Hello all members.
Dear members, just a post to say hello and glad to have joined the club whose forum I have trawled through on numerous occasions in the past. I haven't been exposed to much off-road action but have plenty of fun in the winters here in Switzerland. Regards, Jan.
Hello
Bet you have some fun in the G in the winter over there! In the UK, the country comes to a standstill if there is more than an inch of snow on the ground. Unless of course you are in Scotlant then you know how to deal with it!
Hi and welcome.
How do you find the G in Switzerland? Are there many of them or are they classed as expensive imports? From memory the emissions are quite strict how does the G fair on that score?
Spider1V
Hello Jan,
Welcome to the forum and the GWOA, Thank you for joining.
As a new member, may I bring to your attention to mark in your calender the G-Wagens' 35th anniversary to be celebrated in Austria. I have included a link of the meeting and would point out that, the costs mentioned in the link is travelling from the UK.
The Swiss and German G-Wagen clubs band together and every fifth year, hold an International meet, of which the next one is in May/June 2014. Hope you can attend, in my opinion it is well worth it; I have attended two of these and enjoyed them both.
http://www.gwoa.co.uk/forum/g-wagen-35th-international-meeting-kitzbuehel-2014
Jan.
Many thanks for the update and information. A G500 no less? Well that get's you into the sub club of the Wood & Leather Brigade - Power Division! LOL (Only open to those who have a 500 and above (Engine size).
I had heard that the CH government will pay towards a 4x4 if you let them use it, is that true and how does your V8 perform when it gets bad? I remember being snowed in down in Altdorf (probably wrong spelling - down in the Canton of Uri) a few years back and everyone was rather OK with it, whereas here in the UK mass panic when we have more than 7 snow flakes! Good luck with the up and coming 'MOT' and once again many thanks for the update!
Spider1V
Dear Rakesh,
thanks for the update, definitely in the calendar books, given it is a not too much of a trek. The reason I didn't joint he Swiss club is that the forum is virtually non existent and being Dutch I struggle with the language as well!
Rgds
The govt / army here have enough of their own gwagen a so they not touching mine ! Snow here is welcomed and virtually everyone here on winter tyres which means slower traffic in heavy snow but no gridlock like in the UK! The V8 performs fine as long as you keep the box in manual gears on descents as otherwise it just picks up too much momentum and have issues stopping. I never apply the diff locks as it simply not necessary with proper winter tyres. Again on the tyre front I recommend michelin latitude as being the most suitable and it's slightly higher cost is well worth it. Having lived in london for a good 10 years I remember it being a real drama. Everything just stops.
hi jan.
thats a lovely unmolested G you have there...i am suprised the G500 came with non colour coded mirrors and bumpers. loks very retro . i like it.....!! paint code looks the same as my 97 model G300, RUBY. i am thinking of spraying the bumpers and mirrors back to stock.
btw, what was the G500 value when you brought it ? its a 2000 model right ...?
rgds hus
Hi hus,
yes it is a 2000 model, as it was such a well maintained car I couldn't resist. One previous owner from new and always serviced at the same merc garage for the last 10 years. When I bought it had 170000 km on the clock and I ended up paying 25k chf for it (about 20k Euro) and spending another 3k euro on new discs, pads, new tyres , battery and a b service together with some small electrical issues that needed sorting. With regards to the color coded bumpers and mirrors, I can only assume the previous owner didn't tick that options box at the time when buying it or it wasn't available yet. Not sure.
Rgds
jan
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Hello Spider,
You see many older ones, however in Geneva they have become more common amongst the rich and famous as a must have accessory. New they are horrifically expensive but then again the second hand market for older models like mine with V8 engines is virtually non existent meaning you can pick them up for next to nothing. On the emissions they are strict here and you have to pass the local emission test which for a well maintained vehicle is not an issue, especially when they were purchased new in CH and not an import. Insurance is very reasonable as well. More or less the same as my wife's Audi Q5. I am due for the annual inspection (MOT equivalent) on the 10th of Dec so we will see how I fare then..I just had new discs/pads/service done and 4 new winter tyres fitted so not too worried.
rgds,jan