We recently took a deep breath and invested in a top of the range 8-seater V Class Mercedes.
Our last private-hire vehicle was a 7-seater Volkswagen Sharan, which we bought in March 2020, just before the pandemic. We soon realised that this was bad timing as the poor thing was left depreciating in the driveway for the first 24 months of ownership. Complete with a sliding glass sunroof and electric doors, we thought that this was the ideal car for our business of operating small group tours, and eventually it turned out to be just that. Clients could get in and out easily and look up at the White Cliffs of Dover without moving from their seat. The car served us well for 4 years and still looks and drives great.
Our recent acquisition, which has a much larger panoramic sunroof and much quieter electric doors, is even more perfect! The first thing you notice are the doors which close with a satisfying clunk. Once inside the vehicle, you are greeted with the lovely smell of leather upholstery. This is not the usual black leather but cream leather, which combined with the large glass roof, makes the car much lighter inside and gives it a certain wow factor. And by the way, this combination was not by chance. It took a lot of research to work out exactly what we wanted and then to source a vehicle with this precise spec. In fact, to our knowledge, it was the only one of its kind on sale in the UK at that time. We just couldn’t say no!
The interior of the Mercedes V Class is designed to look more like a luxury car rather than a van. It does not have a bench seat in the front but 2 luxurious armchairs. The 6 opulent leather seats in the rear can be arranged to face each other, but we know from experience that many of our clients do not like to face backwards when traveling and so we opted to keep all rows of seats facing forwards. Visibility is excellent from all positions. One of the cool features of this model is that when the driver guide speaks, the microphone at the front discreetly relays the information through the rear speakers.
We also decided to choose a long wheelbase model, as opposed to the standard or the extra-long, which would have been unnecessarily long for our purposes. In the past, we were somewhat limited with a car in which we could either accommodate up to 4 people with suitcases or 5-6 people on a day excursion. On one occasion, we even had to rent a car so that a friend could transport the luggage for us separately. With the Mercedes, we can now pick up and transport up to 7 people with luggage in comfort. Simply life changing!
Once behind the wheel, you are met with a cockpit that would put a Lear jet to shame. With a turn of the key, the computer comes to life, the dials shine bright blue, and the impeccable controls are all at your fingertips with the quality stamp of Mercedes all over them. The car is remarkably easy to drive with light responsive steering and a remarkably tight turning circle. 360-degree cameras make parking a breeze and we are told that the car will even park itself if we ever dare to press the appropriate button and close our eyes!
From the outside the Mercedes V Class is very modest and understated. In spite of its bulk, there is no shortage of grunt as the 2- litre turbocharged engine puts out 250 brake horsepower, enough to keep most so-called sports cars and boy racers in the rear-view mirror when needed!
All in all, we are thrilled to bits with our new investment and believe that it is worth every penny. We look forward to seeing you on one of our tours in 2026 and hope that you will share our enthusiasm!