Quote:
|
Originally Posted by TheScientist
For that amount of money, where I live, that can't even get you an apartment or a townhouse. Yes, the Maybach is worth it's price tag, its almost 100% handbuilt. The wood trim selection alon takes 90 days to complete each inspection, to insure the quality and contrast so it looks even. Plus you get a handbuilt Mercedes V12, hand stitched leather etc. The price is for the parts, and for the labor of assembly.
Well, like you quoted before, it depends on what the person wants in a car. They may want speed to get past those Sunday drivers ya know.
Going to what Jimster is talking about, some companies do literally make teh same cars, because they are equipped with the same internal parts but with different badges, appearance, and luxury levels. Its all appeareance that changes. Like a Ford Taurus is a Mercury Sable. The Mercury is more luxurious. The Ford Crown Vic is the same as the Mercury Grand Marquis. The Crown and the Marquis are the same as Lincoln's Towncar, but Lincoln is more luxurious and has a different body style, but all the given cars use the same internal parts, which makes them to be the same cars. Some also badges defer stereotyping with cars. Someone may prefer the badge of a Chevy than a Pontiac, or a Mercury instead of a Ford.
Consumer Reports 2004 did say certain newer Euro cars were going down hill, because they were forgetting little things that help the car maintain a good life. I'm not really sure what specifically they were talking about, but I believe one of them was BMW's iDrive, since it premiered in teh 2002 E65 7-Series, there were still reports of bugs, by 2004, and it was claimed to still be difficult to control in the E66 5-Series and E65 6-series (may have the E numbers mixed). One other thing I think I heard was BMW's VANOS never took kindly to certain fuels, made by private companies, and still hasn't been fixed. Mercedes and their S-class just seem to be getting old, and out dated. Yet back here in America and even Japan, certain cars were starting to go uphill now. Cadillac I think is making great progress, and I've heard several friends of mine who drive Cadillac say it's "an American Mercedes." GMC has perfected a number of SUV and Truck options, and it growing to be one of the best SUV and Truck manufacturers. Japanese are also going uphill, with Infiniti, and Lexus, being named the most reliable cars in the world. Certain popular Euro cars that are known for their quality and reliability and performance and efficiency have been going down hill lately, but not drastically while Americans and Japanese are designing cars past Euro quality and luxury.
I would agree, as I said, only certain Americans are going uphill while certain Euros are goin down hill. But with American autos, there are only certain makers that offer superior at premium price while the rest are mediocre. With Euro, majority of autos in Europe are beyond mediocre, and do offer superior at premium prices.
|
the iDrive in the 7 series is certainly a complicated piece of gadgetry, but they did over a million miles of testing when he 7 series was a prototype, so I'd say it'd be reliable, there have been a few bugs, but every known bug can be remedied by simply updating the iDrive software.
I think the E60 5 Series' iDrive is actually pretty easy to use, WAY more so than the 7 series. As for VANOS, I'm not sure of the issues surrounding it, but the engine should be given nothing lower than 95 RON, 98 RON if possible.
GMC I will never respect- they simply take Pickups, weld the deck's shut and add 8 more seats + a few luxury items, they usually embarass themselves off road. Jeep on the other hand, make proper offroaders, yet don't skimp on luxury or engineering.
The only maker on a downhill slide would be Mercedes. They once used to build cars to a standard, they now build them to a cost. However the Chairman (or maybe it was CEO? Can't remember) recently apoligised for the recent dip in quality and with a little hope, they'll be back on track this year. The W203 C Class was the main culprit for the dip, with Merc aiming to build 350,000 of them (Leaving the quality as "Rushjob")
The Porsche Cayenne has also been disappointing, though if I know Porsche, the issues will be sorted by next year.