Consumer Reports Has Spoken - Page 2

Sportstick · 2012-07-03 19:39:45

We would appreciate if you could refer to those who disagree with you as simply that...and not call them "dumb" or "idiots". Thanks for helping us keep MBWorld a friendly, civil, and polite forum! :D You, Sir, have my apologies. And yes I do see your other points as well, I was just getting frustrated, watching all of the reviewers bashing the 63. I love my 350 and WOULD LOVE to give it a couple hundred more ponies. P.S. When is the W205 supposed to come out? is it 2013?

09-16-2012, 10:43 AM

#27

Jaywalker

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2008 VW Rabbit

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sportstick

An insightful question! Actually, I had a deposit placed on a 3 series and had somehow neglected to pay enough attention to the tires. My son pointed out to me that run flats were the only design available and that there was no place to carry a spare (without losing the value of the trunk) even if I replaced the run flats. At the time, run flats were not as developed as today....50 mile distance at 50 mph and the tire/wheel were one assembly. So, I took back the deposit and canceled the deal. I drive places where a 50 mile range was unacceptable.

Let me second that final comment - "I drive places where a 50 mile range was unacceptable." I do also (or even 150 miles), and many of them are outside cell phone range. It seems to me that a vehicle that depends upon runflat tires without a spare is more of a toy than a serious vehicle.

Sorry I'm late to this particular party, but I just found out about the BMW's no-spare-tire issue in time to avoid putting down the deposit. I'm now seriously looking at a C250 where before I was simply curious.

Quote:

I drove the A4 and rejected it for two reasons. 1) they were just launching and only were building automatics, and 2) I couldn't quite get over the Audi quality/reliability concern...

I'll second that, too. My first Audi (a '79 5000) used a quart of oil every 400 miles, and I was assured by the local dealership that it wasn't a problem until consumption rose to one quart every 350 miles! (Crystallized valve stem seals, as I recall.) When trying to trade in my second Audi 5000 (an '85, I had not learned my lesson yet) in 1990, the used car sales manager asked me, "Have you replaced the steering rack yet?" Sure enough, withing six months I had a $900 repair bill to replace the rack. I liked the A4, but a look at the forums says Audi still has recurring oil-use issues.

After these, it was 18 years before I bought another German car, a 2008 VW, which has been great for 50k miles, and I now have an acceptable offer to buy it and am looking to replace it with, possibly, a new W204 or a used E-Class.

Also, I do "trust" Consumer Reports, unlike some folks on various car forums. True, they don't do sporty, but they are trustworthy in that they don't take advertizing money and so I don't have to consider whether their editorial content is skewed by their marketing department. This doesn't necessarily mean that they're right about what they write, but it does mean they aren't purposely lying, and that's not something you can conclude for other car-specific magazines. FWIW.

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