August 30, 2010

We're going to pack a lot into three days this week, as we'll be taking Thursday and Friday off, extending a long Labor Day weekend.

GM Opening it's engine build center in Wixom as the first do-it-yourselfer builds his own engine. We also will take a quick spin the new Chevy Cruze.

Wednesday is sales day, and the first day on the job for the new GM CEO. We're told not to expect any public appearances until next week, at the earliest.

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Convertible Confusion

How could a convertible be anything other than a joy on a beautiful summer day?

Maybe when you can't figure out how to get the top down?

I probably drive 70-80 different cars a year, and consider it a failure when I have to open the manual.  Everything should be easy enough for an experienced driver to figure out on his or her own.

When they dropped the Mercedes E Class Cabrio off for me, I didn't even think to ask how to open the roof.  I got in, and looked for the button...on the dashboard, steering wheel, center console, above me.  C'mon, it's gotta be  here somewhere.

I looked in the glove compartment for the manual.  No manual.

No problem, Mercedes has a little help button.  Let's check it out.

Turns out that's for concierge services.  They had to transfer me to technical support.  Everybody was helpful.   They just didn't know the answer.

Finally after a long hold--the deep dark secret.  There's a compartment right in front of the center console.  Flip it up, and you can take the top down.

By the way, we plan to have our "first impressions" video of the E-Class Cabrio posted tomorrow.