Something I’m curious about: when you blow tens of thousands on a luxury car like a BMW or Mercedes-Benz, are you getting anything out of it that you wouldn’t get out of a Toyota Avalon or a similar, less prestigious model? Or are you paying so much for the car and the rest for the brand?
Yes. Typically new safety features start out in luxury cars before they trickle down to the lower priced models.
You’re definitely getting a lot more than prestige, although I readily admit the prestige is a very big part of it.
Some of what you get are a large assortment of luxurious features, any single one of which may be available on lower end cars. I suppose things like heated seats and navigation systems are available on an Avalon too, but if you add them in it’s going to increase the price of your Avalon, too. So for those specific items your money is going to pay for the added costs of them.
What’s not necessarily available is the general high quality of the materials in the car. Seats are more comfortable. There’s attractive polished walnut panels. The ride is quieter and smoother. I think they usually “perform” better than average in terms of handling and acceleration but I honestly couldn’t care less about that personally.
Whenever I’m in someone’s car and I have to hold my finger on a button the entire time the window is going up or down I feel like I’ve been transported to some kind of Eastern block nation.
Your chauffeur is supposed to do that.
You’re not going to believe this, but. . .
. . . there used to be luxury cars that required the driver to move a mechanical handle in a circular motion several times in a row in order to roll down the window!
:eek:
(Anthropologists have never quite figured out how society survived those dark times.)
That feature has migrated to non-luxury cars. My five year old Prius has it. Many luxury features today won’t be luxury tomorrow.
However, someone who drives clients around, like a realtor, has a really good reason for a luxury car, since it give the impression of success.
Everything sounds better. Less road noise, quieter doors, better speakers.
Yes, as a buyer of luxury cars who has driven and own a lot of non-luxury models, you basically get newer technologies in the electronics system, better creature comforts, new safety features etc. It’s very common that stuff that later become standard in all cars (like Bluetooth integration or even stuff as simple as AC and power windows) start in luxury cars and only slowly make their way to lower end models. Stuff like automated parallel parking (a feature I never use because I’d be ashamed if I didn’t have the ability to park a car) or HUDs are things that you see in a luxury car that haven’t largely made it down to lower models yet, but will at some point.
To me, it depends on the definition of “luxury” in luxury car…
I see a luxury car as a big, softly sprung, “La-Z-Boy on wheels” with suspension made from marshmallows, a sludgebox transmission and seating that swallows you up to your neck, making getting out of the vehicle extremely difficult, like 70’s to '90s Lincolns, Cadillacs, those big soft Mercedes sedans…
I have absolutely no interest in those vehicles, and don’t understand how they were so popular, they’re so bloody boring
On the other hand, I consider BMW, Audi, Aston Martin, and the like sports cars if they’re equipped with a proper conventional manual transmission with foot operated clutch pedal, and poseur mobiles if equipped with any variety of automatic, be it a torque converter sludgebox, or flappy paddle, or DSG
Luxury cars? No thank you, I prefer to actually drive my car, not simply steer it, so I have no interest, nor can I see the appeal of a “luxury” car
Yeah, I didn’t drive a luxury car back then but I’ve heard stories and it sounds dreadful.
Incredibly, in those same cars you had to reach across the car and do the same thing to open the window on the other side. And if that’s not hard enough to believe, you had to do the same thing to lock or unlock the other doors. I can’t imagine how they adjusted their passenger side mirrors.
Eh, Lincolns and Cadillacs are luxury cars and so too are Audis and BMWs. There are some sports cars under the Audi/BMW marque, but their sedans aren’t, really. They’re just German luxury cars. the Lincoln and Cadillac marques have long been associated (despite efforts by Ford and GM to change this) with the over 55 crowd, people that as a cohort are looking for the kind of cars you largely deride. The BMW / Audi marques have always been about “performance with comfort.”
Although it’s worth mentioning Cadillac at least has a few cars out there that are among the fastest/most responsive in their class. They infamously have a 500 hp station wagon, for example.
Is there any point in buying a designer suit when you can buy one off the rack at the men’s warehouse?
Is there any point in buying a Rolex when you can buy a Timex?
Is there any point in buying fine italian shoes when you can buy sketchers?
Is there any point in flying first class when you can fly coach?
Is there any point in driving a Mercedes when you can have a Chrysler?
Yes. Yes there is.
If you consider your car to be an appliance like a refrigerator than buy the Avalon, or hell a Yaris. You won’t know the difference.
