Mercedes Marco Polo Latest Info 2017

[calicasas]

Reading today in German news that Marco Polo sold more than California in 2016, this is first time ever, I am now seeing many many Marco Polo on the road in Germany and France. It is good that VW now have some good competition. Two of my friends have also changed to Mercedes from VW as they are no longer loyal.

I am not surprised also given the problems with 180 engines in 2011 onwards. I have had problems with my engine and following poor commitment from VW UK to commit to resolve this issue fully and properly then I will be moving to Westfalia at next purchase, now in 2018/2019. Principally because I could not contemplate spend £60+ on a vehicle only to find VW UK really don't care about a major design/manufacturing fault just outside warranty. Just can't take that risk...

 

[JRD]

Was interested into looking at a Marco Polo as a possible alternative to a Cali. After speaking to two dealers and Mercedes Benz UK today all,of which had no idea as to when it may be available I have decided to go with my first choice a Cali. Will put my order in in the next few days.

 

[nezzler]

It would be a nice option if VW gave the option of an official LWB california. A larger lounge area or an option of a built in toilet cabinet (rather than having it under the sink). Or even just a bit more storage for when 4 are occupying the slave!

 

[NZCol]

Had a look at HymerCar the other day, the new ones with the pop roof - very interesting and well put together. The one minus toilet (Sydney) is about same size(ish) as our ex Cali but seemed a bit better put together, is taller right enough by about 25cm I think. Layout inside was spacious and for a 3 (as we are) it could work really well.

Larger one was quite nice really and would still fit in our garage OK, meant we could keep bikes inside which was our main issue with Cali (and size but then its not a big van). Worth a look as an alternative generally though.

 

[Skylark2.0]

Had a look at HymerCar the other day, the new ones with the pop roof - very interesting and well put together. The one minus toilet (Sydney) is about same size(ish) as our ex Cali but seemed a bit better put together, is taller right enough by about 25cm I think. Layout inside was spacious and for a 3 (as we are) it could work really well.

Larger one was quite nice really and would still fit in our garage OK, meant we could keep bikes inside which was our main issue with Cali (and size but then its not a big van). Worth a look as an alternative generally though.

Can you post a link?!

 

[calimera]

https://www.motorhomes.co.uk/motorhomes-for-sale/hymer/hymercar/sydney/1072/

 

[RTWoodstock]

I will certainly take a look at the Marco Polo - have seen a few on my travels and they seem at least worth further investigation as I'm looking at options as getting rid of my year old California Ocean as it has been a horrendously unreliable and the thought of dealing with VW anymore has life is too short written all over it - for me at least and all I can do as a consumer is vote with my wallet.

I have experience of 3 Californias including the one I own and they have all had a mixture of exactly the same issues (some serious engine problems to minor but irritating bits falling off/faulty sensors etc) and the fact that these cross generations would seem to indicate VW really don't care to bother with even the most minor design changes that would address them.

I wonder (and this maybe just my impression from a browse of the forum) how may people (and I know there are some) actually heavily use these vehicles for heavy multi week/month trips etc as perhaps some of the short comings may be revealed a little earlier and the consequences a little more drastic and therefore the reaction a bit harsher on VW.

I am fortunate in that I can work remotely so travel as much as I can in mine - and the latest VW induced nightmare left me on a small island off the coast of Croatia for a week with the what it turns out is the third exact fault that VW have repeatedly mislead me about.

Again, I am fortunate that don't need to sell my van to replace it with an alternative so will definitely look at the Marco Polo - might be nice to see if can go through a buying experience without being flat out and endlessly lied to and perhaps they might actually treat me like they care about my 50 odd thousand.

And obviously if anyone is interested in a 2016 Silver Ocean with about 14,000 miles on it then obviously give me a shout ... Although, you may have to get used to the view above a little more than you'd like.

 

[phillme]

front end doesn't look like an ocean ? or have you modified it ? or am i wrong ?

 

[larrylamb]

front end doesn't look like an ocean ? or have you modified it ? or am i wrong ?

SE, 5.1 I would say.

 

[RTWoodstock]

No is not modified - is registered August 2016 is one of the very very last 5.2 built and was delivered beyond late. So if anyone wants it ...

