I totally agree. A $50,000 plus car should also come with the following equipment as standard:

1. Rear camera with rear parking sensors. This was standard on my 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee

2. Heated rear seats. Mercedes doesn't even offer it on the C Class, and this was standard on my 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee

3. Powered trunk opener. It's a joke Mercedes charges $250 for this feature, and a powered rear door opener was standard on my 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee

4. Rear temperature adjustment. U.S. spec W205s only have an open/close dial.

5. Rear USB ports for charging devices. This was standard on my 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee

 

I'm sure since you work at the car business, you hear people telling lies about cross shopping a Hyundai with an e class and a 5 series. I think partially it makes people sound "wealthier".

A partially loaded e class now a day will hit almost 65k easy. 5er adds up pretty quick too. You should go over to the e forum or the BMW forum and ask anyone who bought their NEW car to see if they actually really considered buying a Hyundai. I'm sure the response would be different from what you anticipated.


If the customer can only afford a no optioned base model or a used model, then I can see why they would choose a Hyundai .

 

We have ten different stores here BMW Audi Acura and Cadillac are part of the group here that I have access to. I have returned a few Es to MB after putting the people in the Equus and Genesis. If you want a 5series or anything else I don't really care and make sure you get one. It's really hard to find a bad car these days so all manufacturers need to be in their toes.

 

I think if you approach the purchase from the standpoint of "how can I get the most stuff in the largest car for the least money" the Hyundai wins.

I mean, they sell a full size loaded RWD V8 5 passenger sedan starting at the price Mercedes, BMW and Audi set for their compact, near entry level sedans. From the 3/4 rear view the current Genesis even looks like a 5 series. It's a bargain.

If you're accustomed to Hyundai pricing the German brands will give you sticker shock. Especially when it comes to the extras that make the car most appealing... More power, luxury interior amenities, multimedia, premium sound, wheel package, sunroof, drivers assist, etc. Hyundai gives that stuff away hand over fist, where Benz/Audi/BMW and even Lexus/Infiniti/Acura get stingy.

Obviously if Hyundai could get away with that pricing they would. They're a business, not a charity to the motoring public. Why can't they? Because they're Hyundai. Hyundai's niche is as a bargain brand. More bang for the buck, less status.

$50k will get you either a modestly equipped 4 cylinder compact from Benz, or BMW, or a full size, loaded V8 sedan from Hyundai. Yet when people vote with their wallets, they choose the German brands by a huge margin.

The current generation Genesis did 30,000 units domestic, coupe and sedan combined, in 2015 and has held at around that volume for the past 5 years.

Mercedes did just under 90,000 units of the C sedan domestic in 2015. Now if you're Hyundai I guess the thought is those 60,000 plus buyers just don't know what they're missing. But of course they know exactly what they're missing and they're totally okay with it.

 

If the point that is being made is that the "best bang for the buck" are vehicles like Hyundai, Jeeps, Honda's, Kia's etc then yes they offer more features for less money.

End of thread.

But, given this is a luxury car segment isn't that already a given just like any other luxury product like clothes, handbags, watches, jewelry, etc?

People buy luxury products for things like perceived recognition, status, refinement of design, and being set apart from the more common population.

Complaining that a Mercedes Benz doesn't come with voice control because you don't want to spend an extra $2000 is a little silly isn't it when it is well known that the brand is an expensive luxury marque.

As the younger crowd says: TLDR Well DUH!

 

I think the point Hyundai guy is making is that Mercedes superiority as a builder is a fiction. That the Hyundai is objectively every bit as good as the Benz, but the Benz buyers have somehow been tricked by savvy branding into spending more and getting less.

I will say if you're car shopping and come upon a Genesis sedan, you look at the equipment list and the price and ask yourself how can they sell so much car so cheaply...drive it and all of your questions will be answered before you're a block away from the dealership.

 

I think we need more sh*t to put on the fan lol
Another disappointment is when my brand new Mercedes blows hot air at max speed at 61F and somebody calls me or I make a call the fan doesn't slow down so we can hear each other? Why did poor, cheap Hyundai thought about this and made it right? Or is there another n-$ package I need to add on? By the way, to place a call in Hyundai all you need to do is just click green button on the steering wheel! Magic, isn't it? Or skip,a track from a steering wheel. Wow, that's was a tough one! Also need a package? Damn, I've got it fully loaded but AMG seats and HUD. Oh, but right now I have a bigger D and a star badge! Cool feature!

