Compare: 2002 E320 and 2002 Lexus GS300
11-16-2005, 10:08 AM
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Compare: 2002 E320 and 2002 Lexus GS300
I posted this in the W211 forum, because some folks over there brought it up in a few threads about how they 2 compared. I figured I would post it in here as well.
I own both of these vehicles and regularly drive the Lexus to and from work (75 miles roundtrip) while my wife drives the MB. I've been promising some sort of real world analysis from my viewpoint, so here it goes. These are just some points that stick in my brain and are just my viewpoints, don't beat me up too badly!
Leather: Lexus has this one down for the feel and suppleness (is that a word?). The Lexus leather is much softer and overall the seats are like sitting on your favorite recliner, you can get all snuggly and comfy. Lexus has a better grade leather, maybe? MB has good leather too, but it seems to feel more like vinyl than anything. You can tell it's leather, but it has that "durable" feel to it, which, might not be a bad thing as I'm sure if there were some people who didn't exactly take care of what was in their pockets, how they treated their interior, etc, the MB would probably outlast the Lexus in that aspect. I like the leather in the Lexus, short term trips the seats of the Lexus, and long term trips the hardness (you won't get a stiff back) of the MB seats. Give and take for both vehicles.
Stereo: Lexus has the cool function that tells you who the artist is and what song is playing on FM/AM. MB does not have that, maybe in the later models they do. Lexus speed controlled volume kicks MB's ***...Lexus works and the MB is either mute or BLASTING LOUD and no in between. Irritates the heck out of me in the MB, but I usually have it loud enough anyway! Lexus does not have any steering wheel controls. Heck, the 2001 Dodge diesel pickup that I sold had that! Duh! Boner for Lexus in that department. MB nicely has the volume/selector controls on the wheel (for when the volume suddenly increases as you go over 50 mph and the radio thinks you're deaf). Give and take again here with the vehicles and the stereo...my daughter likes the message of who's playing and title of the song and mom and dad like the steering wheel controls because we are lazy. Sound quality might be a tad better in the Lexus, but they're both good enough for me.
Ride: MB has this one clocked. Done, over, finished, out, fin. Luxury ride, which is what we're looking for, has glued itself to the MB. I'm not concerned with cornering fast, so that doesn't even factor into this thing for us. The Lexus is a bit bouncy and rides like an Accord, Camry, or any other midsized import car. That's not a bad thing, but not really what I was looking for when I bought it. I'm disappointed in that aspect of the car. Unfortunately it took me about 2 months to realize that the ride wasn't what I was expecting and now I'm bummed. Anyway, no comparison here, MB wins hands down.
Engine Performance: The way I drive in town and on the freeway around town, there is no clear winner. Stoplight to stoplight acceleration, you know, I've never stomped on either one, so I don't know. I'm not concerned with that stuff really and in the 3 or 4 instances that we needed some oomph to merge or pass, both cars have had enough power to get 'er done. I think this is a toss up. Note - We have had the MB up to 90 mph and it felt like a brick *****house and very solid. I have not had the Lexus up over 70 yet.
Interior: I like the layout of the MB better on the dash. I don't know why, but I do. As far as the plastics, I have no opinion one way or the other. Plastic is plastic to me. They both are done nicely and work the way they should. The legroom is about the same on both vehicles both in the front and rear. My 9 year old daughter is hip in the backseats of both vehicles. No clear winner here.
Exterior: MB wins. this may be weird (consider the source), but the lines of the MB that are on the front fender make me drool. There's something about staring at the front wheels and the way the body panel of the fender rolls around them with a slight bulge outwards and then blends back towards the rear of the car that just make me smile. I dunno, it's just me but that part of the car is sexy.
I like the front end of the MB as well. The Lexus, well, it's just there, nothing special. It looks good, but it's best feature for me is it's rear lighting on the trunklid. That's cool, but I never see it, so it just doesn't do it for me. Maybe I should start backing it in the garage!
Fuel economy: MB wins. The way my wife drives the MB, grocery getting, to work and back, city streets, soccer games, shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping, er...sorry, the MB gets average of 25 mpg. On our San Diego trip is averaged 28.5 mph. That's hand calculated. The Lexus averages 25 mph with 75% freeway driving at 65 mph. I do realize the Lexus is an I6 and the MB a V6, but the way I drive I would expect more out of the Lexus. In all reality, both do very well for what they are.
