Looking to buy - Mercedes or aftermarket heater?

[alltorque]

Hi People,

Firstly, can I introduce myself? My name's Marc and I live in Sutton Coldfield just outside Birmingham. We've been caravanners for years, but recently sold up, went back to a tent for the summer and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, now we're looking for the flexibility of a camper which can replace one of our cars for occasional commutes and the California or Marco Polo are top of the bill. The reports of corrosion on the VW have put us off somewhat and so I'm hoping a new MP will allow us to avoid that particular problem. After 2 weeks of calling Mercedes main dealers (yes you read that right - they seem pretty useless. Promises of phone calls back never materialising etc), we finally managed to have a look at a MP in Birmingham yesterday and were very impressed. Much more luxurious than the Cali in our opinion.

I've been on to Car Wow and have been offered up to 7% discounts for a new purchase which is pretty impressive and so we are close to taking the plunge. My question is regarding the £2.5k optional diesel heater. I've searched through previous posts and people have mentioned this point but not answered it - does anyone know the implications for warranty and/or insurance if an aftermarket heater is fitted? They are only around £1k, so represent a considerable saving.

Hope you can help! Marc

 

[Wilnx005]

Welcome Marc, my own personal opinion is the factory one probably will look better ( part of standard equipment) and obviously will be installed in the build process so no probs with insurance - but comes at the mentioned cost.
The aftermarket one will no doubt involve removing some internal components / trim parts / wiring etc and you'll need to have the control panel mounted somewhere too. Benefits of the after market one would be 1 cost, 2 if if anything goes wrong with it, its a stand alone system so not linked into the vehicles system - so probably cheaper to fix also. Quite a few cool optional extras with the eberpacher too - Plus they're fitted in lot of coach built or diy conversion so insurance shouldn't be an issue. Not sure on warranty though??

 

[alltorque]

Thank you Wilnx - yes that's my sort of feeling on it. Just seems an excessive cost for the factory fitted module. Will probably stump up the money though! If anyone has gone aftermarket then please post up your experience!!

 

[BabaJen]

It is an eye-watering amount to pay for the heater but to have it built in at the factory, and included in the vehicle price, for me would be worth it. I am naturally wary of aftermarket mods and what it can do for the eventual resale price and, unless you are going to confine yourself to full facility sites, +10A hook up and warm weather only the heater is an essential imho.

 

[Katie]

I agree with BabaJen - get the factory fitted heater. I think it should have been included in the overall price for the uk market, seeing that practically everything else you could want is there already - even though the cost would have been higher, it would have been hidden, just as all the other bits are.
Although I wanted everything I’m getting, as I feel I need a bit of cosseting in my old age, I can see the attraction of a van like the Cali, in that the base vehicle is cheaper and you decide yourself what extras you want.

 

[DonnyMac]

Has anyone that has the Aux Air Heater installed located it and photographed it?

I'd be surprised if Mercedes manufacture the equipment and perhaps it is a re branded unit from a well known OEM - potentially allowing us to retro fit the same equipment at cost?

Get your cameras out folks

 

[mptripsaway]

This information was posted on sister forum with regard to aftermarket air heater: https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/mercedes-marco-polo-latest-info-2017.16645/page-22

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Looking at the standard spec list in the brochure, what is the "Electric air heater system – 1.2 kW output" - does this not provide some kind of internal heating when parked up ?

 

[funkyegg]

I too vote for the factory fitted one. Sure, it isn't cheap but comparing to the price of the car it's not a huge % to pay. Also, the MP offers the best value for money comparing to other alternatives given all the standard equipments (my opinion of course)

 

[The.dunnster]

Hi. Spoke to Sandown MB yesterday about fitting an air heater and possibility of invalidating warranty if fitted.

They said that it would only invalidate the warranty where it connected with the van. We discussed how it might attach and they gave some examples. E.g. if the floor panel was cut to route the pipe in then that part of the floor would not be covered by warranty. If the controller connected to the vans canbus it would invalidate warranty there. But if it plugged into the battery it would be ok.

Also chatted to one of their employees who had just had his 'loaned mp' sold so he was dropping it off. He advised that whilst he has the air heater fitted, he mostly camps at sites with power and uses an electric plug in heater which apparently 'does the job fine'.

Not trying to put any dampers on anyone opting to buy it, just passing on some info that may help others make their decision.

All the best.

 

[BabaJen]

From experience, mine and others, the problem with an electric heater is that it is just one more bit of kit to be carried and one more bit of kit to keep moving around when you are living in the van. Definitely a solution that can be accommodated, quite a lot of Cali owners use them, especially the Swiss cube which although expensive is hugely efficient.

There are quite a few low-cost, low-wattage solutions around. Quest make a 500W ceramic heater for around £15. It is not going to keep you warm in the depths of winter and if you are going skiing then you will need around 6 of them, but to take the chill off overnight then great.

If going down that route though, so be careful of wattage. You don't want to be popular-person of the week that plunges the campsite into darkness by overloading the bollard and if touring on the continent you are going to meet plenty of 6A to 10A bollards, rather than the 16A that is common on a lot of UK sites.