Life with my 11 year old Mercedes S-Class W221

Insurance premium is Rs 22K (own damage is just 12K, IDV of 23L) - the joy of owing an old car!

BHPian androdev recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

12th anniversary update

Got an ABS error while on a recent trip, but decided to complete the trip with ABS disabled. I was being careful and the trip was uneventful except for a speed breaker that I failed to notice in time. I managed to stop but I could make out the missing ABS and a little "sliding" of the locked up wheels. The speed was low so it wasn't a major problem.

Few months back during the suspension repair, one of the front ABS sensors was replaced. The service advisor told me this could be the other front sensor and if it happens to be the same ABS sensor that was replaced, it would be covered under warranty. I was too lazy to send the car for a check up. I thought it would be a good time to replace all remaining three ABS sensors given the age of the car and ordered the same from Pelican parts that offered the best price (compared to FCPEuro portal which is my go-to portal):

Sent the car for ABS replacement and folks at Sundaram took care of it for around Rs 5K service bill.

Insurance premium is Rs 22K (own damage is just 12K, IDV of 23L) - the joy of owing an old car! I don't have any city commute these days, so the car doesn't see much city usage except for some late night ice cream trips which has become a weekly-once affair these days.

The car has some serious appetite

The car is built for the highways. Fuel efficiency used to be between 8.5 to 9.5 L/100KM but these days ethanol blending and increased traffic really hurt the FE. Frequent braking and accelerating kills the FE of such a heavy car. Too many speed breakers on national highways these days!

I have asked my son to strike a pose to recreate a photo that was taken 11 years ago

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