guitarplayer

My manager a long time MB owner broke down last year and bought a better car in her mind. Yes, the Lexus LS 430. Well, today we rode together and I brought her to my house first to see my E320. At lunch she admitted she made a mistake. Said she loves the car and it has been faultless, but it has no public image. Said the image thing is killing her and she never even gave that a thought when switching. Also said she could not believe how much it has bothered her.

Told me in spite of the issues he had with MB over the past 9 years, she still feels like she's just driving a car. I told her how I take a drive in mine late at night just because I enjoy it so much. I guess I feel important behind the wheel and think others think that as well. She said she used to do the same thing. Would go to the grocery when nothing was really needed or anywhere just so she could drive her Benz. Said she has never even given a thought like that with her Lexus.

Guess where she is going tomorrow? Yep, to the Benz dealer, her car goes in the paper this weekend. So I guess there are Mercedes and all the rest are just cars, no matter how hard they try. Just thought I'd share.

adv074

Hmmm...interesting. Shame she didn't realize that sooner. Oh well. What Mercedes-Benz is she going to replace it with?

guitarplayer

E350. Told her to go for the S but she doesn't want to spend that much.

benzmodz

All I can say is that I would really like to see this woman washing her new car "Desperate Housewives style" ....

ccmbduong

Somebody drives high performance cars because of that, high performance. Some drive MB because of image, I am told that people who care too much about image because of their high ego. I don't know what to think, but I consider my MB is just an appliance, it would take me from point A to point B, sometime with trouble. If MB is that great, howcome MB is losing market to Lexus and Infinity. MB knows that it is losing market to Lexus & Infinity, so it tries to be different in that market segment, unfortunately , its poor quality does not help, I am hoping that the MB CDI would help regain some customers. Remember, not all MB owners drive MB because of image. I was invited to play golf at a very upscaled private country near Philadelphia and I found that more Lexus and Infinity are in the parking lot than MB, BMW and Jaguar.
Happy driving

guitarplayer

Dude, you wasted a lot of money then. If you only consider a car an appliance that takes you from point a to b, you should be driving a Kia.

OceanView

I know what your saying and there is no doubt that Lexus is a nice car.
I have one too. But trying to argue this point on a MB forum is like doing this
What's the point?

StapleGun

Sorry, image is vanity. A car needs to do what it needs to do, i.e. provide transport from point a to point b - it is an appliance. If you need a car to provide an image for you then all I can say is that you quite possibly have a self-esteem problem. I am who I am regardless of what I drive...the car is not me or a reflection of me. I have driven and owned many vintage Mini Coopers, BMWs, Toyotas, Nissan, Porsches, Astons and everything else in between.... I have repaired them and restored them for a living. I appreciate cars for their build, quality and recently purchased an MB C43 because it's the cheap version of the Benz with an awesome V-8 - it's practically anonymous which I love. I fix 'em and it's a toy, my Toyota is what I drive on a daily basis because MB's are quite frankly fragile...Hey, just an opinion. A Lexus or Infinity will provide years of service in a luxurious and trouble-free manner which is why MB is taking in the shorts...tough ****.

benzmodz

I have driven all kinds of cars great distances. The appliance makes the difference between lift and death in dangerous conditions and the level of fatigue not experienced in high spec models is an important safety factor in driver ability.

For small drives across town it may not matter but even then the thicker glass, smoother ride and quality entertainment system makes being stuck in traffic a whole lot more enjoyable.

Try getting someone sense out of a driver who takes a Skoda from Boston to Los Angeles ... they will be talking gibrish for a week.

I have to agree that buying for image is like taking marriage advice from a gay man.

platinumsc

I used to own a benz but could no longer tolerate the constant reliability issues. When the warranty is over, the repeat trips to the service dept become very expensive. It might be better if they treated you better but they don't adding insult to injury. I own 2 lexus cars now and love the reliability and the service dept. The lexus ownership is hands down way above the benz experience we had. However, there is something about the way a benz drives, feels, smells...the stance and presence on the road. It just seems to be something lexus hasn't accomplished. They're getting closer but not there yet. I refuse to get another benz until the reliability issues are resolved but that doesn't keep me from remembering what it was like.

Until then, lexus is the number one car marque in the world today. You can dispute it all you like, just look at the sales figures. Numbers never lie. Also, look at how many used benzes you see for sell in the classifieds. Overwhelming number of benzes. Very few lexus. Numbers rarely lie!

slk55lvr

What you've said is all true, including the part about a lexus just not "being the same" experience. If they ever do get the reliability thing settled MB could be the number one luxury brand again, but it will take years after the fiasco's of the past model years. I still love mine anyway.

CE750

I like the MB for safety 1st... Lexus is safe too, but it's not engineered for a 150mph accident where people walk away from the car thru the doors..

I did a lot of research, and got my CDI because I believed it was the safest car for under $60K out there.

sts15

As a new MB owner but an old driver, I have owned a great many cars, 6 or 7 Saabs for instance. I finally gave them up when the last one broke down for the third time on the interstate and I went straight to the Acura dealer. The RL was a great car and the dealship was terrific. Got me from here to there perfectly but with no pizazz. I have owned a lot of other cars and now also have a Volvo cross country. In fact was going to buy a second one when I saw the MB in thier lot and I bought it.

