TEST LONG-TERM

5 320 km

5,90 L/100 km

Once again, the Northern Cape sojourn has been called off. Reports from that most beautiful of provinces suggest an Orange River time-out would freeze the chilblains off a polar bear right now, so instead, Merc and owner stayed home with Horlicks and a dog blanket. Mid-month it was seconded as a removals van, a role at which it turned out to be surprisingly good. The back seats fold down, turning a very conventional three-box sedan into something that astonished the neighbours. Hat stand? No problem. Standard lamp? In it went. Pot plant? Not an issue, except pot plants come with soil … one Triassic taxi later and the rear footwell resembled a child’s sandpit. Which highlighted another issue. The Merc’s floor carpets are luxurious thick-pile items, good for sound deadening and bare feet back from the beach, but murder to vacuum.

Other news is that the planned software update campaign has also been delayed. Thankfully, nothing has frozen and no warning lights have come on, so it can’t be vitally important. Fervent promises have been made to bring the car in this coming week, so the mystery should soon be