Okay, may be for you Hyundai still a load of crap, but it does have seriously helpful features that works for your convenience. And I do miss a lot of them in my current car. In my opinion Mercedes has a room to improve.

 

Yeah, you can make a call from the Benz by pressing the button with the little picture of the phone on it. When you're done, press the button with the picture of the hung up phone on it. Or, press the Talk button and say "Call [name]". Or press the Telephone hot key on the dash and use the touchpad to write the number out, or the jog dial to select the number.

But it'll probably be a few more generations before they get a fancy green button like on the Hyundai.

You can also skip a track from the steering wheel. Or display media and swipe across the touchpad. Or display media and rotate the jog wheel to skip tracks. Or regardless of what's being displayed, touch the square icon on the rear of the touchpad, which brings up a mini media screen where you can swipe to skip tracks. Or press the Talk button and say next track.

But yeah, other than those half dozen ways to skip tracks, there's no way to skip tracks. Did your car come with a manual? Might want to take a peek at it.

Your car, if it has every option but HUD and AMG seats will have every feature I just described.

Oh, set your HVAC to Auto, Sync and the temp at 72. Set air flow to diffuse.

 

This is the best comment I've ever read.

 

Guys, it is so good to have many points of view about if it worth it or not, if is all about a brand or actually is Mercedes really a very good car over a very good marketing. Me concluision fo far is that everything is in the head of the consumers. The value i think is more in your head and how much it worth it inside of you better than the car. I have read all your feedbacks and there are mores, lesses, goods and bads, Koreans, japaneses and germanies. Overall, i think i am gonna buy because i think i like the car, i am gonna enjoy the drive even if doesnt have every detail that other have. More or less i am deciding to buy because i think is a fun car to drive, has a very avantgarde design interior and i am going to fell good about my self because a car like this is like a trophy for my acomplishes and suffers of hard work, is going to be a reminder of how lucky i am to have a very nice car in a country that there are no so many opportunities for the average people. It is going to be a reminder of how lucky i am. Thank to all for your comments. I decide to go for it!

 

So, after reading all these comments, isn't the question really, "Why did we buy a Mercedes C-Class?"

Most German cars simply don't match up with American or Asian brands when it comes to standard equipment and value. The ordering system is pretty much a la carte ... you order what you want and pay extra for it. My Porsche didn't even come with lighted vanity mirrors ... unless I wanted to order a $300 lighting package option. I ordered my C300 because I needed a compact AWD sedan; and wanted one that was stylish, performed and handled well, was economical, had a beautiful interior with comfortable seats, and offered a decent sound system. Also, having owned BMW's and Audi's over the years, I wanted to try something different.

After living with my first nightmare of a C300 for several months, I was convinced I had made a horrible mistake. Now, after more than a year with its replacement, I think I made a good choice and am enjoying my C300 Sport very much and think it was well worth the price of admission.

 

As someone who has interned for them twice while in college and now someone who is owning them, I can attest that it is worth it. Yes---you are paying a premium price for a premium product, but as others have noted, a premium price does not imply perfection. in my w204, I had little gripes here and there, but overall the products from MB are almost always more well put together than other brands. In addition to that, you can be assured that the brand will continue to innovate and improve---something that many manufacturers 'say' but do not deliver.

Yes, many other brands stuff their vehicles with so many features, but the execution is just not there. For example, I had a 2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee and it had keyless entry, similar to keyless-go. It touted features like remote window and keyless locking. It did that...you could lock/unlock the car by some feature of the door handle and you could roll the windows down using the remote transponder. However, you couldn't close the windows using the transponder and the door lock/unlock only worked on the two front doors. With keyless-go you can open and close all of the windows using the remote, and all doors have a lock/unlock capability. Another example....my jeep and my w204 and w205 have cruise control. However, my jeep only allowed the car to accelerate to a given speed. If you were in situations where you were going downhill, the car had no way to correct this and you would accelerate because of the car's inertia. In my w204 and w205, they were proper closed-loop feedback control systems. I could set by car's cruise control to 50mph and it does not matter if the car is uphill or downhill, the car will attempt to maintain 50mph.

It's the little things like the examples above the set the brand ahead of the pack for me. Though in some aspects the brand is a little behind (why is ACC not standard??), I know that the way the cars are made are superior to their competitors.