 

[Digger]

Registration date was very late as T5 was discontinued in 2015. T6 commenced in 2015 if I remember correctly. Hope you have better luck with your next vehicle.

 

[RTWoodstock]

Took an extremely long time including being sat for months as it turned out. All a bit of disastrous experience from the moment I walked into the dealer. Thanks, hopefully will find some thing suitable in next couple of months and in longer term will try and have something built myself.

 

[B J G]

Latest mag. Test-report

https://www.whatcar.com/news/2017-m...tin (06.06.2017)::Readme4&utm_source=20170606

 

[Sue G]

A lot has already been said about the Marco Polo but we went to visit one in the flesh on Tuesday so just thought we would share our thoughts.

When stepping into the living area of the MP the first thing we noticed was that the van sits lower than the Cali. Back seats much more comfortable but cream leather so not very practical. (I know there’s an option to have black leather but personally I would find all black seats a bit dark). We were aware that the majority of the inside of the van was cream apart from some black sections on some of the units. We could see the cream interior seats and plastics getting grubby easily.


The dash was again predominantly cream and looked quite nice but we felt this was let down by a cheap looking grey plastic housing for the control panel which was sited down below the dash and looked like it was straight out of the basic panel van (no offense meant to panel van owners) . The gap between the front seats seemed narrow when trying to walk into the living area plus it’s got a slightly raised tunnel that you walk on which seemed to make gap feel even narrower. In fact we felt the rear seats were also narrower which in turn would make the downstairs bed smaller. The upstairs mattress was about 12cm narrower than our Cali mattress.

When viewing online we thought the “decking” seemed quite classy but we were disappointed when seeing it in the flesh. We felt it looked cheap plus the two runners on the floor for the back seat to slide on seemed to be wider and more prominent and "engineered" than in the Cali, plus the gaps in the runners are really exposed to debris and dirt falling in as there are no protective rubber strips over them.

All the cupboards/and rear wardrobe seemed less practical and smaller than in the Cali, plus the rear seat has to be moved back to the furthest position to be able to access the left hand side kitchen cupboards as they pull out and don’t side sideways like the Cali ones. One thing that was an improvement was how smoothly the kitchen table slides in and out of position.

We liked the electric opening and closing boot but due to the whole van being lower when we opened the boot we were just looking straight into the back of the overhead cupboard. The outdoor table and chairs storage case takes up a ridiculous amount of room in the boot so the only storage is on top of this case plus in the left hand wardrobes, the rear one seeming smaller than the Cali plus only one shelf and some black mounded plastic inside taking up more room inside. Also access to this cupboard seemed limited as it only has one door.

Initially at first sight we thought the van looked quite classy but within a couple of minutes we had changed our mind. We really felt that the van was style over substance. We felt the interior was not as solid and good quality as the flashy looks first make you think and it feels like MB are “playing” at producing a campervan. It felt like the sort of van you would need to keep immaculate as otherwise it might look shabby. Although following a very similar layout to the Cali, the changes they had made just made the van less practical to use.

Obviously this was just our observations and I respect others may disagree with our views and they seem to be selling well abroad plus competition is always a good thing. We were pleased we had been to see one in the flesh but came away very happy that we had chosen a Cali.

 

[T6 CFO]

Great review and does not surprise me at all. It's a blingey Merc and not a Cali.
Thanks

Mike


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[pjm-84]

Thanks. I suspect I will view, drive, consider and leave. Your review aligns with my initial thoughts and I've yet to see the vehicle.

 

[motacyclist]

A Marco Polo has arrived in our local MB dealer and our impressions are much like Sue G's.

Initially it was really impressive but after spending 20 minutes or so a number of issues came to light.

I'm not sure what this is but it makes it very difficult to move into the front seats from the back.


While we don't store our Porta Potti in the kitchen unit, we wouldn't have the option in the MP. There is nowhere under the rear shelf either, as a later photo will show.


The underseat drawer is smaller than the Cali, but is very light.


As you can see, storage under the rear shelf is very limited due to the bag thing that holds the table and chairs. Nowhere for a loo. Note the location of the rear headrests ....



However, I'm not sure about this but I think it is a long wheelbase, so you can slide the rear seat forward to give extra storage behind it.