Looks: MB wins. That thing commands respect wherever it goes. People ooh and aah over it (even though we bought it used and it's a model of past ages). I've gotten 8 to 1 comments on the MB versus the Lexus. I dont' fish for comments, but listen with an interested ear when people comment on the car. My friend said it best, "the Mercedes is exactly that, a MERCEDES!" I agree. That's not to say the Lexus is ugly, it isn't. It is a cool car, but to me, looks like my fridge, it does the job well, without issue and blends into the background.
That's all the time I have to type right now, if there are any questions, comments, concerns, ask them and I will do my best to answer them. Don't forget, these are 2002 cars, not the new, blinged out models (I'm too poor to afford these).
I own both of these vehicles and regularly drive the Lexus to and from work (75 miles roundtrip) while my wife drives the MB. I've been promising some sort of real world analysis from my viewpoint, so here it goes. These are just some points that stick in my brain and are just my viewpoints, don't beat me up too badly!
Leather: Lexus has this one down for the feel and suppleness (is that a word?). The Lexus leather is much softer and overall the seats are like sitting on your favorite recliner, you can get all snuggly and comfy. Lexus has a better grade leather, maybe? MB has good leather too, but it seems to feel more like vinyl than anything. You can tell it's leather, but it has that "durable" feel to it, which, might not be a bad thing as I'm sure if there were some people who didn't exactly take care of what was in their pockets, how they treated their interior, etc, the MB would probably outlast the Lexus in that aspect. I like the leather in the Lexus, short term trips the seats of the Lexus, and long term trips the hardness (you won't get a stiff back) of the MB seats. Give and take for both vehicles.
Stereo: Lexus has the cool function that tells you who the artist is and what song is playing on FM/AM. MB does not have that, maybe in the later models they do. Lexus speed controlled volume kicks MB's ***...Lexus works and the MB is either mute or BLASTING LOUD and no in between. Irritates the heck out of me in the MB, but I usually have it loud enough anyway! Lexus does not have any steering wheel controls. Heck, the 2001 Dodge diesel pickup that I sold had that! Duh! Boner for Lexus in that department. MB nicely has the volume/selector controls on the wheel (for when the volume suddenly increases as you go over 50 mph and the radio thinks you're deaf). Give and take again here with the vehicles and the stereo...my daughter likes the message of who's playing and title of the song and mom and dad like the steering wheel controls because we are lazy. Sound quality might be a tad better in the Lexus, but they're both good enough for me.
Ride: MB has this one clocked. Done, over, finished, out, fin. Luxury ride, which is what we're looking for, has glued itself to the MB. I'm not concerned with cornering fast, so that doesn't even factor into this thing for us. The Lexus is a bit bouncy and rides like an Accord, Camry, or any other midsized import car. That's not a bad thing, but not really what I was looking for when I bought it. I'm disappointed in that aspect of the car. Unfortunately it took me about 2 months to realize that the ride wasn't what I was expecting and now I'm bummed. Anyway, no comparison here, MB wins hands down.
Engine Performance: The way I drive in town and on the freeway around town, there is no clear winner. Stoplight to stoplight acceleration, you know, I've never stomped on either one, so I don't know. I'm not concerned with that stuff really and in the 3 or 4 instances that we needed some oomph to merge or pass, both cars have had enough power to get 'er done. I think this is a toss up. Note - We have had the MB up to 90 mph and it felt like a brick *****house and very solid. I have not had the Lexus up over 70 yet.
Interior: I like the layout of the MB better on the dash. I don't know why, but I do. As far as the plastics, I have no opinion one way or the other. Plastic is plastic to me. They both are done nicely and work the way they should. The legroom is about the same on both vehicles both in the front and rear. My 9 year old daughter is hip in the backseats of both vehicles. No clear winner here.
Exterior: MB wins. this may be weird (consider the source), but the lines of the MB that are on the front fender make me drool. There's something about staring at the front wheels and the way the body panel of the fender rolls around them with a slight bulge outwards and then blends back towards the rear of the car that just make me smile. I dunno, it's just me but that part of the car is sexy.
I like the front end of the MB as well. The Lexus, well, it's just there, nothing special. It looks good, but it's best feature for me is it's rear lighting on the trunklid. That's cool, but I never see it, so it just doesn't do it for me. Maybe I should start backing it in the garage!Fuel economy: MB wins. The way my wife drives the MB, grocery getting, to work and back, city streets, soccer games, shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping, er...sorry, the MB gets average of 25 mpg. On our San Diego trip is averaged 28.5 mph. That's hand calculated. The Lexus averages 25 mph with 75% freeway driving at 65 mph. I do realize the Lexus is an I6 and the MB a V6, but the way I drive I would expect more out of the Lexus. In all reality, both do very well for what they are.
