatic, I like the cruise control too - even the distance although I just tend to set “far ish away” and forget it. Denby had cruise control but on a manual it was just painful. I get that you don’t like the way it shifts - it does feel to stay in too low a gear pulling away and keeping a speed up a gradient but I can live with that.

I have a love hate relationship with the Merc gear stick. I like that it’s so small and out of the way but I do keep putting the van into reverse when I’m changing lanes on the motorway.

There’s other bits of cab that are much better too: Apple CarPlay on a really quite remarkable screen. The aircon is fierce - it’ll cool the whole van. Extra cupholders (see, I warned I wasn’t really into cars :-)

The really surprising this is that Jones is much quieter than Denby. I really thought one downgrade we’d have going from PVC to Coachbuilt was rattles. Maybe all that EuraMobil marketing about 80mm thik floors and space age glue holding on a super stiff wall system has something to it.

The seats are comfier too.
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My new Mercedes EV is the same. The screen is like a space ship, I even have satnav where the speedo used to be. Just a little number at the top, but of course it nags if I go more than 2 mph over the limit. We are like you no interest in cars. The salesman was horrified when I answered his question about what I look for in a car and said, "they are like washing machines, I want it to always work, be quiet, and I want a red one, that's it".
 
Rog NotJane said:
Also, I like driving aids, it’s a mystery to me why people think manually interacting with a box of gears through a metal linkage is a requirement to be a proper man.
Click to expand...

Fixed that for you -
Rog NotJane said:
Also, I like driving aids, it’s a mystery to me why men think manually interacting with a box of gears through a metal linkage is a requirement to be a proper man.
Click to expand...
 
Rog NotJane said:
I am really enjoying it. Bear in mind I treat driving like a chore that I don’t dislike so: I prefer it to ironing but prefer cooking to driving.

Also, I like driving aids, it’s a mystery to me why people think manually interacting with a box of gears through a metal linkage is a requirement to be a proper man. With that:

The Merc cab is a massive upgrade on the fiat - it’s not really a fair comparison, the cab and chassis is six years newer and probably costs 20% more. I love automatic, I like the cruise control too - even the distance although I just tend to set “far ish away” and forget it. Denby had cruise control but on a manual it was just painful. I get that you don’t like the way it shifts - it does feel to stay in too low a gear pulling away and keeping a speed up a gradient but I can live with that.

I have a love hate relationship with the Merc gear stick. I like that it’s so small and out of the way but I do keep putting the van into reverse when I’m changing lanes on the motorway.

There’s other bits of cab that are much better too: Apple CarPlay on a really quite remarkable screen. The aircon is fierce - it’ll cool the whole van. Extra cupholders (see, I warned I wasn’t really into cars :-)

The really surprising this is that Jones is much quieter than Denby. I really thought one downgrade we’d have going from PVC to Coachbuilt was rattles. Maybe all that EuraMobil marketing about 80mm thik floors and space age glue holding on a super stiff wall system has something to it.

The seats are comfier too.
Click to expand...
I can relate to most of what your saying there, i don't mind the little steering wheel stalk gear shift now although I hated it at the start, like you I was forever flicking the indicators on with it but thankfully it's super smart and knows im a dickhead and doesn't tell the engine to slam into reverse gear at 60mph! 😁
Also agree with hill climbs etc it stays too low and does a bit of screaming with much too many revs, I climbed a couple of inclines today and was shocked to see the revs up between 3500rpm & 4000rpm! But all of its own making as I was in cruise control,
I get you are a fan of autos whereas im not but after driving this one of mine i agree with Dutch 68 & Landy Andy and a few others this van would be the perfect van with the original OM642 3.0L V6 engine preferably on a manual box but I could live with it on this current 9g tronic box too
I feel the current 2L engine onboard now is for delivery vans and more about emissions than anything else but it is what it is as they say 🤷‍♂️
I also agree the cab build quality & overall quietness is 100% Merc quality that you'd expect,
Overall for me personally it's like an old school report card i used to get... 'Not bad but could do better'! 🤣
Thanks for giving me your thoughts & insights with it so far,
Staying tuned and enjoying your thread 👍
 
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Wanders from Glos said:
Do you take historians who don't understand anything about physics?
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We took a vote and you can be admitted as a probationary member. You will have full veto powers on all wrong physics posts on MHF but you must submit written evidence (no more than 10,000 words please) to Jim before calling a veto. You may also add the words “MHF Physics committee probationary member” to your MHF .sig

Your full application will be considered at the next AGM. If and when your membership is approved, you can append your membership number to your sig.

Please use your new powers wisely.

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Raul said:
We are leaving for Ro today. I will be boarding the ferry in about 3 hrs time, and head straight for the motorways. Not gonna hang around, hoping by Tuesday the latest to be there. We have our own place in NE Bucovina region, if you venture that way give is a nudge, we have space and can show you interesting spots around.
The border crossings are better on smaller places, Ro is in shengen now, so only random checks. We cross at Satu Mare. Also download vintrica app, and buy vignette and Rovinete online. You will need one for Hu and Ro. There are ANPR scanners that picks you up, don't go without it.

View attachment 1110354
Click to expand...
Does this work if you are over 3.5 tonne?
As we are over this limit the usual and easy vignette does not apply , it tends to be a bit more complicated.
Folk have said just say your are 3.5 tonne and buy the vignette, but its wasted money as it’s worthless.
 
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Jays2 said:
Does this work if you are over 3.5 tonne?
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I think so, as you will have to register your REG number with the app, and fill in the relevant category for your vehicle. You will receive a email comfirmation of hour Reg registration, then yiu buy vignette and pay it. I think they take Pay pal as well. I pay with credit card.

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