Another shot of the rear storage


The seats are split which could be an advantage. Rake and lowering appears to be controlled by electrics which weren't operative when we tried. I don't think the lower bed would be very comfortable.


No front window in the roof bellows.



Looks like you have to remove the rear headrests and store them here!


I'll add some more photos in the next post .....

 

[motacyclist]

More photos continued ...

The model on display had a diesel water heater, that is a nice option. The sink is half a sphere, not sure how practical that would be, the diameter being about the size of a side plate.


The fridge ooks smaller than the Cali's, and there is a lump thing in the bottom.


The roof bed is held up by this primitive strap, and there is no spring assistance. Mrs M couldn't reach it.




This model was £58000 with a couple of extras; from memory the awning and the diesel water heater. I presume a space heater is standard ..


On the whole it looks much more modern than the Cali, but maybe it will date quickly. My thoughts -I wanted to like it; but it doesn't quite do it. Nice try MB, try harder next time!

 

[GrannyJen]

Thank you for that brilliant coverage!

Too fiddly for me.

 

[Adam Davies]

Very interesting post indeed! I will digest it all later on.

We also went to look at one of these today.

We're in a slightly different bit as we're looking to replace our aging caravelle conversion which is also our daily drive so we don't want something just as an out and out camper but something we can brew up in and have a picnic with the small kids.

We started the day looking at a Beach which was nice and will probably be the best thing for our needs.

We stopped at Mercedes on a whim and they had one in.

Firstly the dealership was no competition, hands down win to Mercedes for their customer service. VW obviously know vans sell themselves, but also we obviously aren't trustworthy enough to be left alone with the beach... whereas Mercedes were more than happy to just leave us to chat and play.
Car vs commercial I guess.

These are certainly different vehicles and as we're looking for something as a daily drive the car like nature of the Mercedes was a significant plus for us, just another angle to consider. Yes it's very tight to get from front to back, although being long legged i had the seat quite far back which opened up the space.

I agree that the bed in the top needs pistons, poor design and I am surprised at westfalia considering these are 18yrs old on the continent.

The leather was wonderful and incredibly comfortable. Very easy to forget we were in a van, we have full leather in our current caravelle but the quality was no comparison.

We emailed a bunch of questions and heard back within an hour, I'm still waiting a week later for anything from VW.

Mercedes are happy for us to go back and try our car seats, even offered to help carry them in. In fairness we didn't ask VW (they didnt have the right seat in the beach) but seeing as we weren't even left alone with the beach I'd be interested to hear the response!

I think the spec of the merc pound for pound is slightly cheaper

Other things we weren't keen on for the merc:

1- poor storage of the table and chairs, but we'd probably whip that whole thing out to make room for a buggy. You have seats and a table anyway.

2- the blackout blinds were nothing like the fitted nature of the ones on the beach.

3- weird blackout stickers around the edges of the windows to combat the above.

Sorry just a few random thoughts off the top of my head and I hope they're useful.

I suspect if Merc did a "beach" it would be a no brainer for us

 

[Jonathan Duke]

I suspect if Merc did a "beach" it would be a no brainer for us

Did you check into the Marco Polo ACTIVITY version?

 

[Digger]

I must be the exception but VW Liverpool have served us well for several years and have been great.
As for Marco Polo if it suits your purpose go for it. Me, I have been there and much prefer VW.

 

[Adam Davies]

Did you check into the Marco Polo ACTIVITY version?

No, that one isn't in the brochure but I was going to do more research on the European ones later on this evening!

It's a shame as I love VW and have owned T5s & a couple of caddys for about 8 years now, but they're starting to feel samey to me

I still love them, but this certainly provides some interesting competition and when dropping this much money it would be daft not to look at all options

 

[Adam Davies]

Did you check into the Marco Polo ACTIVITY version?

Found it thank you, looks like it is Viano based and not on the new v-class and doesn't look anywhere near as nice as the new Marco Polo- Probably a beach it is!

 

[Adam Davies]

Found it thank you, looks like it is Viano based and not on the new v-class and doesn't look anywhere near as nice as the new Marco Polo- Probably a beach it is!

Looks like the HORIZON is the one