Originally Posted by maryjcl

Honestly, this is probably the stupidist, most pointless post I have ever read. It also illustrates the danger of believing even a small percentage of what you read on the internet.

BMW suspensions, in terms of quality and dynamics, are generally some of the best in the world, as are those from Mercedes Benz. They are tuned differently -- BMW generally favors handling, Mercedes ride comfort -- but if you have ever owned either car long-term, and compared it to what else is out there, you would realize that no other cars have such long-lived, well made components, from shocks and springs, to control arms and bushings. Yes, BMW suspsensions tend to be simpler, but the proof is in the proverbial pudding. Mercedes suspensions tend to be a bit more elegant, but they are also beautiful. I've had BMWs and Mercedes go over 100k miles on the same, original equipment shock absorbers, and only change bushings, whereas other cars will go through several sets during that same time. This is but one example.

And to our genius poster: what's your professional background? Are you an engineer? Or did you sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night? Do you know that the engineers at the major automobile companies, even the ones those of us here would not consider the "top of the heap," generally graduate from the finest engineering programs? Maybe you are just an idiot with buyer's remorse?

Sorry to be harsh, but I read some of these posts and can't help myself. No automobile, or manufacturer, is perfect, certainly. But all these people yearning for the "craftsmanship of old" are forgetting the fact that, objectively speaking, new cars are better in all respects -- they are more reliable, require less service, are safer, and last longer (rust proofing is just one example). And they pollute substantially less. Are there certain trade-offs made for fuel economy and competition? Sure. But since when is competition and cost new factors for a business? Do you think Mercedes and BMW had no competition in the 1970s? The 1980s? Such a bunch of nonsense and BS.

Go troll somewhere else. Moreover, if your car is such a POS, go sell it. Better yet, go out in traffic and roll around on the ground under people's cars. Hopefully you will not be seen and someone will drive over you. A victory for natural selection . . . .

Originally Posted by oblu

PS. Holiday Inn Express rocks.

Originally Posted by oblu

No point for you then. It's my personal opinion. Never asked you to share it, I was just putting it out there that I personally think this car is heavily penny-pinched to make as much money as possible. There's no liability to it either. I guess more than anything, being new to Mercedes, I was a bit surprised and I was expressing that.

Like I said, the only thing I have that comes anywhere near proof, is crawling around and working on other brands. They looked, and seemed to me, better put together with higher quality pieces than this car.

That is all. I know it's not going to be a popular opinion on a Mercedes board; people always have the tendency to vehemently defend whatever product they've choosen as the best possible choice ... especially in forum land. That's normal and to be expected.

Just passing the time with conversation, take it for what its worth or tell me I'm full of *****. It's all good.

Originally Posted by oblu

You can tell a lot by looking under a car.

BMW 3 series, you pay for a lot that you can't see, and their suspensions are actually crude to the point of being from a horse drawn carriage, regardless of how effective they are; front suspension one lower arm, strut/spring pinch bolted to lower arm, attached to chassis at top; rear, lower arm, spring placed between chassis and arm, strut bolted to arm and chassis. But the chassis and components themselves look beautifully crafted.

Audi A series, suspension more complicated that it probably needs to be, given how ineffective it is. But chassis not as well wrapped up and you can see visually what looks like corners cut. Presumably to offset costs of wrapping up what you can see, Interior, trunk, engine compartment, etc.

MB, verdict is still out. I crawled under the W204 last night in a failed attempt at replacing a damaged front grill and I wasn't too impressed with what I saw. Everything had that patina of cost conscious corner cut engineering. I'm no engineer, and I'm sure my opinion will anger Mercedes fan boys, but the components and fit/finish didn't look anywhere near the levels of BMW or Audi.