If on the other hand you enjoy the experience of driving then yes you will notice the difference.
Go bombing up a windy mountain road in a BMW 3 series then go back and try it in the Avalon. You will find the Avalon does not like go around corners. On the other hand the BMW says “This is fun! More!”
Hey now, I have a Yaris! Cramped, noisy, no power at all. But it gets hella gas mileage and will last a million miles if I baby it. I will drive until the wheels fall off.
The answer is definitely yes. A “luxury car” that costs (e.g.) $95,000 is not simply a $30,000 car with a different badge on it.
Some examples of things that may differentiate a luxury car from a normal car:
- A smoother, more powerful, more responsive engine.
- A more advanced transmission that shifts faster and smoother, possibly with more gears.
- More sound insulation in the interior for a quieter ride.
- A more advanced suspension design that results in a smoother ride and/or better handling.
- Better isolation of the engine, transmission and suspension from the body, resulting in less vibration.
- More or better safety features, like more airbags, active collision mitigation, blind spot monitoring, etc.
- Higher-quality materials in the interior, like real wood and leather, and soft-touch surfaces as opposed to hard, scratchy plastic. More comfortable and more adjustable seats.
- Better manufacturing of interior and more aesthetic design - tighter tolerances between panels, more sophisticated panel shapes rather than flat slabs of plastic, etc.
- Features like massaging seats, air-conditioned seats, multi-zone climate controls, etc.
- More substantial “feel” - doors close solidly, the motion of buttons and switches and controls feels precise and robust. Nothing feels tinny or insubstantial. The interior trim pieces are solidly attached and do not bend or flex. The chassis is stiff - driving over rough pavement or entering a steep driveway, it remains aligned and does not twist or shake.
Here, from the Mercedes website, is the list of features available on the new S-Class:
Some of these things, particularly those that can easily be accomplished by inexpensive electronics (a lot of safety technology and interior features) have trickled down to premium “normal” cars - almost every car these days can be optioned with things like heated seats, dual-zone climate control, and blind spot detection, etc. But what really differentiates a luxury car are the things that cannot be replicated inexpensively, the things that actually cost substantially more to manufacture: the transmission, the suspension, the interior, etc.
Whether all those differences are worth the $65,000+ premium over a $30,000 car which performs substantially the same function, is the subjective question. But there certainly are objective differences between a $95,000 Mercedes S550 and a $30,000 Chevrolet Impala.
The degree to which a particular model of luxury car exhibits the advantages I listed may differ, particularly when the price difference between the normal car and the luxury car is not so great. It may be a personal bias of mine, but I have a very poor view of the “luxury” Japanese brands (Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti), which always seem like merely tarted-up version of the corresponding economy brands to me (respectively Toyota, Honda, and Nissan). This is true as well for Cadillac, Buick, and Lincoln, which are luxury versions of equivalent Chevrolet, Chevrolet, and Ford models.
It has always seemed to me that a Lexus is for the person who liked everything about the Toyota they test-drove but wished it cost more money.
In comparison, in my experience, the European luxury brands are more likely to actually feel more substantial and “high-quality” than a less expensive car. Smoother, quieter, more refined, more robust. Whereas, the Japanese and American companies often use technology, features and specifications to differentiate their luxury models, but the basic engineering and platform of those cars does not feel different from the cheaper models they are based on.
Other than #4, no. None of the rest have ever been a factor to me, and I suspect not to most people with normal egos.
My husband drives luxury cars, I drive cars that take me, kids, dogs, groceries, mulch, etc from place to place. I’ve actually considered a Yaris (I currently have a Volvo S40, which I hate, I want my Prius back).
His are a LOT more fun to drive. They handle incredibly well. The seats are really comfortable. The acceleration is fast and smooth. Its the difference between eating a quarter pounder at McDonalds and getting a burger at a steakhouse for $17. Both will provide the caloric intake you need to fuel your body.
Toyota and/or Ford, etc. don’t look as good parked in front of the country club.
This is silly. Some people simply take pleasure in having and using well-made, well-designed, high-quality things that function well, regardless of their cost or how they appear to other people. This has nothing to do with ego.
For some people, finding the cheapest item that achieves the minimum functionality required and no more is not the only requirement.
Yes, higher-quality things cost more. That means that they are sometimes purchased by people with no appreciation for their higher quality, who simply want to show off how much money they have. That doesn’t mean that everyone who buys expensive, high-quality things is trying to show off.