Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Mercedes Benz Durability for the Record

[Fellippe Galletta (fellippe.galletta]

On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 2:07 PM, Brian E. Buxton <
BrianBuxton [at] buxtonmotorsports.com> wrote:

> Ha ha - the R-class has been popular though.  BMW is even coming out
> with a car/hatchback crossover to compete with it.  MBZ has ben strange
> with their cars - the last C-class was a huge improvement over the
> previous C, as was the E.  The S-class not so much.  Bu the new ones -
> WOW!  I and my family have had / do have several MBZ's in the past
> couple of years, and I don't think anything else from Germany touches
> them as far as safety, style, innovation, quality, etc.  In the past few
> years my father has had  a 1995 S500, 1999 ML430, 1999 E320 4-Matic,
> 2005 E320 4-Matic, and a 2001 S500, 2007 S550 & S550 Sport.  I have had
> a 2003 E500 Sport, 2005 CLK500 Sport conv., 2007 C230 Sport sedan and
> currently have a 2009 C63 AMG.  All have been fantastic.
>

I've see-sawed a bit during the '90s and '00s for my admiration of BMW vs.
Mercedes Benz, but sadly I can't see much appeal in the Bimmers of late,
unless it wears an M badge. This is pretty bad for a car company billed as
the Ultimate Driving Machine, with manual transmissions that are nowhere to
be found in the MB catalog.

Styling issues aside, I think the reason why MB is stronger than BMW these
days is because the MB philosophy of luxury/solidity/refinement has more
staying power than luxury /sport (in the US market at least). The American
driver prefers the auto trans to the manual trans and prefers comfort to
sport, at his/her core, so that gives MB a slight edge IMHO. Their styling
has been great the last few years, and they seemed to have been executing
their philosophy better as well. Also, this may sound a little over the top,
but I think TORQUE > HP for many people, and this is where AMG > M as well.

But don't take this as hating on BMW. Mercedes will never build a car like
the old E30/36 M3, M3 CSL, etc....NEVER!

FG