beejAMG

from an MB to a hyundai...
thats why there are buses.


OP, goodluck and all the best! hope you find yourself in another MB sooner rather than later.

mellonc

i was posting on my phone and was cut off by accident. I meant to say that .... On the other hand, Lexus cars are not that engaging to drive. I like the GS line at Lexus but it's a under-steering sporty car if there is such a thing.

Reliability and cost of upkeep are better with Lexus but Hoover vacuum cleaners are reliable too.

KEY08

I simply cannot stand that poopy diaper front grill look on the Lexus brand and would never buy one for that trait alone.

The G Man

Consumer Report is good for rating toasters or vacuum cleaners, their car rating system is flawed. Years ago, they were giving Toyota automatic max. recommend ratings without even testing the car, this went on for years until it was bought to the public's attention. On the 2008 GS350, CR gave the RWD version a highly recommended rating while the AWD version of the GS350 would get a low rating. The reason according to CR was due to the powertrain, as we all know, the powertrain of the RWD and the AWD are the same. The only difference was the AWD system which had proven to be very reliable. The real reason for the low rating should have been the troublesome dashboard which rattles loudly every time you take a turn. It was a design problem that Toyota had no fix for. Had CR did their research and testing, they would not have look a fool in their publication. CR's sampling size and methods has also been called into question by many in the profession. CR only sample subscribers, which leaves out a large segment of the car buying population. Most people who subscribed to CR are very conservative financially, which means they usually own what they perceived as reliable cars like Honda or Toyota. That would mean the sample size for cars like Audi, Mercedes or BMW are much smaller than say Toyota or Honda.

El Cid

I disagree with how CR reviews and rates cars and that was why I quit subscribing. However, their reliability ratings are based on actual surveys from owners/leasors of the cars. The sample is also quite large for this type information. They also have a minimum sample size for reporting.
Yes there will be more Toyota respondents than MB simply because more people drive Toyotas than MB's - far more.
This last report showed Lexus and Porsche as most reliable and the sample size, especially for Porsche, is far smaller than MB's, much less Audi, BMW, etc. This is the same for JD Power or any other surveyor.
While average CR subscriber may be conservative, look at how many purchase expensive, problem prone cars anyway. Chrysler, Fiat, etc. owners purchased enough to make the minimum sample size cutoff, despite years of bad ratings from CR.
As for AWD vs RWD or even FWD, AWD cars always rank lower in reliability and higher in problems. Simply because AWD is a more complex drive system with many more parts. They also may tend to experience more harsh use than RWD or FWD vehicles.
CR used to split the E by RWD and AWD and while RWD was above average in reliability, the AWD was always below average - as reported by actual owners.

The G Man

The last time I check, the minimum sample size for consumer report is 100.

jahquan3

Sad to see you go and glad the airmatic was not an issue. I figured it wasn't after you said it took a week of sitting for the lowering to happen.

Good luck and remember you can always come back to an MB if you want to. There is no definitive best car/brand only the best car/brand for you. Keep us in the loop.

mellonc

to G man and el Cid, I was only comparing JD Power and consumer reports in that one company has a client which was a corporate interest vs the other company which does not a conflict.

As for the 100 points of data as the minimum. That is fair. In statistics, we say that about 30 to 40 sample size is significant enough. Obviously, we'd like more. However, it's not just the sample size that goes into an analysis. There are other explanatory variables to be incorporated to determine an outcome. JDP screws up or skews this in favor of the client every time (again speaking from first hand experience).

El Cid

I agree with you about JD Power. Noticed long ago that almost every "client" manufacturer can be first at something and win a JD Power award.

Johnny Rad

If true, great point.

Add the churn at the top of the various listings from year to year and every mfg seems to get a chance to break into the Top 5 or so.

Hmmmmm.

The G Man

The J D Power three year reliability survey is one of the tools I use to buy cars, it has been a pretty reliable measuring stick for me, more so than CR. Rather other J D Power client sponsors win whatever other BS award, I really don't pay attention to it. Just like I still use CR for home appliance, but not for buying cars.

blegthbloo

I find myself using Amazon reviews for a lot of things (not cars, obviously)... but things like Haribo Sugar-free Gummy Bears

The G Man

Same here, I use Amazon review quite a bit, probably more so than anything else. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't cover all items I shop for and sometimes, much like CR, sampling size is a problem. I just cannot trust Amazon ratings that only had less than a 100 reviews.

homeyclaus

My other car is a 2015 Focus ST. It's a six-speed and a lot of fun to hoon around in. It has all the creature comforts one would be used to in a 2010 Mercedes.

And it's now for sale: http://www.focusst.org/forum/cars-sa...ington-dc.html

At least you won't lose so much in 0-60 times

jahquan3

I saw one of these the other day. It sounded very good in person. They guy had a kit on it with a bright yellow paint job.

homeyclaus

They're pretty kitted-out in the later model years.

And a hot-hatch kind of awesome:

And see the pretty pictures! https://www.flickr.com/gp/35547066@N06/188p87