Naeblis

I notice that I see fewer instances of shops creating aftermarket bolt-ons and kits, and higher price tags compared to Audi, BMW, etc., for things like turbo kits, forged pistons, and so on based on cursory looking. I see fewer and less active forums & communities. I've seen fewer participation at meets. In general I see fewer modded Benz vehicles compared to other luxury and luxury sport cars. Is it because of the large model spread? Does the fit and finish play into it? Does it just tend to attract a demographic that isn't as into modifying vehicles so parts are harder to come by and mods have to be more expensive to make up for a lack of demand? Are mods that maintain the finish & comfort simply so hard to come by that people steer clear of them on the whole? I do have to admit that I don't feel like there's anything lacking in the models I was looking at before I got mine, where as my Audi had me ready to do major changes and upgrades from the start and I'm already in that mindset when it comes to everything else I'm potentially looking at as a second car to tune.

Anyway, wanted to get other's feedback on this and see what your experience has been.

jinark

I think you need a choice labeled "All of the above".

gfmohn

I wrote this post last year from Germany.
In Germany, there have always been not one, but TWO stereotypes of Mercedes drivers. The first stereotype is the one you know and love - the beefy business man (maybe chauffeur-driven) in his black S-Class, flashing his headlights at anyone in his way in the fast lane at 150kmph (95mph). However, the second stereotype is of the white-haired, retired school teacher WEARING HIS HOMBURG HAT while driving his 190D on a Landesstraße (secondary road) at exactly the Landesstraße speed limit of 75kmph (46mph).

When 190Ds (and this stereotype) were new, that teacher probably would have saved all of his working life to buy his Mercedes. installment loans were disreputable in Germany for a long time. A school teacher in Germany is an employee of the Land (state) and, therefore, a high-status job. So that teacher would have had standards he expected to maintain. He also expected his 190D to be the last car he would own. He bought a Mercedes because that was the way Mercedes were built in those days, and that is why they were built that way. A second reason why he bought a Mercedes is because it had enough headroom for him to wear that homburg! (In turn, that is why Mercedes had so much headroom!)

All this is intended to show that designing cars for entertaining young American drivers is not high on Mercedes engineers' priority list. (Thereby creating an opportunity for AMG, a separate corporation with a completely different set of priorities.)