I have never driven a better engineered, safer car than this one. I love driving it at high speeds. But I also like the image...

smazur

Buying an MB for image is ridiculous. My car's been in the shop so long that my image is permanently ruined from the Chevy Malibu that I have to rent every other month while the 97 E320's being fixed.

smazur

Oh and another thing, a friend of mine made a comment the other day that sums it all up about MB image. He said" Yeah, they're nice but aren't Mercedes, Jaguar, and Range Rover always in the shop with things going wrong for no reason?" Ouch, and I didn't have a comeback for him...

sts15

Not to be coy, but other than image why would you be driving a 97 Benz that is in the shop all the time. Image does not have to mean, look I have lots of money, it can mean I like driving the best engineered safest cars around. I will match the overall engineering of the Benz any time to a Japanese car. They have gone through some bad periods but it seems that either one buys a great Benz that works and has few problems or one has one that works like a lemon. If I had one that did not get me to work every day, I would not have it long.

roomor

Every make and model has their troubles. Nobody can argue that. I'm sure there are Lexus owners who won't have another, Benz owners who won't own another, and Pontiac owners who have had nothing but trouble. With both American an imports I have yet to own a car (we drive ours to 200K) that doesn't enter the blues at some point and you wonder if those 100K blues are going to nickel and dime you to death.

I've owned nothing but "American" cars until now. I've had it with the $$ sucked up in service for any car. I figured - hey - if my wife and I want something nice, like a Benz, may as well get it. It's not like we'll save thousands over years of driving by sticking with a more conservative or domestic make.

I didn't buy it for the image, and an unconcious smile comes every time we hit an entrance ramp and open up the small V8. On twisty roads take the posted speed x2 and the car sticks to the road like glue. After driving so-called American cars for years, the Benz is more of a solid engineering wonder every time I drive it. It will be hard to buy anything else when it comes time for another. To boot, every time we pull into a parking lot or up to the front door anywhere, I feel like a million bucks... what a nice bonus.

smazur

All of the above points are the reason I've kept my car and will continue to let it nickel and dime me to death for another 119,000 miles. It's been a fantastic car; safe, quiet, fast, etc. When I bought the car back in 97 MB was still at the top of all of the quality rankings and had the well earned reputation of being a near maintainance free brand. No one would even dare make that claim about any of the newer models out now. And to be categorized in the same bucket with Jaguar and Range Rover, well, that just shows how downhill things have gone.

Now I'm looking ahead to a new head gasket and wiring harness and the associated costs of each and hoping that in another 5 years when it's time to buy another car, I'll think with my brain instead of my ego.

ruykava

haha, my MBs have been trouble free for a long, long, time now - except for a minor vacuum door closing problem on the S - and i have the new models, to boot. maybe i'm just charmed; maybe the RHD cars are more carefully built. i don't know, but i've not the slightest doubt in my mind what my next car will be since i'm getting both the "feel like a million bucks" AND "never need to worry about the car" feeling, all at once i was apprehensive when i got the W211 because i had heard of all the reliability problems, but in truth it's been the most reliable car i've ever had so far.

as to those who don't buy the car for the image: good for you. but fact is, many people do - and i buy cars because i see something creative, something beautiful about them. hence you'll never catch me dead in a toyota, no matter how you argue the reliability point :p

sts15

Maybe your friend dosn't know the difference between a Benz and Rover or maybe he is jealous. It is the engineering that we buy them for and the feel they give us on the road, and the smugness we get from driving them...

roomor

One other point - When we began looking at MB, Audi (also VERY nice), Lexus and Saab, I read all sorts of consumer information and reports, service ratings, etc. EVERY dealer that we spoke with discounted the ratings, whether I pointed out their particular make or not. Reason? Because "incidents" that make up the ratings are many times simple things like a new owner coming to dealer service to find out how to work a rain-sensor wiper, or how to turn on their radio, or find the CD Changer... another might actually have a transmission problem or a blown head gasket.

I acknowledge the "real world" experience that many people have, and the fact that they may own a Benz and have had nightmare problems. If you read enough data in enough different places, EVERYONE can find some good news to make them feel good about their car and some bad news about their own make or model that they'll just discount and ignore since it hasn't been their personal experience. We had a list of GM cars in our family over the last two decades... when the last one left, I made the mistake of adding up the collected service and repair records to 200K miles, along with what we paid for the car. It was royally sickening. If the transmission craps on the Benz someday, it'll be $3K or $4K. When the transmission crapped on a Bonneville SSEI, it was $3K. What's the difference.

smazur

If anything, I'm jealous of his Cayenne Turbo... No contest there, he's got me beat on engineering, image, performance, quality, etc

CE750

well said.. a lot of it is anecdotal.. I know several E owners in the "real world" and non have had ANY problems.. this forum drags them in..

zstig

The reason she said the S is too expensive is she works for you!

Air Marshall Eldritch

Lol! very true. At least you get a Malibu. I get a bright blue Chevy Astrovan!