iconoclast

chrysler and mb shared parts until the break-up doesnt make one anymore like the other...

this thread is deviating from it's original purpose. let's get it back on track.

jonnyrt

here here, once again I agree with good ol' Wayne in Texas. What sold me on GLK is that Mercedes is a stand alone brand, which means something when you are spending the money to purchase a higher end vehicle for eventual re-sale one day....

A Q5 2.0T Quattro is a re-badged Tiguan 2.0T 4 Motion....it is $10K more for a glammed up interior and nicer sound system. But the bare bones are exactly identical.

Again, personal opinion...Mercedes interiors are far superior to BMW and Audi.

iconoclast

tiguan is built on the golf platform and the q5 is built on the a4 platform... the b8 MLB/MLP chassis is not shared with any vw product but it is shared with porsche cajun and bentley continental.

venchka

Personal taste and opinion enter into a decision of this magnitude more than most of us realize. Otherwise, we would all just buy the latest issue of Consumer Reports and buy a cookie cutter econo-box from the nearest dealer with the lowest price. BORING!

Our selection process went something like this:
1. We felt it was time to replace the 1999 Volvo S70.
2. New vehicle should also be capable of replacing the 2004 Volvo XC70 when it's days were over.
3. Local dealership a must. Otherwise, we would have purchased a second XC70 from a dealer in Houston, Dallas or Shreveport, TX. Minimum distance away: 100+ miles.
4. Mrs. Wayne didn't want an Asian vehicle. I didn't argue.
5. Available brands represented locally: Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen. Several people we know spoke highly of Mercedes-Benz of Tyler. The other two dealerships were a mystery.
6. I have been lusting for a M-B since forever. In the past we had never been able to go further up the model tree than the C-Class. We could never bring ourselves to like the "Baby Benz" primarily because of it's size. The GLK overcame these reservations. Mrs. Wayne liked the GLK. So long as it had heated leather seating, auto headlights & wipers, and a backup camera.
7. We spent several hours one Saturday "building" our very own personalized GLK 350 4matic.
8. A few minutes ago Mrs. Wayne called to tell me how much she likes the GLK in misty weather.
9. If she's happy, I'm delirious.
10. That is how we came to buy a GLK 350.

YMMV

Wayne

iconoclast

in the same vein as your other post, at which point does a volvo stop being a ford? (pre-2010 of course)

venchka

Good point. Ford never really knew how to use Volvo effectively nor did they influence the Swedish made Volvos to any extent. The Ford 500 was loosely based on the S80/XC70 platform. As I recall, our 2004 XC70 (built in April, 2003) is 80%-90% Swedish origin. The only major non-Swedish component in our XC70 is the transmission. I think Mitsubishi built it.
So, to answer your question, Ford had very little influence over Volvo production in 2003 when our XC70 was built.
It is an apples and oranges comparison to the direct involvement of the brands I listed.

Wayne

iconoclast

apples and oranges are easily compared they are both fruits with seeds and are round and contain citric acid... they are very much alike. same as this topic you brought up. ford and volvo shared many parts and chassis'. volvo parts even made it into aston martin but many AM owners are used to brand dilution over the past years when the previous db7 was saturated with jag/ford parts.

volvo and ford and mercury and lincoln share platforms across the board with sedans and cuv and suvs... the volvo p2x and ford d3x are all the same but with different names.

either way this really is not relevant to the original topic so let's try to get this back on track... if you would like to continue this please pm me.

venchka

I rest my case.........

Apparently Volvo influenced Ford rather than the reverse. We try to buy American or Canadian first and then European.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled topic..........

Wayne

W210

With the aluminum trim and light grey leather, I find it very nice.

venchka

Funny you mention that. The day we built our GLK the brochure clearly stated "aluminum trim requires black MB-Tex." That was a total deal breaker on multiple levels. I guess the brochure lied? Our GLK would have the aluminum/grey leather if someone had told us we could have it.
There are days when M-B burns my butt.

Then there are days like today. Mid-50s. Sunny. Dry. Sun roof open. No extraneous sounds from the GLK. PERFECT!

Wayne

Muray

I have both 2012 GLK and 2012 Q5 2.0T in my garage right now. I can give you an objective opinion. Got both for about 45K.

GLK: much better ride, lousy brake and steering feel, much easier to use heater and AC control, lousy navigation graphics compared to the Q5, better visibility from the side windows, slightly smaller than the Q5, standard stereo not comparable to Bang & Olufson stereo in the Q5. Not as quick in acceleration and sporty as the Q5, with much poorer gas mileage. Feels more luxurious, and more old-fashioned. GLK steering is heavy at parking lot speed, light at highway speed. I think it's totally ridiculous.

Q5: much firmer suspension, better acceleration, better gas mileage, superior steering that is light at parking lot speed and firms up at highway speed, as it should be, and stupendously strong brakes for a small SUV. Heat and AC controls are infuriating to use, navigation graphics and stereo are much more modern. The Q5 is the sports car of the small SUV's. It feels connected to the road without slop of mushy suspension. Definitely hard riding. If you want a smooth ride, this is not the SUV for you. Interior plastic is superior to GLK in quality. I got real leather for the 45K instead of Tex-Mex of the GLK.

I like the Q5 for the sporty nature of the vehicle, you can really hustle it like a sports sedan. My wife likes the GLK better for the smooth ride, better visibility, and ease of use of controls. GLK has a much better ride, but it's not sporting at all - feels like I am riding on a giant cotton ball. Neither car is superior to the other. They have different missions. What you want is more important. You want small SUV that drives like a sports car, has good acceleration and strong brakes, or you want a small SUV that has a comfortable ride and gets worse gas mileage and slightly outdated buy more luxurious? I'd say the Q5 is the driver's SUV, the GLK is the passenger's SUV. Your call. Honestly the GLK feels 1 generation older than the Q5 to me. Q5 just feels so modern than the GLK.

If I could combine the Q5's steering, brakes, navigation, engine & transmission, and the GLK's ride, visibility, and Heat/AC controls, I'd say there's the perfect small SUV.

iconoclast

thank you for the help and feedback. it is appreciated.

btw, i see you had a b8 s4. i am waiting for the b9 s4 avant to come to the states which will not be for some time since they couldnt push it out with the facelift. unfortunately they didnt realease one earlier but AOA has been really fickle about their model lines in the past few years.

MBRedux

venchka

I give up. What is it?

Oh. The Q5. Didn't recognize it from the side. I am more used to seeing them from the front. With their gaping mouth front end a.k.a. Mitsubishi, Golf, et al.

Wayne

MBNA109

Haha. Exactly what a lot of us here bought the GLK for: because it didn't look like the bulbous, wind swept rolly polly that is inherent in every other brand's lineup.

The Q5 is a good looking CUV. Great driving attributes. Good interior materials. But most of us here on the GLK board, did not want to look like every Tom/Dick/Jane - else, we would have bought one.

We didn't need the external confirmation from every1 else during the decision making process nor looked back after the purchase.

Going to a parking lot filled with CUV's, I can always picked ours out with ease (Of course I park far away from the door ding bandits - but that is a discussion for another day ).

MBNA109

Great observation Muray.
While I find that the parking lot experience isn't as bad as you make it sound, my hwy experience is very light as you stated.

If I slow down my steering inputs on the highways, it's actually a very pleasant experience.
You sorta have to set up the steering before you enter the corner & hold the line kind of like a Range Rover in that respect. An acquire taste.