Stick to any form of engineering. WSJ reported that, just like nurses, there is a shortage of engineers. Over 70% of the workforce is over the age of 30 so within a decade there are fewer people to takeover those who retired. At that time demand should be advantageous to engineering salary. Of course the biggest hit would be companies like NASA and Lockheed. RE investing should be further boosted by still-falling mortgage rates (just watch the decreasing yield of the 10-yr treasuryover the past week). Not a bad gameplan, homie.

 

..."my dad can beat up your dad"....

 

LOL Avlis...

"3 o'clock, playground, be there or i'll take your lunch money."

Zerostatic, this is a Mercedes-Benz forum, people here don't take lightly to posts bashing MB's.

 

It's ok for people to flame me. But don't expect me not to respond. That guy (or girl) was making a statement about how "entry level" acura owners never move up in life, and I just wanted to let him/her know that at least in my case that's not going to be the situation. I was not bragging. I was just giving him/her a very possible glimpse of how I'm going to be living 10 years from now, when they decide to tell me about their 2012 CL 600.

 

Yeah, but why would these people be in the "C-Class" forum?

 

not to bring up past beaten horses... we seem to have a discrepancy between "durability" and "reliability"

that japanese car will run for 30 years... it'll just look like **** after about 15.

the german will have problems in and out throughout its life, but at 30 years of age will still look strong and solid.

the interiors follow the same pattern.

the only way to kill a japanese car is to race too many germans....


gen2 teg vs. M3 = boooom!

beyond that, this playground crap is comedic.

 

I'm sure there are some "rich-dudes" that buy c-classes for one reason or another.

A few years ago my wife was selling a like-new 95 Ford Ranger Splash 4x4 loaded with low miles for $15k. This old rich guy answered the ad and was thinking about buying it to use just as a wheel barrow to carry stuff around his small yard. He beat on it so hard on the test drive that we had to ask him pull him over and get out of the truck. The $15,000 truck was like a disposable lighter to this guy. Goes to show: one man's treasure is another man's trash. Or something like that....

 

Okay, key word is $100k = Pocket Change. (I'm not talking about someone making ONLY $200k a year) A rich person who is thrifty will probably not buy a Mercedes. A rich person who would buy a Mercedes most likely wouldn't buy a C-Class. Tho maybe they will buy a C-Class (or 3 series BMW) for their 16 yr-old kid to trash.

 

That is something I'll agree with, but only when it comes to Mercs. My dad has an 85 S-class and that car has weathered the times well. If it wasn't for the body style which is obviously dated I could say that car is 3 or 4 years old. Same thing with my dad's friend named Pops who had an old Merc that also looked quite well. Jags also seem to weather the effects of time well. In my opinion Old Bimmers get crappy looking just like Honda's and Toyota's.

 

when cars get old, the majority of the wear can be traced directly to the users treatment of the car. BMWs usually get passed on to less-moneid owners and therefore experience a lesser quality of care, this, along with a small degree of physical inferiority, dictates theiry normally poor condition with age. however, a well cared for BMW will look as good as new. you see many many many 7ers, 5ers and 6ers that could sit on a showroom floor that are 15-20 years old. not to many of the older 3ers are that way. you don't run into this so much with MBsin the US since it is only recently that they sold a significant number of 3-series competitors, where in general BMW has moved up the market from the 3er.

and trashed MBs do exist. My brother does racecar body repair and restorations for a liviing, and his shop is in the middle of a $30,000 rust repair on an '82 SL.

the japanese car only has about 15 years of good life on the appearance regardless of the level of care. I'm pretty caring with my cars, and at 10 years old, my integra was approaching the end of its attractive lifetime.

 

Location is also factor - in California rust isn't usually a problem. The outside my gen2 teg still looks pretty good, no rust anywhere (although I have some paint peeling issues where the car had been repainted after someone hit me in a parking lot). The 95% of the car wearing stock paint still looks good - although it is in dire need of a clay bar and wax treatment. The car has held up inside very well the dash is completely uncracked - although the sun has faded the cloth on the top of the back seats somewhat. I have a friend who has two BMWs (owned since new) from the same period, outside the finish paint on the cars looks comparable to my Acura - inside they look terrible (dash and seats are completely cracked). I've noticed that the interior of European cars don't seem to be able to take the constant sun as well as Japanese cars (Saabs are the worst).

Cheers, BT

 

Yes,
pretty much BMW started low and went upmarket..whereas MBZ started high and has gone downmarket to get a bigger share, and build sportier more appealing vehicles IMHO.

The 320i put BMW on the map in a much bigger way than the 2002, although I think the 2002 is a better handling car. Apparently most people agree as the value on a nice 2002 is quite high.

Still the 320i was a well built small car.
Thick heavy steel panels, thick paint that can be polished over and over. Indestructable interior much like B-Tex.

