Quote:
Originally posted by Badinfo
its true though, mercedes probably doesn't care much about the performance of their non amg cars. I mean, lets face it, even the AMG cars are outclassed by their M competition. Thats alright though, because you can only floss in a benz. However, if you do look at mercedes' history, you will find that their cars have never been about performance. A Mercedes will have a high top speed, but it will definetaly take its time getting there, and turning? Oh no, mercedes don't do turning. The 80s marked a turn around for mercedes, where they switched from their large body slow turning cars to more athletic chassis, but still, the cars weren't all that fast, I mean, lets talk gran nationals if you want fast 80s cars. I think that recently Mercedes performance has improved over its historic level, but Mercedes is definetaly not dedicated to this pursuit, the result are vehicles that are never quite as fast or never turn as well as a BMW, yet still come with the harsh ride and are sporting cheaper and cheaper interiors (not that I don't like big LCD monitors, but nothing exudes luxury and refinment like a big chunk of wood on your dash) and I agree, if this continues, I don't think id buy a new mercedes... (Well ok, maybe I would, but all of you could call me a sellout and a communist subvert)
|
Actually if you look the history of Mercedes-Benz, performance has been one of the things most important to them. They have made some fast cars in the past. Look at the 300SEL 6.3 or 450SEL6.9. The 300SL Gullwing was the fastest car in the world when it came out. All their other cars have not been as big performers as these, but they always beat the competition. It's just that with MB, they're not doing anything to the C/CLK class where some japanese cars have risen up in the $30K and made some quick cars.
I actually think that the AMG vs. M thing isn't that big of a deal. The E55 is .1 seconds slower than a M5. So what. The M5 is a better handling car, but thats because AMG didn't want to go all out on handling and throw out the luxury. They're both great, but it's obvious that AMG is more comfort oriented and M is more sport oriented. So I don't think there is a problem there. Where I do see a problem is a $40K C320 or $43K CLK320 can't match up against a 260 HP infinity G35 or BMW 330Ci or Acura CL Type-S.