It would be nice if every tire company decided to compete at a relative 300 dollar price point instead of a 200 dollar price point so that we would be flush with options for high performance tires. Stock Pirelli tires on my car sucked big time anyway. I love my Michelin Pilot AS 3+, and competition is always always welcome. It’s a matter of business and marketing and not a technical limitation of the tire company. HanKOOK makes OEM tires for various MB and BMW cars already. But tiremakes should put the most premium tires available on arguably the most important wearable item on a car. But it’s all about compromise as the industry is now all about run-flats

 

I took this as someone here going out of their way to spell it “Hang Gook.” I could have sworn I saw that it that way in this thread, but it may have now been edited or removed. To me and I believe to most folks anywhere, such spelling would be deemed offensive and in very poor taste.

 

Maybe to some Americans. It is not offense to Koreans, and that’s what matters. It’s not “gook” which is offensive. It’s just a cultural perception and I think it should be corrected.

More Koreans are probably offended by the spelling of Korea (with a K) than the word “hangook”. Corea used to be spelled with a C until around the 1920’s when the Japanese imperialists occupying Corea decided that they didn’t want Corea to precede Japan on any alphabetical listing. So if you really want to be politically correct, everyone should start using Corea and stop worrying about Hangook.

 

That may be so, but most folks on this website are from the USA. To me, I wasn’t even thinking Koreans, I was thinking Vietnamese.

 

The term “gook” was a holdover from the Korean War when racist Americans calling “Hanguk” people called them “gooks”. It probably held over to the Vietnam war. But it was short for those Hangook people (or Hanguk) from Korea. The Vietnamese and SE Asians have suffered the same slur but only because racist Americans may think all Asians are alike. Gook is controversial and most would consider it a slur. That’s not the same as Hangook/Hanguk which is what Koreans call their motherland and is most definitely not a slur.

 

You know, let’s start over. I’ll admit that I came to this thread late and have not followed it closely. I don’t know every term that offends people around the world. But, as an American, who lived through the Vietnam War, it seemed to me that IF someone here went out of their way to try and change the name of a tire brand into something offensive to a group of people, I feel that is wrong and in bad taste. I don’t think all Asians are alike, just as I don’t believe all Europeans are alike. With that explanation, I am bowing out of this conversation.

 

It’s all good. When some guy with a gun is trying to kill an American soldier, I can’t blame him for finding some kind of term to use for the enemy. But it does suck that some marketing guy at a large corporation needed to distort the pronunciation of the company name, the name of your country, to market to perception. I personally think political correctness has gone to extremes but we have to find some reasonable happy medium. I’m personally surprised that a bunch of crazies haven’t defaced all the Hindi, Taoist, and Buddhist temples and monuments of their peaceful swastika signs claiming them to be hateful and racist.

 

Here is an article with some new shoots of the non-AMG line variant. It looks better to me in this spec than with the AMG body kit. You can basically see everything except for the taillights so I don't know why Mercedes is even bothering with the camouflaging at this point. Honestly, to me, the outside looks just as elegant as the w222 but slightly more imposing. The rear looks less promising but I will still hold out judgment until the reveal next week.

https://www.motor1.com/news/440965/2...-class-teaser/

 

Can't wait till sep 2nd!!

 

My dealer says it's all taken care of and they're just basically waiting for the signal to launch the whole thing.
However, this time around...
"The new car will be much more agile and engaging to drive, I'm not sure you're gonna like it, I'd respectfully suggest a GLS at this point."
Those were his words, exactly.
Respectfully WTF...?

 

strange statement.

 

They aren't even comparable both are good in two different ways SUV vs Sedan

 

Sounds like it will drive more like a BMW, which would be fine with me.

 

When a dealer says this, it is code for: "This car will be several months out and I have no interest in selling something months from now. I would rather sell you a GLS which I can deliver next week."

