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Originally Posted by Austin814
I was at the MB dealer the other day and looking at the new C and E class cars. I felt so sad sitting in them and looking at the details of the car. Where did all the design forthought go? Its not like it would have taken in extra cost to keep features instead of take them away...
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I agree with your general sentiment, but I must disagree on a few particulars.
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Window controls moved to the driver door instead of the center console, which hand is free when you are driving? Your right hand, its what you shift with, its what you control the radio with, it what you control the Heat/AC with... why put all those controls in the center, and move the mirrors and window controls to the door. <--stupid
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My 240D has the window controls on the windows. They're called cranks, and I prefer those to electric windows regardless of where they put the switches. BTW, I looked at a web page dedicated to examples of bad design. Some were matters of taste IMO, and one that the guy didn't like were window controls on the console.
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The button that you can pull out and turn off the trunk light if the trunk will be open awhile and there is no need for the light. Its gone...nice feature..gone.
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Mine doesn't have that, but I admit that is kind of a cool feature. I can tell you why they got rid of it: $$
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The e-class trunk now has numatic shocks to slow its open rate. I bet those shocks will fail much earlier then the springs on my E, C and CLK. If I want to change how fast it opens...change the hole the spring is in.
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We are in agreement on this one.
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The paint looks thin and when looking close it looks like it has tiny bumps, the paint on my cars look thick and smooth.
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I think that has a lot to do with environmental regulations. The types of paint and methods of spraying that were used until the mid-80s are generally no longer allowed. It's still possible to produce a beautiful, durable, high-quality paint job, but to do so is now much more costly. Hence the not-so-great paint jobs on so many cars today.
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Headlights, all plastic. Why? Glass wont discolor, pit and fog up. The glass headlights on my 1996 with 208K miles look as clear as they did new. I bet in less then 100K those plastic lights will look yellow and foggy.
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OK, I'm with you again. I actually like the standard 7" round headlight that came on pretty much everything sold in the U.S. for 50 or so years.
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After looking a the new C and E class cars, I must say I felt as if it were really just like any other car available today...it just had a star.
I loved Mercedes because they were engineered, not just built. Today they seem as they are just building them and relying on the fact that Mercedes USED TO mean quality.
Sad, very sad.
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Yes, some time in the 90's Mercedes decided to be like Cadillac, all gadgets and gimmicks and not much real content. I think they are starting to pull their heads out of you know where, but I don't think they will ever return to building simple reliable cars like my W123s.