Sharing cars is not my kind of thing, says singer Peter Miles

Peter Miles

What car do you drive?
Mercedes Benz M Class

What make is your favourite car?
I love Mercedes makes but I wouldn’t mind a Bugatti

What is the engine size of your Benz?
It is a 3.2cc It is a V6 engine

How much did you buy it?
It cost me about $20,000 (about Shs52m) before tax and about $10,000 (about Shs26m) tax so it cost me about $30,000 (about Shs78m) in total.
For how long have you driven it?
About four years

What led you to buy this car?
I actually didn’t opt for it in the first place but as I was car-shopping a dealer learnt I was shipping it to Africa so he gave me advice to either go for Land Rover or Mercedes. I chose Mercedes and have no regrets.

How user-friendly is this car?
It is very user friendly and has good speed too.

How much do you spend on fuel on a daily in a week?
If I am coming from Entebbe to Kampala I use about Shs100,000 per day.

How often do you service your car?
After about 3,000kms which ranges on how much I drive every two months. The car indicates on the dashboard when am due for service so it reminds me.

How much do you spend on servicing?
That depends on how many items I have to change. Spark plugs are expensive and 12 plugs cost me about Shs800,000 but what is good is that they work for over one year. Without the spark plug change I spend about Shs500,000 for basic service.
Have you ever been stranded on the road?
Yes. I was traveling from Kayunga at about 3am.

What was the issue with the car?
There was a lot of mist and I could not clearly see what was ahead yet I was driving quite fast. Along the way, I ran into road work pothole and one of my tyres was cut beyond repair.

Do you have a first aid kit in your car?
I had a Mercedes first aid kit but when the car got to Uganda, it had somehow disappeared.

Have you driven a manual car before?
Yes, it was actually my first car

How do you compare a manual car and an automatic?
Mine is a semi-auto meaning I can drive it manually or in the automatic mode but I prefer automatic mode. With the traffic jams, automatic is stress-free.

What is your favourite car colour?
I like dark colours. My Benz has a combination of three colours. It has blue, black and green so it seems to change the colours depending on the time, light and weather of the day. People actually ask if I keep changing its colour.

ML Benz & Miles

The Mercedes-Benz M-Class is a luxury midsize sport utility vehicle (SUV), first offered in 1998 and built by the German automaker Mercedes-Benz. In terms of size, it is slotted in between the smaller GLK-Class (based on the C-Class) and the larger GL-Class, with which it shares platforms. Miles says he rarely goes to the garage and that he used to go to Spear Motors but he now fixes it with a personal friend at Migidda Autos. Miles says if he had a way he would change the horse power of his car. Miles says he can fix some electrical faults. He doesn’t believe in sharing cars, saying it contributes to faults in the car. He says most of the Ugandan drivers are very bad road-users.