dswildfire

thanx Nrm, that's what i thought.

Outland

Without a doubt, this guy takes the cake. Forget the gun posting, forget the neutral drop, forget all the stupid stuff you read about here...junior takes 1st place.

The SLK was a 98....he's 18, and at the time of the accident he'd had the car for a week and a half. How come it took 6 weeks to get a 4 year old used SLK??? Perhaps the reason is its all BS...just like everything else that pops out of his keyboard.

500AMG

Any car that the DC execs decide to put the 3-point star on is a Mercedes. Simple as that. It's quite funny how revered MB is in the US...Mercedes is EVERYWHERE in Europe. The E-class is a taxi cab. The MBUSA marketing people are pretty amazing for building such a luxury brand name in the US. But I'm just rambling at this point. Basically, Mercedes makes great cars and whatever they deem is worthy of the 3-point star is a Mercedes. Of course some MBs have more features than others, but that doesn't make it more of a Benz than others. I guess my 20 inch Sony TV isn't REALLY a Sony becuase it's not a 65-inch HDTV widescreen

electromethod

Don't feel bad.... I guess I am a no class individual because I drive a C class too And to top it off I guess my 65 inch Toshiba (with 1600 lines horizontal ) makes me low class too cuz it's NOT Sony right?

Outland

Frankly, everything that Ive ever bought with the sony name has been a bit of a dissapointment. Two phones(interference, ever holds a charge), a Trinitron 27" Tv(distortion, and a red area at the left of the screen during dark scenes), a tape deck(talk about flutter and warbling!), and dodgy camera(won't reasd disks- thankfully it was a work only camera- went back to Canons!) All have had problems. After that camera, Ive sworn off sony. My 61" Hitachi HDTV works great!

tifosiv122

My SLK took 4 months to deliver in '98 when I ordered it in '97.

Erik

Mercedes

Haha I am a member there. What is your name on there?

Mines Mercedes on there.

electromethod

Just like any other company, sony makes it's fair share of garbage as well.... (don't even get me started on the sony xplode line.... lol) I have a 27inch trinitron that I use in my game room and it's got a nice picture. However, when I was buying a new 36inch for my bedroom, I couldn't see paying 350 dollars more for the Sony name. Plus, when I was looking at 65inch tv's... i found out that unless you spend upwards of 6K, then the rest of the sony's TV's were less than 1200 horizontal lines. Mitsubishi Gold line was 1200... Hitachi's were all 1260 and Toshiba was a whopping 1600. I would have never even looked at the Toshiba's normally....... later on, when they got one on the showroom floor, the salesman even agreed that there was a noticeable difference in the picture compared to rest.

vyse

Bah, Sony stuff always works bad but looks good; my PS2 is makign funny noises and takes forever to load now, I had 2 Sony MDs, both would stop skipping horribly, while if I played it back with my Kenwood MD, it's perfectly fine. Had a 27" Trinitron as well, it's pretty old, but the red is starting to get all blurry around the edges while the Pioneer 27" that I judge is about the same age is doing perfectly fine. anyways, i still dont' think Sony products warrants its price-tag. Sure, it looks good, but that's about it.

And back on topic, heck, the IS300 here isn't even worthy of being a Toyota. The Altezza RS200 makes even more power than the lowly IS300.

whatup?

I hate the whole "not a real Benz" crap, so I won't get into it.

Anyway, DCX will not share platforms between Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz. The Crossfire is an exception, but it's using the current-generation SLK platform (which itself is derived from W202 C-Class), which is going to be replaced soon anyway. However, Chrysler will use Benz components (i.e. steering racks, rear axles, etc.). But steering racks and axles don't make a Benz a Benz and a Chrysler a Chrysler, so buyers will never even notice component sharing. If anything, it's a major boost for Chrysler and will have no effect on Benz (considering they're Benz designs).

The GST will be built off the next-generation ML platform. The Pacifica rides on a FWD platform (with AWD available). However, the Pacifica uses the same rear suspension design as the new E-Class.

mdp c230k

Its obvious the the 18 year old is living up to his age. At 18 everyone has a dumb-*** opinion on something. Let him wallow in his own ignorance until he grows up enough to realize what a fool hes been. As far as TV's go, I am a broadcast engineer and all we use are Sonys, period. They are far and away the best overall monitors. Of course, the ones we use are about $8k for a 20" with digital inputs for standard def and $18k for the 20" with HD inputs. Remember that it requires 1920 lines of hor res to do 1080i without a loss of resolution. Until a set comes out with 1920 and 720 lines of vertical(needed for 720p) you are not watching the whole picture! Which is what the 18 year old is doing, missing the whole picture.

electromethod

mdp. could you please go into more detail? I seriously am interested in what you are saying..... when i was shopping around, no one could tell me jack other than the "so and so" features of the TV's. Am I right when i assume that the higher the horizontal lines of resolution are, that the better the picture quality? The horizontal lines and vertical lines intersecting create a pixel? (this is what the guy at sound advice told me).... this is eventually what led me to buy the toshiba..and so far it appears that the 1600 lines makes a tremendous difference vs. the rest.

