Mark: Hi, it's Mark Bossert. I'm here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC Canada, Vancouver's best auto service experience, and we're talking automotives. How you doing, Bernie?
Bernie: Doing very well today.
Mark: So today's guest is a 2022 Mercedes A35 AMG. Wow. A hot rod. Yeah. So what was going on with this vehicle?
Bernie: This vehicle just came to us for regular service. It had about, I think somewhere around 20,000 kilometres on the for mileage. And yeah, it was due for an A service, which is an oil change and a basic vehicle inspection.
Mark: So don't most customers take their vehicle after they bought it, a 2022 is not very old. Don't they take it to the dealer?
Bernie: A lot of people do, but we also service a number of cars that are new or near new. Some people just choose to bring them to us.
Mark: They've established a relationship and they trust you.
Bernie: Exactly. And you know, people have this misconception, oh, my warranty will be voided if I don't take it to the dealer. It's not true. You just have to prove the work was done, keep receipts. The work was done in a licensed shop. It's all valid and good.
Mark: Yeah. Working on it on your own, especially these days, given how many computers there are, is probably gonna avoid your warranty.
Bernie: Yeah. I know for a lot of extended third party warranties they say, do it yourself oil changes are not valid. Which I think is a way to try to get out of it. But, you know, lots of people are confident and can do the work, but some people aren't. So it's a good way to just keep it with licensed professionals.
Mark: And as we're gonna find out looking at this vehicle. Beautiful vehicle. But very complicated. So what's some of the specs of this vehicle?
Bernie: Yeah, so it's a 302 horsepower out of a little two litre turbo engine. It's a lot of power, all wheel drive. To be honest, I didn't drive it, but I know based on those specs and being an AMG, it's like a little rocket ship. Nice compact little car.
There's the engine. And typical to most AMGs, I wouldn't say all of them, I find this a very attractive looking engine. Looking under the hood, the piping's laid out nicely. They've done a good job to make it look good. Some engines, they just cover over everything. But in this case, it's nice that they left the turbo exposed. That's the shiny item sitting at the front of the engine.
Mark: And underneath this cover here?
Bernie: Yeah, underneath that cover, the turbo sits under there. And I always like the look of that because I think, you know, turbos do fail over time. It'd be nice to know when that happens. That it's not that hard to change compared to some.
This is the view underneath. We're looking at the bottom of the car on the hoist. On the right hand side is the bottom of the engine, and on the left hand side is the transmission. That piece running down the middle, that's the exhaust pipe. And just to the right of that, near the front is the air conditioning compressor. So those are just a few items that you can see from the bottom. But again, you notice it's clean and pretty much brand new.
Mark: Not a vehicle that's been driven in the rain, in other words.
Bernie: There's a view the rear differential. You can see the CV axle's coming off of that differential. The differential's, the shiny piece in the middle. And there's a little motor, you can see a little motor underneath with some wires going to it. That's all part of the all wheel drive system. Common on a lot of vehicles. The key for a successful all wheel drive system on a vehicle is to not feel like there's any binding in any sorts when you're going around corners because that can happen on a four wheel drive.
Especially if you're used to an old American truck where you lock it into four low and you go around a corner on concrete and the vehicle just starts hopping because all the wheels start locking up. So the key with the good all wheel drive system is to have it so that it slips at the right points, but grips at the right times too. So that electric motor is all part of that system.
Mark: So not without trying to get too technical, when you turn a corner, the radius for each tire is different because of the width of the vehicle.
Bernie: Exactly. That's right.
Mark: They turn at different rates. The outside one has to turn faster than the inside.
Bernie: That's right. Exactly. And that's why we have a differential, which is a set of gears in the simplest ways. It allows that to slip.
Mark: And this looks pretty fancy.
Bernie: Yeah, I just thought, you know, it's a nice looking wheel. And of course it's got the nice big AMG brakes with vented rotors. And I think those are eight piston calipers. They might be six piston, but there's a lot of pistons in those brake calipers. It is very large. So you can stop the car fast.
Mark: It goes fast, and you gotta be able to stop it fast.
Bernie: Yeah, and that's a good thing.
Mark: All this package here is probably what, two or three or $4,000 per wheel?
Bernie: Yeah, probably something like that.
Mark: Tire and brakes and everything if you want to replace anything?
Bernie: Yeah. The wheels look expensive. I think AMG vehicles come with different brake packages. So some of them have ceramic brake rotors. I don't believe these are those. So they're probably not insanely expensive to fix. Like some where they're $1,200 or $1,500 or 2,000 bucks a rotor. I don't believe these are those type. But that's a good big, solid vented rotor, so it'll stop the car really fast.
Mark: Okay, so once you checked, did you find any other issues or is it just a straight up service?
Bernie: Just a straight up service? Yeah. All good. No leaks, no other services due at this point in time.
Mark: So if you're looking for service for your new vehicle. The people to see are Pawlik Automotive. If you want some real advice about your vehicle, know more about it, how is it running, is there any issues that you gotta look for in the future? People to see are Pawlik Automotive. You can reach them online at pawlikautomotive.com. Or you can call to book your appointment at (604) 327-7112. You have to book ahead. They're always busy. Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC Canada. Thanks so much for watching and listening. Thanks Bernie.
Bernie: Thank you, Mark. Thanks for watching.
