KEY08

99% of the 350's have MBtex, whereas the 550 has leather standard. I know lots of people here just love their plastic seats, but that alone is enough for me to buy the 550. That and at WOT, the V6 sounds like a 6.

hyperion667

rare because of cost; most people are cheap........

PaulE550

Yeah that is sadly the truth. People want to drive a luxury car, but they don't want it to cost anything. For a lot of folks, it's strictly about projecting an image of being well off without actually being well off. Still that's true of all the luxury brands. Look at what the top sellers, by volume anyways, are for a lot of luxury brand car companies.

g4benz

Top selling Mercedes is the C-Class as per a quick Google search.

starbrite

Airmatic was an option, 4Matic was standard.

rediesel

In my area a lot of dealers didn't stock many (or any) E550 so if customers wanted one they had to order it.

PaulE550

Yeah a friend of mine in the car business calls it "badge shopping". Given the fact that at least 90 percent of the public doesn't seem to have a clue about the various models offered by any of the luxury car companies, those looking to simply impress others will look to buy the least expensive model with the right badge affixed to it, that they know will impress others.

PaulE550

Same in my area. There was one E550 sedan in upstate Connecticut at the time. I could test drive any one of a couple of dozen different E350's sitting on the lot, but I ended up having to test drive a CLS550 to gauge how a E550 would ride and handle before ordering mine. They are essentially the same car, except for a few interior luxury upgrades and a slightly smaller interior.

PaulE550

By the way, I was referring to the E550 and the CLS550 being essentially the same car, not the E350 and E550.

El Cid

Number one selling Lexus model is the ES which is built on the Toyota Camry/Avalon platform. Won't be long until the CLA and GLA are best selling MB's and dealers are pushing them.
That said, 20% of the price of an MB, BMW, Lexus, Porsche, et. al. is for the badge.
I would say 99% of Americans don't know the difference between a CLA and an S or CLS or an SLK and an SL. Heck, I'm not sure I do sometimes.
Not new though, this is what made Cadillac, Buick and Oldsmobile, as well as Chrysler and Lincoln.

hyperion667

when I was originally looking for my first luxury car I knew I wanted a V8.......not many lux cars offer them do they?
if I had a choice between a S350 and a 550, I'd go for the 550 every time.....

PeterUbers

The smoothness and quiet thrust it had ... Generally a very smooth quiet car

threeMBs

IMHO, E550's ride (but not performance, aka acceleration/passing) is much closer to E350 than to CLS550.

Had 2014E350 just before switching to 2014E550 (non-airmatic) - cars rode about identical except before mentioned acceleration/passing (which was significant in E550's favor).

However, again in my opinion CLS550 (with standard air-matic) drives nothing like E550 (except acceleration/passing, which is about identical, except the biggest difference here is that there's no throttle delay in E while it is quite significant in CLS) - CLS is much sportier: with less body roll, much heavier steering and flatter cornering.

threeMBs

Not in his model year (2010). In fact it was opposite. Your statement correctly applies to 2012-on TT E550s.

toban

I have a 2012 E550 and I think the mileage is fantastic for a large V8 engine. I'm in Canada and my mileage indicator shows at 65 mph I'm getting 36 MPG. I get way better mileage than my old Benz E430 V 8.
Those twin turbos really help the mileage.


Toban

Johnny Rad

@PaulE550 - We might be brothers from different mothers! With my '02 GS430, I was one of the biggest Lexus homers out there. I kept it for ~10 years in part because I held out hope that Lexus would eventually bring out something like it again. Unfortunately, like you stated, Lexus is no longer interested in offering fast sedans. Their current LS460 F-Sport is a really, really nice car - but, it's a pig. It gulps gas without returning any performance and can't dance one iota. I tried to love one, but just couldn't. The current GS is a nice enough looking car in a boring sense, but it's allegedly a rattle trap and only comes with a modest V6 powerplant. Their new GSF is a step in the right direction assuming you can accept that it's not a M5/E63 fighter, but its severely limited production and goof ball int/ext aesthetics conspire against it.

When I realized what the awd biturbo E550 was capable of performance-wise (and depreciation-wise, ha!), I was able to surprsingly throw off my Lexus chains. I still find myself looking longingly at some Lexus cars, but my Merc schwartz (Spaceballs) is growing stronger.

starbrite

Ah. yes, of course you are correct. Thanks

g4benz

Wow, I've got a 2010 that gives me 16-17MPG. I do have a short ride to work, most of which is back roads and not highway, but 36MPG is crazy good.

KEY08

You should be able to easily get 25+mpg on the highway with your 2010

g4benz

I travel 8 miles one way to work daily. 2 of those miles are highway. I guess I would consider this city driving?

Up to 18 city, 26 highway = specs

PaulE550

I was really trying to NOT be too negative with regard to the Lexus LS460 (F-Sport is just some minor tweaks or no significance), but "pig" does pretty much sum up the car from a driving perspective. A lot of Lexus reps actually tried to position it as "a more affordable version of the Mercedes S-class", which just goes to show that most of them either have never seen / driven a S or they're hoping the customer prospect doesn't have a clue about any other cars. The LS460 isn't really competitive to the E-class from a driving experience perspective.

I keep my GS400 strictly as a backup car or for local hops around town at this point. I've actually had a number of service reps at Lexus offer to buy the car, because THEY don't fine the current GS350 or GS350-F appealing. They also called both current versions boring. That tells you something.

If the upcoming GS-F, which will likely be massively over-priced, is anything like the current RC-F, Lexus is going to have another miss on their hands. The RC-F has fared quite badly in almost every comparative review. So if the new GS-F is just a four-door RC-F, I don't expect they'll meet their sales projections.

PaulE550

Hi Toban,

How long was your trip to get that figure? So far the best I've been able to get is 28.3 mpg after a little over 90 minutes of highway driving. Of course I was doing between 80 and 85 mph most of the time (mostly empty road), so that no doubt would would impact mpg numbers.

boltonblue

I was tempted to downbadge it.
" oh it's just a E350"

or just for some special evil fun, rebadge it as a toyota avalon or camry....

toban

My ride was approx. 120 miles going 65 MPH. Didn't want to get a ticket!


I don't have any complaints on the mileage with this car. According to Transport Canada the car was to get 35 MPG on the highway. Now, you are not going 80 MPH!


Toban

pca7ggr

I really like my '11 E550 coupe w/ P1, P2, sport, AMG packagethe two tone interior. A real highway cruiser and far more comfortable than the '04 GT3 which my wife says rides like a "Flintstones" car.

A question, does my car have the airmatic system? It's not shown on the option list