 

I don't truly believe that there is a perfect car. Unfortunately, behind slogans is a steamy pile of exaggeration. I blame the C class's poor performance in the fit and finish department, on the Vance, Alabama plant. Evidence of this is, the GLC which is practically the same car, has yet to have the issues the c class had in its early builds. GLC is built in Bremen, Germany, the c class is built in Vance, Alabama. Thats what happens when you let southern hicks put together a Mercedes-Benz. They don't have a good track record

 

I don't think it is related to the people rather that the problems were probably related to the design and other growing pains with the new model redesign. The GL, GLK, and R-Class were also assembled in these plants. Not to mention that other brands have their assembly plants in the south as well (BMW, Nissan, Toyota, etc). The older c-class had problems as well, but not all of them were built in Germany. Some were built in the South Africa plants and they also had problems as well.

 

There is definitely something that can be said about where a car is assembled affecting the quality. Coming out if my mk5 to mk6 VWs, the fit and finish differences were tremendous. My GLI had plastic left underneath the seats that stuck out. Panel fitment was poor, and it squeeked all the time. Made in Mexico. The most aggrgious manufacturing error I've seen coming out of a Mexican plant is this cookie however.

We need to build Mercedes in Germany, and stick to what we know in Murica... Obesity. Bring back Nabisco or build a wall of stale Oreos!

 

The 2000 S Class was a nightmare. The 2007 S Class was a nightmare. That's the flagship sedan, and a new model, built right there in the Fatherland. In Vance, workers had to adapt to a new construction process for the W205 (aluminum skin on steel unibody) where panels have to be glued together. (Can't weld aluminum to steel). Not a surprise the domestic W205s had issues early on.

Also, if you expect a certain minimal level of options and equipment on a new $50,000 sedan, maybe buy a new $50,000 sedan that has that minimal level of options and equipment?

It's one thing to opine that Mercedes is stingy with equipment on a $50,000 car and that people who settle for that and buy the Benz are stupid.

But it's another thing entirely to prove yourself right by buying one. I don't get it.

 

The GLK was not nor was it ever built in america. The GLK was bult in Bremen, Germany. The sindelfingen and bremen built c classes didn't have anywhere near the problems that the American built one has had. I guess it depends what your definition of "problem" is. The previous c class was a decent performer in the reliability department (check consumer reports and jd power) may not be Lexus levels but decent nonetheless.

 

That dosent surprise me for a flagship luxury sedan. Even the Lexus LS isn't what it used to be. It's why I'd never own anything above a cls450 without air suspension.

 

Oh but Air rides so nice. I just won't own an AirMatic car beyond its warranty date. But my last 3 cars were on Air. On the S, if you didn't get AirMatic you got ABC, and that was even worse in terms of reliability and repair costs.

 

how the heck did this thread turn into:

"you dumb ***** wasted money on a C class, now go get a hyundai"?????

Listen, we drive a Mercedes for the PRESTIGE. Call it status, whatever.

i refuse to throw down $50k on a hyundai, i'm not a cost conscious buyer at all.

I like to enjoy the finer things in life, as long as i can afford it.

you can buy a north face down jacket for like $150. Instead i like to buy Moncler, why? cuz i like the finer things in life.

I'm sure most of us here have enough disposable income to enjoy the finer things out there, including our VASTLY overpriced C classes. But if it makes us happy, why the heck not? They say you can't buy happiness, but you'd be damn sure it helps getting you there.

 

Agree. The question being raised is, did Mercedes EARN its prestigious name and reputation by building really good stuff for a really long time, or is it marketing hocus pocus?

My 20+ years experience with the brand is that it's maybe 80% earned, maybe 20% hype.

My rule is not to buy one I can't afford to load up. Big spread in look and feel in MB between base and loaded. That's why I'm not in a 222. Can't stomach a $1500 a month lease payment on the base car.

 

I like the feeling of air suspension on cars too. Unfortunately, I don't trust them from any brand.

 

Yeah, my 05 had a front strut failure at around 60k miles, fixed under CPO. My 04 at around 70k miles, also warranty. 2010 had one front strut fail at 85k miles, also CPO.

Not a big deal, a few days in the shop, no expense. But if you plan on keeping the car beyond warranty I agree stay clear of Air cars. Repairs are expensive if you're handling them yourself.

 

Yeah I'm the type that keeps cars 7-10 years.

 

The first gen GLK's were produced in Bremen. But the succeeding generations were built in Tuscaloosa. I also forgot to mention that the ML was also produced in the South.