A woman in her late 20s driving a Mercedes Benz SL500 costing £96,000 drove her car into a ford and ended up getting washed downstream the river until a stable-owner heard her and risked her own live to save her.
Apparently, the SL500′s satellite navigation system told her to take a road that was actually meant for farmers in their big 4X4 vehicles. The road had a big sign that said “unsuitable for motor vehicles”. She trusted the sat-nav guidance and went down the road. And ended up in a ford. Because although it was swollen after a few days of heavy rain, she still tried to cross it in her 302hp, V8-powered, rear wheel drive sports car. And the car ended up getting washed away.
Alice Clark heard the lady’s screams of help and waded through the waters with the help of a log and hanging on to some barb wire, risking getting washed away herself. She pulled the SL500′s owner out just in the nick of time. Seconds after she got out, the car sank. The car’s electronics short circuited causing the windows to open, letting more water in until the car was completely submerged.
The SL500′s owner was sent to a motorway service station where a Bentley that was chauffeur-driven picked her up. The Mercedes Benz SL500 remained in the river for a week until a tow truck pulled it out. It was a complete write-off. This my friends, is proof that money can’t buy braincells.
After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
Too many electronics!!! And some people are dumb enough to follow all the electronic guidance. Can't imagine if more people are as dumb as that.
This comes to show that as much as car advances in technology, humans start to lose their common sense.
lol reading this i spat out my cookies.
paul,u said the electronics short circuited causing the windows to open.But could this be also due to a safety feature so the the occupants can escape easier ?
LOL
What a waste!
But isn't that an SLK rather than an SL500?
SL's have folding metal roofs too. Its too long to be an SLK
"This my friends, is proof that money can’t buy braincells."
ahahahahhha…..great quote Paul!!!
Bet the lady is blonde.
she knew that the BIG sign said “unsuitable for motor vehiclesâ€. why didnt she find another suitable route? real dumb….puree ignorance!
After a long tiring day at work, the moment i read this I really felt that others do have to suffer to brighten my day hehehehe
goodness….
OMFG!!!~
Guess we really can't fully trust on those Satellite Navigation Systems, can we?
On the other hand, either she's really blind or she's definitely too naive to totally IGNORE that Big Road sign.
She probably couldn't care less about her 96K pounds car since she has a chauffeur-driven Bentley waiting for her.
this only hapens to woman drivers seriously!
Well…..I think this is an isolated case.
Satellite Navigation System is a cool feature in most cars these days! But one has to open their eyes to actually see where they're going!! A good laugh!
Can sue Merc and get back a new car? yup she is stupid, TG had an ep where they had to go to oxford, and clarkson reached first, hammond with the gadgets got stuck
who cares about the braincells?! i want that car!
a great car wasted on a no brainer!
Shows not to put too much dependency on sat nav devices than on your own senses such as instinct and sight. Probably should have paid more attention to her surroundings and not the sat nav map.
Paul, Isnt the SL500's horsepower output 388hp and not 302hp? 302hp seems a bit little for an SL500. Just did a check at a Mercedes website for the 388hp figure.
sigh~~ that lady is filthy rich… well, she can always get another new one and crash into the river again…
There what we say: Who is the "dangerous" driver?
1. Female
2. Old folk
Then what is the worse? Answer is Female + Old folk = Old lady..
Just a joke, not a prejudice to female..Sorry if make some1 unconfortable.
Beautiful car with idiot driver……. WASTED.
what a waste. dumb lady. Write off? lagi waste.. hey.. we can still salvage the some of the finer parts of this car, like the alloys, tyres etc. sell those and many buy a nissan. hahahaha
I agree with drebar.
I think I have too many braincells because I DON"T have that car!!!!
maybe only her boobs grows rather than brain cells! LoL!
LOL woman drivers and stanav. Perfect recipes for disasters like this. Luckily she's loaded with money so she's probably gonna hire a chauffer from now on.
Money can't buy intelligence so you wonder how they got so much of money in the first place.
actually she is not rich. 96,000 pound sterling as UK People earn money in UK. Would u call a person driving a RM96,000 car rich then?
The woman is rich because insurance on an SL500 will cost a bomb. The woman is rich because she could trash the SL500 and not blink an eye. The woman is rich because she had a chauffered Bentley to pick her up after she trashed the SL500.
She's rich lah, let's not argue about that
Although for them 96,000 pound sterling is pound for them, it is still expensive for them because of them having to spend a lot more on living expenses and especially taxes with the car example parking and emissions tax which is based on displacement and exhaust emissions.
Repair costs and maintenance are also quite high over there, so either way if 96,000 pounds is only as cheap or as expensive as they would like to think it is.
The Pagani Zonda may be 450,000 pounds for them but not many ppl own them. So it doesnt really mean that if they only pay 450,000 pounds it would necessarily be cheap.
if i were there, wont help her out…too dumb..
another classic of dumb and dumber episod.
oh that's too bad…
Paul… does that proves that SL500 has poor and unreliable satellite navigation system??? or just a misfunction from that woman's car?
Where about? in Malaysia?
Where about? at Malaysia?
What a total waste done by the mindless rich people! For that amount of money, I can buy a semi-D luxury bungalow or penthouse here… or if donated to a charity, that will be very meaningful.
Ahahaa, so you've got the money, you got a nice car with a good powerful engine, electronics and state of the art sat-nav, but you haven't got brains. Keep your hands off the steering please :p
Wow. What a certified idoT!!
u mean idiot…
I like this:
proof that money can’t buy braincells
Is she a blonde? lol…
Paul, I agree with you here la.
Really, the people nowdays keep doing stupid things like this.
They trust a sat nav over their own human judgement! Nonsense man!