Diesel C Class wins again.

http://news.drive.com.au/drive/car-o...120-29mvu.html

 

Good news John. Our pricing will make Americans faint!

 

What? No Audi A5 Sportback to compare? Starts at under $80k in the 2.0L TDI version, here is a review of the 3.0L turbo. A nicer car than the W204 IMO, but unavailable when the 2010 C300 Sport was purchased.

http://www.carsguide.com.au/news-and...3.0_tdi_review

 

Here is an interesting review :-

http://news.drive.com.au/drive/motor...525-1z8ey.html

 

Holy SMOKES! I love my car, but I would NEVER pay that much for it! No wonder why people overseas can't believe I drive a Mercedes-Benz... My car MSRP was about $44,000 and had P1, comand navigation, H/K audio system, spoiler, backup camera, bi-xenon headlights, and basically was only missing AMG rims, special paint, full leather and safety packages. For a 24 month lease I pay $300/month (including pre-paid maintenance) for 12,000 miles/year and only paid $2,757 at signing... SHEESH!

 

I often find it amazing how some Northern Americans mistreat their latest MB. I see kids having them as first cars & trashing them whilst others do not bother with correct maintenance .There are a lot of mods done that instantly lower the value & do not add to the engineering excellence or pulchritudinous !!

The marque is treated with much more respect in Australia.

The pricing may be the greatest factor in the different attitudes.

 

The C-Class isn't regarded as anything special over here. Don't get me wrong it still has cache, but I wouldn't say Americans consider it a car that requires special treatment.

 

Really!

 

In South Africa most Americans that drive a Benz would be driving a Toyota Corolla. In Aus & here Benz cars average twice the US price. When you take number of months earnings required to purchase a Benz in Aus or SA vs. the US you look after the damn thing. It's a major investment that holds value. Not a toss out item.

 

Not sure I can agree with this. We tend to talk to an insular group of folks of similar economics, so among that group, the entry level MB may not stand out. But for most Americans, for whom the median annual income is $50,054 (2011CY) and most people drive Ford, Chevy, and Toyota, any Mercedes or similar car is still an exception and not the rule. Many of those cannot buy any new car. Over time, large sample statistics show typical purchase price of a new car in the US is about 33% of the annual income value. That is, on average, $100,000 income households buy cars selling for about $33,000 +/- . Leasing alters this equation, but, there are lots of folks here for whom any Benz will remain an unfulfilled dream.

 

For many South Africans it's years of salary to buy a Benz, not months.

 

Since C-Classes are built right there in town, why are they priced so damned high? I assume mine, built in Bremen and with duty, shipping and all the rest of it is still less money.

The Australian prices reflect the sky high duties and other taxes. Still the same car but supporting government operation, one has to assume.

 

So where does the other 34 grand come from? Residual?

 

Glyn,
Can you give this more perspective? An entry level small car (C-segment) Toyota Corolla in the U.S. starts at $16,230 with 1.8 liter gas engine, 5 speed manual. What would a comparable car cost there? Is the entire industry so highly priced or do premium brands get huge markups?

 

From the Australian perspective (NB. A$1.00 = US 1.04) :-
'Toyota has shaken up Australia’s small car class, announcing a super sharp $19,990 starting price for its next-generation Toyota Corolla.

The new strategy matches the price of the all-new Nissan Pulsar and undercuts all the Corolla’s other major rivals.

The Ford Focus is the next cheapest key small car, with a recently reset list price of $20,290, the Mazda3 costs $20,330, the Holden Cruze is $21,490, the Volkswagen Golf is $21,990 and the Hyundai i30 is $20,990. None of these prices include on-road costs.'


Source :-
http://www.caradvice.com.au/196765/2...pecifications/

 

A similar Corolla in SA is R280,000 = US$35,000

VW, Toyota & MB are the top three sellers in that order.

All cars are expensive here due to tax & auto company gouging. BMW & Benz pricing gap to Toyota as an example is sometimes closer in this market. You still pay a brand premium for Toyota here. The comparison is good because VW, Toyota, Benz & BMW are all built here for local & export. We have no luxury car tax like Aus. Only a recent & small CO emissions tax.

Benz pricing in the US is lowest in the World after Saudi Arabia to try and achieve some market share in a very competitive market.

In fairness SA Benz cars both locally built & imported are better spec'ed standard than US models & we have no packages. Things like leather are standard. We can tick the box & configure our cars how we want them with extras like navigation/Comand & Parktronic, Distronic, Linguatronic etc.

US cars are built to a sticker price & you see cheaper upholstery & signs of trimming in many areas. e.g. a US spec car will have a brake wear sensor on the LH front wheel while an SA spec car will have on all four wheels.

In Saudi there is zero vehicle tax & many of the safety features our countries demand are lacking. e.g. You can have from Benz to Porsche in Saudi without any air bags.

Hope this provides some perspective.