 

You are so right! When I was thinking of ordering a new 911, I would tell the sales person that I wanted the ceramic brakes and they would fall all over themselves telling me how bad the brakes were, basically because they had not one car to sell me right then with that fabulous option.

 

spot on!!

 

You should watch your wallet with this type of dealer. This person clearly couldn't care less about what you want but rather he/she is looking forward to their next commission/bonus check!

 

Run away from that dealership.

 

i see your located in Long Island , same area as me. I would use caution with the local dealers. I ended up at helms and they are amazing. The Long Island one which I won’t name, lost a lot of deals with my family and coworkers.

 

I hope I'm not repeating the same news but it looks like this is the new interior.

 

Very impressive tech, as mentioned before it is certainly groundbreaking. However for me it just might be too much.

 

95% of the video is showing the neat new stuff on the screens. I don't have a degree in marketing but the average age of the S Class driver has to be 45 and up (I know - many exceptions to that including most of us). Will a 55 - 60 year old gentleman really want to have to learn all the ins and outs of that screen? The beautiful designo lines drawn on the dashboard and throughout the black wood paneling is not going to be standard equipment. Nor will those very lovely quilted seats. What they are showing in this particular vehicle is a trim level of the most decked out version. Entry level models without the lines and beautiful seats is going to look pretty simple and bland / bare. It's just the center screen and the screen by the steering wheel. Even the screens in the back will likely be optional. So what are we talking here - just a basic modern empty space. I always thought that was what a builder put together to give the customer the ability to customize. A bare white box which the customer will furnish to their taste. Sure if someone wants to put $150,000 into an S580 (is that the new number?) to deck it out per the video - but I doubt that will ever be the case.

Also FWIW - I don't know how many agree with me or not - but MB shouldn't have changed all the numbers - since they don't mean anything anyway. The S580 would have in the original philosophy been a 5.8 liter V8. So since things don't matter - they should have really just left all the nomenclature the same as the 70s 80s and 90s. To drive "an S500" was boss status. The S420 was also a V8. Now they have the S450 which is a V6 but yet it's a higher number than the V8 S420. Then they smartly changed the S550 to the S560 - which gave many the nostalgic feelings of the exemplary 560 SEL. Now they changed it to S580 which doesn't have a history.

BMW to some degree has done that too - the 740 was the V8 and the 750 was the v12. Now the 740 is a V6, 750 is V8 and 760 is V12. But - they've held this for more than 15 years. The customer has gotten used to it. A BMW 750 is your standard luxury V8. They won't call it the 770 next year. We can't gaurantee MB will change the number again when the refresh is revealed in 2024/2025.

Audi - A4 A6 A8 - stays the same with just the 3.0 4.0 and 6.0 modified I suppose. But the brand is solid and the customer knows.

It doesn't even sound smooth to say "I have an S580". When I think of someone that says "I drove an S500" I think of the legendary W140 - probably black on black - thick windows with the black line marker for the dual pane. Everything cheapened after that right down to the silly new numbers they assigned.

Why couldn't they just keep it all true to the brand and easily recognizable.

No doubt the car will sell just fine - the outside isn't ugly - the back looks a bit cheap but will wait to see what it looks like. The front - the same - looks like they stuck on that grille after the hood was designed and "made it fit".

But as far as the customer wanting to be that interactive with the car? Whatever. "Mercedes, I'm Tired" - who the hell is going to actually tell that to their car.

 

Really well stated!

To think the six cylinder variant is rumored to be called a 500 is stupid. MB clearly is hell bent in going off in their own direction regardless, and yes this car will sell lights out. There is a strong market for this, especially in China.

As for the tech, it's all too daunting. Imagine delivery, hours at the dealer learning everything only to forget half of it the next day. I want a car, not a space ship.

They have become nothing more than a marketing and tech company. "Building" cars is no longer the priority.

 

I didn't know they were going to call the V6 model "S500". What a disgrace to the legacy of the 500 SEL S500 brand.

 

Thats the speculation. MB is shell of what it once was.