mdp c230k

Sure, look for a set that has native 720p capability(does not convert it to 1080i for use) and has 1920 lines of horozontal res. This will give you the best possible picture now and in the future. All high end sets will do 480p which is SD 4:3 aspect. Some will 1080i HD 16:9 but they actually are interpolating some of the horo data down to 1600 or 1280 lines from 1920 which is full spec. Also 1080i only needs 540 lines of vert as it is interlaced into two fields and 30 frames per second(60 fields). 720p needs 720 lines of vert resolution and 1280 of horo. Many sets do NOT have 720 lines and convert it to 1080i to get away with 540 lines! 720p is also 60 frames per second (fps) which is great for fast action. IMHO it is actaully better than present day 1080i due to monitoring limitations. The only real consumer HD monitors are some high end computer monitors by Viewsonic and Sony but are limited to 21" or so inches. Do not get a plasma screen they are very low res at this stage and they do burn out quickly. Get any set that can do 720p native and you will be happy for a few years. 720p native ensures that the picture will be very sharp due to the increased number of lines. Any more questions?

500AMG

LOL I wasn't trying to hijack the thread by talking about TVs

Just my poor attempt at making a point. Sorry to the thread starter if we get sidetracked a bit.

columbus

Word! The reasons I didn't get an IS300 are the cheap trunk hinges, old-fashioned hood prop, and the ricer taillights screaming, what, Honda all over the place. Not to knock Hondas - credit where credit is due, great cars. But $32K for a souped-up imitation?! Although the I-6 has got to be sweeet!

The only place where MB cheaped out on the coupe is omitting one-touch close for the pana-roof, and no remote trunk release; that's minor stuff. The rest is Mercedes all the way.

Outland

Several 03 owners and even a few 02 owners report that the pana close works in tunnel mode, and all the C-Coupes do have a remote release for the hatch. The remotes even have the electronics inside. Its the plastic housing that omitted the button depression- the actual switch is in there beneath the plastic. Complaining to your dealer may get you a set of sedan electronic keys, those housings have the button cast in. STFF to find the numerous threads about this.

I think the only area that they may have cheated is the base car's shifter....without the C7 shifter, the throws are long. The fabric ain't the greatest on the seats, either. But the rest of the package is great!

steve s

not much damage? after a flip? hmmm...

try sitting in the camry and es300. don't know about the newest models that came out these last two years, but the older ones, the shifter, dash, everything...the same in the camry and es300...they didn't even bother to make it a little different...

electromethod

thanks MDP.... for the details... i had to read it a couple of times to understand what you were saying but now it makes sense. i feel ripped off now with my tv ... do you know if anyone makes big screens up to par? or are they not capable yet? I never knew that about plasma's burning out ... wow.. good thing i didn't buy one for the bedroom. Any other info you think might be useful to know?
Thanks...
Sorry for jacking this thread guys.....
oh yah.... to me, lexus is very reliable..... but i didn't care about that.. i got the extended warranty and figured I will drive what i like. The mb will probably be reliable as well *crossing fingers*.

CRB

Great info there. It is amazing that a total garbage thread about a very foolish boy can evolve to good info about HD.

Quick question (or two):

Are cathode-based direct-view monitors still the best because it seems to my eyes at least that projections don't have the clarity of the tubes?

What type are those $18K monitors?

Are there physical limitations that prevent aperture grill monitors from HD applications? Or are they just too expensive for consumer product?

190E

I'm 17 and i drive a 1987 190E 2.3. Age does not matter, cause you don't have to be rich to afford a benzo. In this kid's case, his daddy is rich, and he doesn't know jack sh*t about cars. He just wanted a class car to show off to his friends, so he told his daddy, his daddy bought a mercedes, and he thinks he's hot sh*t.

Nrm

im 16 and drive a 2002 C320 but im sure not as stupid as that guy

Outland

Even a used Benz is still a lot of cash for a kid in High School. I had an Opel GT back in high school that I spent nearly two years rebuilding from a near write off...even small expenses were a lesson in creative budgeting.

trench

Actually, I think it's more correct to say that riced-out Honda's scream Toyota/Lexus Altezza. After all stock Honda's don't have those crappy tail-lights. Ricer's add them to Honda to make them look like Toyotas.



- BT

190E

I paid $2000 for my benz plus another 100 for a CD player installation. I hardly consider that a lot of money for a high-school kid, especially if you have a job.

truelove

C-class not a mercedes huh?

i believe the mercedes engineers that spent years putting effort into designing the new c-class would beg to differ.

a car that is labeled a mercedes, designed by mercedes, engineered by mercedes, manufactured by mercedes, shipped by mercedes, sold by mercedes, and promoted by mercedes is in my opinion a mercedes.

does this guy not realize that in europe mercedes sells everything from tiny little personal transports (what are they called, they look like golf carts) up to huge commercial semi tractors.

in germany, mercedes is just another car company. in the u.s. do we say that a cavalier is not a chevrolet, no. it just happens to be a more affordable model of that particular brand.