If you care about cars at all, the answer is that it depends on the models you’re comparing. But maybe more than that, it’s down to preference.
Why is my AMG better than a comparable BMW M? More raw grunt and satisfaction of the shove in the seat. The M handles corners better. I’d track an M sooner than my AMG. An Audi S/RS with legendary quattro AWD are particularly great in the wet and snow. I find the Audi handling a bit less direct but I would not say bad by any stretch of the imagination. But as a daily driver, I like the feel of the MB best. It’s the seat of the pants feeling. I guess I have a Mercedes ass.
I can make the argument that Cadillac, Lincoln, Acura and Lexus are an entirely different category of cars.
I don’t understand. “a Mercedes”? What Mercedes? Any Mercedes? You aren’t seriously suggesting that “most people” wouldn’t notice the difference in the exterior appearance of a Ford Tempo and an SLK 320, or a GLK 350 are you?
If this is your criteria then there is little difference (at a quick glance) between a Chrysler 300 and a Bentley. If you are driving or riding in one I would be shocked if you couldn’t tell the difference.
I’ve come to the unavoidable and incomprehensible (to me) realization that there are some people who simply don’t care about cars and could not tell a Buick from a Bentley if it parked on top of them.
I’ve head Mercedes rentals in South Africa and in Germany a few times, where they’re pretty much run-of-the-mill rental car stock. Obviously this is post-Tempo era, but honestly, there’s nothing all that special about them. Is this because these are rental stock? Or because they’re not the US luxury market? Yeah, maybe, but in these markets they’re pretty much at the same level as, say, a Mondeo.
Most of these were in the Daimler era, and the interiors always seems pretty Chrysler-inspired. I don’t mean that as flattering.
I’d be very interested in comparing my 2019 Expedition Limited with a standard 2019 US Mercedes of any sort, really, just in the interest of comparing them. Well, of all sorts; I have to assume that there are significant differences between models and levels.
Funny you say this. During a recent trip to the UK, I rented a brand new MB C-class coupe. It had the big diesel engine and the AMG sport package. Not incredibly fast off the line but fast enough, and a wonderfully handling car on the highway and down the single track roads in the country. I really loved it. A few months later, while visiting Maine, I rented a midsize and got a Ford Fusion Titanium trim. It started and drove. Not even close in comparison to the C-class.
We shall not speak of those days.
You’d have to compare it to the MB GLS. I suspect the differences would be quite dramatic in favor of the MB.
I once had a meeting at a factory and the Production Manager (who couldn’t have looked more like a farmer if he’d tried*) proudly proclaimed that he had the biggest Mercedes in the factory. My coworkers gaggled and goggled; I asked “truck or Vito?”
Vito It’s an extremely popular van.
He was, btw.
Note that in countries where Mercedes are more common than in the US, they’re a lot cheaper and faster to fix. Bring a Lincoln to Europe, and any time that thing gets a wart you need to import a dermatologist from the US.
In Germany, most if not all taxis are Mercedes. At one time, the team I was part of undertook asking several drivers about it: not only are they viewed as durable, reliable cars but also many of their drivers love detailing them. Every driver we asked proudly showed off these little boxes with special brushes and oils that you were supposed to use with the different woods and lovingly explained the maintenance they did on the car.
I’ve got the hypothesis that one of the reasons Mercedes-Benz decided to rebirth the Daimler brand and icon for their Smart line is precisely that: Smarts don’t have woods, they’re targeted to women and in general we’d rather do our nails or dust our house than detail a bunch of different wood bits in our car.
raises hand I know, I know! Unlike Beemers and A4s, you do not need to fail an IQ test before you’re allowed to drive off with one.
Which is where the thread was headed all along. There are people that like cars, and there’s the vast majority that simply want to avoid walking, and so Camrys and Accords sell vastly more for the same reasons McDonalds is worldwide. And then comes the counter-elitism that says people that pay more, who buy vinyl rather than download music or Starbucks instead of Dunkin Donuts coffee and on and on, are idiots.
The counter-elitism comes about because cars, like most consumer products, suffer from diminishing returns. The first $20K gets you a car that will move you from point A to point B relatively safely. Every $10K more after than gets you less and less. Slightly better feeling seats, maybe better handling on certain turns, better sounding stereo, etc.
