28 Nov 06
You in the mood for a list? Here's a good one: 36 cars driven by 360 drivers over a combined total of 530,000 miles. But here's a better one, the extremely short list of spare parts needed during the course of those 530,000 miles by the 36 cars taking part in Mercedes' Paris-Beijing trek: three bumpers, two body panels, one alloy wheel, four windscreens, one rear light, 12 bulbs, 20 tyres and one alternator, which gave up two days after it had been driven repeatedly through water in search of the perfect splash photo.
So, point proven. The E-Class can go the distance.
The subtext to the Paris-Beijing trip was Mercedes' determination to stamp out the notion that Mercs aren't as well built and reliable as they used to be. It's an idea that has gained ground in recent years, through word of mouth and chatrooms and letters pages. Despite the public denials, Benz knows it; you don't have to be a Benzologist to be able to decode various recent remarks by company top man Dieter Zetsche. The E-Class, he'll tell anyone within tache-twirling distance, is the heart and soul of the company. It has to be right. And the 2006 model is right, he says. Inescapable implication: the last couple maybe weren't.
But, fair play, the 2006 E-Class did the job magnificently on this autumn's nine-country marathon, leaving the Benz mechanics far from stretched. Just how much time does it take to top up a fleet of E320s with 110 litres of screenwash and eight litres - eight - of oil?
The journey was as impressive logistically as it was mechanically. The local lack of suitable low-sulphur fuel, for instance, meant that Aral, a partner in the great adventure, provided diesel for all the vehicles for the whole journey, so that none of the E-Classes and none of the 24 support vehicles - the G-Wagens and Sprinter vans that were the unsung heroes of the whole enterprise - would ever have to use the local brew. To make this possible, 110,000 litres of fuel was sent ahead by container, and every day a mobile filling station would trundle along to the next overnight stop to fill everyone up.