Looks: MB wins. That thing commands respect wherever it goes. People ooh and aah over it (even though we bought it used and it's a model of past ages). I've gotten 8 to 1 comments on the MB versus the Lexus. I dont' fish for comments, but listen with an interested ear when people comment on the car. My friend said it best, "the Mercedes is exactly that, a MERCEDES!" I agree. That's not to say the Lexus is ugly, it isn't. It is a cool car, but to me, looks like my fridge, it does the job well, without issue and blends into the background.
That's all the time I have to type right now, if there are any questions, comments, concerns, ask them and I will do my best to answer them. Don't forget, these are 2002 cars, not the new, blinged out models (I'm too poor to afford these).
11-16-2005, 11:33 AM
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About the best I can do is to look at the printouts from the dealers that I got with each car. We've only had the MB since July and the Lexus since August, so I can't say too much in that department from my own dealings with them.
The only issues that I've had with either one is with the MB. We've had 5 things worked on (all warranty) like the rear AC vent, outside air temp sensor, rooftop thingy (I can explain more later, needed new tabs), and a SRS label needed to be glued on. Oh, the windshielf wiper took a dump on us in San Marcos whilst it was raining, if that counts.
I've had no issues at all (except a fuzzy in the window tint...dealer installed) with the Lexus.
I will say with the printout I got with both vehicles, the MB listed the issues that it had and what was replaced while the Lexus just listed that it had "service" done to it and didn't list the items repaired/replaced, so I can't compare those at all either. I know the MB had the sun visor replaced 3 times (car came from Nevada...maybe it was a vain driver who looked at him/herself alot
) and that was the only thing that showed up more than once.
I must say that I think the dealer (Chandler MB) that performed the 100 points of light inspection or whatever it is, did a **** poor job. The items that I listed above were glaring within the first week of ownership. When my daughter rode in the backseat and tried to adjust the AC, it didn't work and when I washed the car, the rest showed up as faulty. I do say they sucked at really looking it over and probably assumed that the warranty would cover it anyway, so why bother spending the extra couple of minutes looking over the car to ensure it was problem free. I do not have a favorable impression of that dealer, so I'm kind of biased to my thinking, but I stand by my thoughts that they didn't check all the stuff on the list of things to check before it's CPOed. The kicker that really pissed me off was the windshield wiper...it bounced all over the window the first time we used it. Petty, I know, but geeeeeez.
I will continue to report how the maintenance & reliability aspect goes as long as I own the cars. We're on the prowl to possibly sell the GS and get momma an S class and I'll drive the E. Dunno, it would have to be a great deal for me to do it.
The only issues that I've had with either one is with the MB. We've had 5 things worked on (all warranty) like the rear AC vent, outside air temp sensor, rooftop thingy (I can explain more later, needed new tabs), and a SRS label needed to be glued on. Oh, the windshielf wiper took a dump on us in San Marcos whilst it was raining, if that counts.
I've had no issues at all (except a fuzzy in the window tint...dealer installed) with the Lexus.
I will say with the printout I got with both vehicles, the MB listed the issues that it had and what was replaced while the Lexus just listed that it had "service" done to it and didn't list the items repaired/replaced, so I can't compare those at all either. I know the MB had the sun visor replaced 3 times (car came from Nevada...maybe it was a vain driver who looked at him/herself alot
) and that was the only thing that showed up more than once.I must say that I think the dealer (Chandler MB) that performed the 100 points of light inspection or whatever it is, did a **** poor job. The items that I listed above were glaring within the first week of ownership. When my daughter rode in the backseat and tried to adjust the AC, it didn't work and when I washed the car, the rest showed up as faulty. I do say they sucked at really looking it over and probably assumed that the warranty would cover it anyway, so why bother spending the extra couple of minutes looking over the car to ensure it was problem free. I do not have a favorable impression of that dealer, so I'm kind of biased to my thinking, but I stand by my thoughts that they didn't check all the stuff on the list of things to check before it's CPOed. The kicker that really pissed me off was the windshield wiper...it bounced all over the window the first time we used it. Petty, I know, but geeeeeez.
I will continue to report how the maintenance & reliability aspect goes as long as I own the cars. We're on the prowl to possibly sell the GS and get momma an S class and I'll drive the E. Dunno, it would have to be a great deal for me to do it.
11-17-2005, 08:31 PM
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2001 E320 Sport
Great post on your opinions, you made some good observations/points. I was actually considering a GS300 before I bought the E320. Like you, one of the things I really didn't like about the GS that the E-Class has was the steering wheel controls... among some other things. Oh well I'm happy with my w210 so far. 