 

Oh no, not another thread mentioning the prices of the same vehicles in the U.S compared to alot of other Countries - why can't we outside of the U.S have them for sooooo cheap as well

I'm of the same attitude and opinions as Glyn, ie. if your going to pay so much for it you'd want to make sure you damn well look after it and treat it like something special, which prestige marks like MB are anyway here in Australia

BTW nice read thanks for sharing Carsy, Drive do seem to love MB in Australia and I for one am grateful we have access to the CDI models here, they are the choice pick

 

Is this mostly an automotive phenomenon or is the overall cost of living that much higher in SA? For example, a gallon of milk is about two dollars here...average house is $185,000...there?

 

Not as easy to answer as you might think. It's more of an automotive thing in general but I would say day to day cost of living is without doubt higher in SA ~ food etc. Electronics etc. are also very expensive when compared with US economies of scale.

Here fuel is more expensive. $2 will buy you 2 litres of milk here whereas it will buy 3.7 litres in the US. The average nominal house cost in SA for 2011 was US$115,000 (three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, lounge, dining room, kitchen, media room/study, double garage, and small quarters for the help) but premium houses are in the multi million dollar range. We are also comparing apples with pears in many respects. We build brick & mortar cavity wall bomb shelters or shutter concrete homes that will last 100's of years. You build 2 X 4 wood, oriented strand board, stucco, gypsum/plasterboard/fibreboard houses that are comparatively short life. You guys knock up a house in no time whereas average build time here is about 6/7 months. We need to change our building standards to something more practical. We suffer a hangover from the European colonial era. (Dutch/British). Small brick sizes purposely to be labour intensive ~ post WWII.

Another difference I notice is that cost of living in South Africa varies little between the major metropolitan areas. Whereas in the US the difference between say Dallas & San Francisco is noticeable. When we merged our three companies & had to transfer people from Dallas & Houston as an example we had to give the Texans allowances for SFO. Not only is housing hugely expensive in the Bay Area but so is other day to day living expense.

Back to the car story. In the late 60's early 70's the Chrysler/Plymouth Valiant was the best selling car in SA. Today their are no American cars sold here apart from a few Jeeps/Dodge Caravans which are a hangover from the Daimler/Chrysler merger. Anything with a bowtie on the grill is from GM Daewoo Korea or Holden Australia & Ford products are from Europe. VAG, Toyota, Benz & BMW have the lion share of the market with Hyundai & KIA making large inroads with huge warranties & very competitive pricing. We have vastly too many vehicle models available here for our market size. Nissan, Volvo, Tata, Suzuki, Subaru, Ssangyong, Smart, Rolls-Royce, Range rover/Landrover, Proton, Porsche, Opel, Mitsubishi, Mini, MG, McLaren, Mazda, Maserati, Ferrari, Mahindra, Lotus, Lexus, Lifan, KTM, Zotye, Renault, Peugeot, Opel, Lamborghini, JMC, Jaguar, Isuzu, Infiniti, Honda, GWM, Geely, Foton, Fiat, Daihatsu, CMC, Citroen, Chery, Bentley, Aston Martin & Alfa Romeo all play here including all the exotics like Zonda, Spyker & Koenigsegg etc. It's crazy. A few have dropped out like Seat.

 

I also wonder how much leasing has to play with this in the US. How many people are leasing a car and driving it because they cannot afford to actually buy it? What about overseas, in South Africa... etc?

 

Full maintenance leasing has become popular for company car fleets in SA. Leasing is not common for the private individual here. Hire purchase is for periods up to 60 month repayment.

Nearly 50% of all vehicles sold in SA are paid for in cash. A small proportion of these are private individuals with the majority being by corporations before you get the wrong impression.

 

Am I the only one that thinks a C class is not a luxury car, but a car with few luxury options on it!

 

Probably not, but there is no consistent and widely accepted definition of "luxury". For some, just coming from Mercedes-Benz qualifies it as a luxury car. Some people think that one absolutely must sit on leather in order to have a luxury car. How about this...a Chevrolet Cruze is about the same size and will do all the same basic things a C Class will do. Are they equivalent or comparable vehicles, or is one basic and the other quite a bit above and beyond the basics for a C segment car, in other words, a "luxury"?

 

Oxford Dictionary Definition of Luxury:-
Noun
A state of great comfort or elegance, especially when involving great expense:

Adjective
Luxurious or of the nature of a luxury:

Origin:
Middle English (denoting lechery): from Old French luxurie, luxure, from Latin luxuria, from luxus 'excess'.



I personally do not look upon my C Class as a luxury car but do see it as a very well engineered , tough ,safe, economical & technically advanced motor vehicle which can travel on poor roads , tow & carry great loads , take mud & dust & still look elegant in all settings.It also did not involve great expense.

The alternative large rear wheel drives here in Australia are the US influenced locally produced vehicles which are now irrelevant & have been for some time.They can come with all forms of luxury trappings but do not come up to the standard of the more advanced opposition . This has been the case since Noah was a boy & unfortunately soon there will be less vehicle manufacturing in Australia because they simply have head their heads buried in the sand & are not producing vehicles the public want.

 

I would say a near luxury or a compact luxury car. When people say I have a luxury car/SUV I think E Class,ML,GL, 7 Series, A8, S Class, Bentley, Jaguar, 5 Series, A6. Cars like that.