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I have to be honest that I am often lured into Autotrader.com and other sites, lusting after new cars. The problem is, though, (as I wrote about in one example here) I'm just not finding they are an actual improvement over the my current ML350 4matic... I was lucky to find my current brown beauty at half it's life, still in good condition and for a great price. Additionally, and where the argument lies, all the options my 2014 came with are incredibly expensive on the new cars (ventilated seats, all the safety extras, wooden stearing wheel, V6, AWD, hell even my current towing capacity is only beaten by 500lbs in the newer GLS...) so there's really no "reason" to upgrade from a tech perspective. When you consider that new cars now-a-days are absolutely insanely expensive, even less. I actually caught myself considering a gorgeous 2022 GLS450 that was trimmed out like my ML but cost a whopping $92k!!! Y'all that is probably what you paid for your first nice house!
After a vacation to Naples recently, where apparently there are more Hinckley yachts than anyplace outside of Maine or Rhode Island, I started to notice some beautiful similarities between the paint schemes of Hinckleys and the most Dubai-ready Maybachs made by Mercedes (where they offer a similar two-tone paint scheme; the top being a gorgeous cream/oyster/white, and the bottom a navy or blue-ish silver). This got me thinking, should I just make my current ML look like a Maybach? I can spend just one month's car payment for the new GLS450 to vinyl wrap my car in a gorgeous two-tone color scheme that would match the boat and other similar Maybach custom paint jobs (at least I think so lol).
Anybody want to see me do this? Anybody want to stop me with a cold slap of common sense before I go ***** deep on this little money pit idea? The car drives great and I do think it's got another 50-100k miles in it so it's worth keeping as long as I can.... why not have some fun, make it look the way I'm lusting after, AND still save the money over a new car?
Let me know what y'all think...but be nice. Here are some inspirational photos to help convey my imagination:
Thanks y'all,
Joel
Last edited by JoelCrow; Mar 12, 2022 at 01:05 PM.
i wouldn't say ugly, and agreed you do what you like, but to me that 2 tone (at least with the white) makes it look like you're supposed to peel off the white to reveal the new paint underneath, I'm not a fan of it. Maybe 2 tone in a different colour combination would look good.
Agreed with you about the ML350 and newer cars and their costs and features. I would love a new car but to get what i want i probably would be spending double or more than what i paid for the ML, and i for sure wouldn't be getting double the value of features/performance.
Ive seen a couple Maybach GLS around, and they catch my eye for gawdiness, not the cool factor. Seen a black and gold one. I dont think they are classy looking just ugly. I personally wouldnt want a real one even if I could afford it, and definitely wouldnt try to imitate one. But taste is personal. Just make sure you can reverse whatever you do, because the Maybach look will definitely decrease the resale value.
Yes I was thinking of doing it in a wrap so I always had the option to go back stock for resale. Also I believe wraps provide a very small amount of sound deadening which I am always a fan of!
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
The car drives great and I do think it's got another 50-100k miles in it so it's worth keeping as long as I can.... why not have some fun, make it look the way I'm lusting after, AND still save the money over a new car?
