As expected there has been a fair bit of cash flowing out since the last journal and it's only a few thousand miles till it needs servicing again, although this time it will hopefully be just an oil and filter change. The last service was the big one at 21k miles; I'd had them inspect the first three (easy to get at) spark plugs at the 14k mile service and they were all clean so they didn't recommend changing them which fits in with Mercedes suggestion of changing them at 21k miles.

However the increase in the cost of the service at 21k is easy to explain after watching part of the procedure through the viewing window of the Mercedes dealer; the Brabus Coupe must be one of their least favorite vehicles to service.

To get to the second bank of sparkplugs involves removing the rear perspex windows for easier access, taking off the rear light clusters, partial removal of the Brabus side skirts, and then full removal of the rear bumper plus some fiddling to get to the plugs which are located in behind the exhaust. I'd definitely rather pay for it to be done than try dismantling the car myself, and the extra labour involved seemed cheap at the price; another top job from the guys at John Weir Perth.

While they were servicing the car they also traced the air-con problem, and a few weeks later they replaced all the air-con piping around the engine with new connections to the compressor which had cracked before causing all the gas to escape. A warranty job and a free re-gas so the temperature inside can now be almost as cold as the now wintry weather outside. It's useful for removing moisture though so I'm sure it will get plenty of use on winter mornings too.

With new plugs and the switch to V-Max petrol from Optimax plus the additional effect of cooler temperatures, the little car is feeling particularly feisty, seeming to have added noticeably to the bhp count. It highlighted that the tired standard brakes were definitely not feeling up to the job though there was still almost half the pad thickness left.

New discs and pads were ordered from Wellsmart, with thanks to Sam from McSmarts (www.mcsmarts.co.uk) for ordering and doing the fitting in a pub car park for a bargain price (Mercedes wanted an hour and a half for labour + £240 for standard discs and pads). An extra thanks to Paul & Kate from Wellsmart for bringing my new discs and pads up to Scotland in their carry on luggage saving me the postage too, much appreciated!

The new grooved discs got the seal of approval from the Mercedes dealer when it was there for the warranty work; they noticed the huge improvement in feel and stopping power straight away when out on the test drive. I'm more than happy with the results with the only possible disadvantage being a slight rumbling noise of grooves biting into the harder pads under hard use but I think it adds to the uniquely sporty experience of the Brabus.