Simplicity and durability at it's best.
I had a very nice 320i that looked brand new after 20 years on the road. I've seen many with 350K miles and more.
OK, no performance to speak of, I liked mine.
Very reliable affordable transport.
Saved my money for a nicer car...

At the same time, Honda was putting out the old style civics made of beer cans, Toyota was making the ugliest cars known to mankind, and Ford was turning out it's last Pinto's.
Is there a point here? Yes, Japanese just copy others, have no soul of their own, use inferior materials overall, but build reliable drive trains above all else. Supposedly. Having had a 1978 Toyota PU that had engine and tranny problems I would contest that assertion.

And most of the Acuras I see like someone said are piloted by baggy pants wearing, backwards hat types, and I'm too old for that s**t.
The C-coupe is much classier, needs no 4K body kits, and that said, 4K would buy enough performance to wipe any Acura off the road except perhaps the NSX.

 

Is this assuming that an equal 4K is NOT spent on the competing Acura?

 

the 4K was from the requisite body kit on the acura.

 

My point was related to ZS's comment on appearance, and that 'just' adding a body kit puts it on par with the looks of the baby Benz. Someone else mentioned 4 grand.

So, that said...yeh, I know we can squeeze major power out of an Acura, and I drove an I35 before deciding on the benz, which has a 260HP 6 banger stock.

Really pulls, but to me it's wierd driving a car with that much power at the front wheels.
(Of course nothing else on the i35 is close to what we're talking about, but it does have a nice engine in the HP ranges people are talking about)

Some people here with some performance upgrades are in those ranges. (ie cams, chip, pulley)

 

I hear echoes of the BMW commercial that mentioned that the average age of a BMW driver is 10 years less than that of a Benz driver...

Well, certain cars are built for certain age groups. I'm currently 18 with a C230K, and one of my close friends owns an 2002 RSX-S. I can see myself driving the C230K at least 5-10 years down the road (long after I graduate college and get my first job), while I doubt my friend can see himself driving an RSX-S in his mid to late 20s.

Same with another close friend and his 2001 Eclipse GT. He wants to sell his Eclipse by the time he graduates college and move up to a BMW sedan, while I can still see myself driving my car several years from now, even if it is a coupe.

Generally, ricer cars are only for ricer boys, not men. And by that I mean high school/college, no later.

 

So every publication out there that says that Japanese cars are more reliable can be totally offset by your 1978 lemon? Doesn't make any sense to me. Drivetrain quality is probably not the fight that I'd pick if I were doing a comparo between Japanese and German cars. I'm right with you about the "soul" argument, though. The lux Japanese brands just don't have that intangible that MBs, Audis, and even the lowly BMW have.

I'd assume that the average ccoupe price here was about $28k, so that would give the RSX-S owner about $5-6k to play with mods, which would translate to no contest between them, if all that you cared about was performance. Luckily for the ccoupe, it's more than that.

 

Man, this thread is getting old and annoying. Why did Zerostatic post this crap in the first place? If people stop replying, he'll go away; that pesky little cretin!

 

This pesky little cretin is here to stay hahahahaha. Nah, the only real reason I even checked into the c-class forum was because I was wondering how much omphh the C240's had, since car mags never give them road tests. That's one thing that gets on my nerves. Car mags almost always review the top of the line engine of a specific model when a big percentage of buyers purchase the lesser engines. I never came in here with the intent of comparing the RSX and the C230.

 

Masochists are welcome here, too... You'll have a fare share of sympathizers.

 

i'm with preyx on keepin my car awhile. i see the same thing happenin with all my buddies who have japanese and american "performance" (the quotes aren't saying they don't perform, but just range from things like preludes, to supras, rx-7, mustangs, firebird/camaro, integras, etc.) a lot of them are tryin to get rid of their cars and move up or just get a new one. and when my dealer started tellin me that warranty remains with the car when i get rid of it, i was like "by that time there won't be any left" ( i got extended warranty). Point is, the car stays. It's got more than enough power for anyday driving, and not-so anyday driving. And the styling looks like it'll last awhile.

And while the engine may not rev past 9000 rpm, like a whole bunch of japanese engines, it still works, works well, and doesn't complain so long as it's fed and not abused. The car stays.

And please, for the love of jeebus, start new threads with these mini-topics. This has gone really far off of RSX vs. C230K. And i think it's long enough that Barnes and Nobles can start carrying the hardcover edition.

just my 2 cents worth

 

Born on third and thought you hit a home run there, huh

 

I'm building a Voodoo doll for this thread. Really. It'll have 170 pins in it eventually. :p

 

OK Time to lay down the law

Zerostatic go away. Don't force me to come in here guns-a-blazin.

 

It's funny that people direct statements at me about them not wanting me to be here. Look at most of my posts in this thread. They are almost all a result of me responding to what someone else said. So simply if you guys stop writing to me, I'll stop responding. But don't do that. I wanna see if I can get this sucker past 250 posts! The moderator might as well make this a sticky