Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Merc GL450

[Fellippe Galletta (fellippe.galletta]

On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 12:20 AM, Brian E. Buxton <
BrianBuxton [at] buxtonmotorsports.com> wrote:

>  But the fun is making your "soul machine" the daily driver!  BTW, I drove
> an IS-F as the local dealer had two that they couldn't give away.  Just
> wanted to see what they were about and compare them to the C63 AMG Mercedes
> that I bought in Aug.  And as I expected they were too "Japanese" in driving
> feel, lackluster interior quality for wood and plastics, kind of a
> disconnected feel when driving.
> The Benz has better styling, it's faster, sounds phenomenal, and has
> overall better build quality.  Back in 1989/1990 when Lexus came out with
> the LS400 sedan they heavily marketed the fact that their cars were $20,000
> less than an S-class Mercedes.  But drive both back to back and you would
> have easily understood and appreciated what the extra $20K brought to the
> table.
>
> Brian
>

Brian,

I'm totally with you on everything you write. I'm not here to be a Lexus
fanboy, dreaming of owning a "hot lex". LOL.

But the real issue is determining how reliable the German products are over
the long haul, and if they are indeed subpar, how much is the extra soul,
luxury, etc. worth?

In 1990, this was a non issue as MB was still excellent. They've gone
through their ups and downs since, and I'm not sure where they stand now. At
least AMG is a hand built motor...I'm sure they're ok, but the Toyotas are
guaranteed to be bulletproof.

Knowing me, if I had to own just 1 car, I'd probably take these germans over
the japs anyways because I'm still a young insecure punk, hehe. But if I
already had some toys I might think differently.

;-)

FG