As the price goes up and up, yes, the common man can see that the car is better, but as far as he is concerned, return gets smaller and smaller for each large monetary step.
So, it is natural for him to say “What kind of schmuck would pay an extra $30K for those features?! He must be dumber than a box of rocks and is concerned entirely with conspicuous consumption.” Which, is undoubtedly true for some, but there are some people that really value those features, and have to money to spend it. So be it.
I’m not a “car guy”, but my dad was, so I’ve ride in (or drove) a few decent cars in my time.
The biggest thing about a Mercedes, as opposed to a cheaper car, is the “feel” when you drive it. The car feels heavy, like it’s hugging the road. But it’s also powerful and responsive, so there’s no sense that the heavy car is struggling to move.
So, performance is the biggest difference. A person who tries to judge a car by merely looking at it won’t get that.
The G-class is a weird one because it’s built utilitarian and then given a facelift before selling to consumers. It’s a veneer of luxury, and a good match for the, in my experience, lawyers and slumlords who drive them.
My dad drove a late 80s S-class for years, and that car was lovely. The interior felt incredibly solid and sturdy, with excellent textures of real wood and real leather everywhere. Even the plastics had an interesting matte surface texture that really set it apart. At the time, it was leaps and bounds above any other car I rode in in terms of “luxuriousness.”
But other cars have gotten a lot better and I’m under the impression that Mercedes has gotten less distinctive. I’ve been told that recent BMWs have a bit more of the feel of an older Mercedes, but they don’t really strike me that way.
Nah. BMWs genuinely seem to attract the most obnoxious, entitled drivers on the planet. When I get abruptly cut off while exiting or a car whips around me in a turn lane or a car is actively preventing me from merging during a zipper merge or somebody tailgates me, it seems like there’s MUCH higher-than-average chance they’re in a BMW. Or somebody with no placard is in accessible spot or somebody has parked across two spots in a crowded parking lot? Yeah, same.
It’s not because they’re “car guys” and us mouth-breathing peasants can’t comprehend their need for True Driving Excellence. It’s because BMWs are marketed directly at (mostly male) professionals with disposable income and underdeveloped empathy.
Not every BMW driver is a jerk, and not every jerk drives a BMW. But, if you’re a semi-rich jerk, it definitely seems like your likelihood of driving a BMW goes up.
A Mercedes will typically have more features related to comfort, such as nicer seats, soundproofing, adaptive climate control, auto-adjust of cabin elements per driver, etc. It will also have an engine and chassis which delivers more performance, has better handling, and is better at stopping. On the downside, all of those features mean there’s a lot more stuff to break and to repair. The cars can also be more difficult to work on, which means a more specialized mechanic is needed at a higher hourly rate, and more hours are needed for the repair. The parts will often be more specialized, which means they’re harder to get and will be more expensive. The only way it makes sense to have one is if those premium benefits are worth it enough to you to overcome the high cost of maintenance. It’s definitely not a car you get if all you need is basic transportation.
Is that true though? Is a MB ignition coil more specialized than a Toyota ignition coil? How many car parts are generically interchangeable and therefore more widely available and significantly cheaper anymore?
If you stick with dealer parts, the MB parts will be a lot more expensive than the Toyota parts. You can get 3rd-party parts from the auto store which will be cheaper than the dealer, but they often will be more expensive than Toyota. I’m not sure how much of that is “premium car markup” versus increased cost to manufacture.
One issue is that the performance of the MB comes from more sensors and shorter-lifespan parts than in a Toyota. The MB will have additional performance-related sensors that aren’t found in cheaper cars, so there’s costs that will be unique to the MB. MB will also get performance from parts which may wear sooner. For example, the nice handling may come from suspension bushings which wear out and need to get replaced. Or the ability to stop quickly comes from softer disk rotors that need to be replaced every brake job. So where a Toyota brake job might be just new pads and a resurfacing of the rotors, the MB will almost always need new rotors as part of the job. A brake job might be $2-300 on the Toyota, but might be $800-1000 on the Mercedes.
It’s an extremely popular van.