Read the update on my GMC profile.

If you really take a look at the car, you will notice that the bumber is almost on line with the trunk. This is the 'design'. Take a look at an old 450sl, and you'll see that the bumber is about 8-9 inches out from the trunk..YOu just know that if the sl hit a pole, the Bumper would take the hit, not the rest of the back body.
This is a astetic design flaw in the Merc...If they moved the bumper out 5 inches, it wouldn't happen...

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David Weis
Old Rides================
70 250
73 450SL
78 300D
88 Grand Am
Current Rides=============
95 280C *
98 SL500 *

Another thing to consider is that the Elantra is designed to be owned by a host of ding/hit/scrap and run in a parking lot teenage girls. So naturally it makes sense to have a cosmetically sound(as far as crash resistance) bumper. MBZ who tend to be owned by more skilled (than teenage girls anyways) drivers are concerned about occupant safety. Which is something that I truly doubt the Korean manufacturer ever considered.
Just my 2 cents

Jason M.

86 300E 88k
99 Crew Cab Chevy Dualie 7.4L

I once backed into something with my then father-in-law's 300SD. It was quite a charming experience. The something was a Newport Beach Police Department patrol car, complete with officer.

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David

His:
2003 Dodge Durango SLT
2002 BMW E39 530i Sport
1988 Mercedes 300TE
Hers:
2003 Chevrolet Suburban
1999 E430

The big chrome bumpers of the earlier years were when the government standards were higher than those of today. I have a BMW 325e with big bumpers, however, the european version of the same exact car did not have those bumpers, it was only a US mod. Now the standard is 2.5 MPH.

Only one word need be spoken to end this argument, that word is Hyundai, anyone who has anything to say after that should go out and buy one. It is worth the price to replace the bumper on a MB just for the mere fact that you are not driving a Hyundai.

Also, I never could grasp the concept of buying a Hyundai. Why spend $10,000 or more to buy a brand new POS, when you can get a used POS for a couple hundred bucks? Garbage is garbage, no matter how recently someone attempted to manufacture it and actually have the audacity to try and fool people into believing that it was intended to be a form of transportation (I will stop short of calling it car, we all know there is no truth to that).

Why pay $10,000 or more for a POS when in today's market, that same $10K or LESS could acquire a very nice W124? I've never understood the penny-wise, dollar foolish approach to owning automobiles, regardless of how little it costs to replace a bumper. But then, saying that in this forum is preaching to a very large (over 3000-member) choir.

It's probably already been said somewhere in this thread, but a bumper-cost comparison on a commercial television program like Dateline is the functional equivalent of comparing a Guillow's balsawood glider to an F-14D. Yeah, they both fly and they both have wings. And they both crash. So what is there to compare?

(Uh-oh, the rant is in full swing....)

Popular "journalism" with its emphasis on shock value is what once nearly killed a nice little automobile company named Audi. The "news" is manipulated to death and back to life by both the media and the sources of the "news." Anybody in California remember that sometime after the Tosco refinery fire, the California Attorney General accused the major oil refineries of price-fixing at the wholesale level? Wonder how that story got buried? Now that the price of electricity is going through the roof in California, it seems that most people here have forgotten to wonder why it is we're STILL paying higher average gas prices than other places. (Those other places with pipelines....)

Do people realize that the people who make our laws use crap passed off as journalism as the basis for some of the rules and regulations that are imposed upon us? (Gun used in robbery of 60-year old woman at nursing home. Response: Ban all guns within 600 yards of senior assisted-living homes. Hell, while we're at it, ban all senior assisted-living homes.)

Popular journalism, and our society's unbelievable gullibility, are among the reasons that half the country went to bed thinking one guy won, then woke up reading the other guy was the winner, then had to wait a month to find out neither one of them actually won because a whole bunch of people apparently never really voted.

I'm done. I hope none were offended and apologize if any were.

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David

His:
2003 Dodge Durango SLT
2002 BMW E39 530i Sport
1988 Mercedes 300TE
Hers:
2003 Chevrolet Suburban
1999 E430

Get this: My sister in law just paid 34k for a Brand New Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer with no insulation in the sunroof and partially finished window frames. You can get a '99 ML with 36k miles for around 30k.

Kuan

(what makes smart people make silly decisions?)

After reading this thread I realized how humorous the situation of a Hyundai driver really is. Although I am taking this semester off, I am usually a full time engineering student. I am working my way through college, so I don't exactly have an excess of money. I can say in complete honestly that I could probably not afford to purchase a new Hyundai, even if I wanted to (God forbid). Yet I drive a Mercedes-Benz. I absolutely love my car. I have plenty of room for my friends, it's easy on the fuel, it's luxurious and smooth, and it's elegently gorgeous. Oh, and it cost me less than a new Hyundai. Since I purchased my car (the 300SD), I have received a steady stream of compliments nearly every time somebody sees me drive or park it. And I'm too poor to drive a Hyundai. Heehee.

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Ben

The MBs:
1976 300D (W115) - 330K and still going (sort of)
1991 300D 2.5 Turbo - Sold at 221K
1983 280SEL - Sold at 206K
1981 300SD - Sold at 232K

I remember back in 1986, a guy I worked with bought a Yugo. He paid over $5000.00 for it then. The whole office used to take our lunch and smoke breaks together and the first day he drove it to the office, we all went out to see this new thing from eastern Europe. After we all had a good solid belly laugh at his expense, I asked him why he didn't go out and buy a nice used car. Surely $5000 could have bought him a nice reliable used car that he'd enjoy. He said that he didn't want to buy someone elses problems and that he felt a a new car was a better long term investment. That car didn't last a year for him. I would love a new car, but I'm not going to buy a POS just because it's new rather than a second hand good car. Plus my ego isn't strong enough to have everyone laugh at me all day and all night...
Here's one for you; Why does an AMC Pacer have such big windows? So everyone can see the idiot who bought it. Image isn't everything, but it's not nothing either.

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Kyle De Priest
2007 e320 Bluetec
2013 GLK 250 Bluetec

that's cheap, my ML hit a one foot high concrete at 25-30 mph, cost me $7600 to replace the front bumper cover and associated structure, including radiator. But on the other hand, I was impressed with MB's structural integrety, the radiator barely touch the engine fan, and other than bumper damage, there was not a single sheet metal that was buckled.
steve

You know, 30 MPH isn't that fast... but to go from 30 MPH to 0 MPH in 0.00 seconds is a big impact. $7600 may seem like a lot, but it sounds like it did okay. I'm no expert, but I'd be happy to see that the car didn't do worse. Most cars would have.

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Kyle De Priest
2007 e320 Bluetec
2013 GLK 250 Bluetec

For those who said Mercedes-Benz could make better bumper for C-Class, do you really rather break a guy's leg than damage your own bumper!!??? If they gonna judge how good a car is by its bumpers, they should go to Taiwan and buy those ultra hard bumper covers, which can withstand the weight of a Ford Taurus w/out even crack it!!!

Also, maybe you rather have your OWN body absorb the impact force than the bumpers....

Sorry, it's just MHO, but I rather pay the extra repair costs than make a poor guy suffering when the unthinkable happens....

Andy Kuo

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1992 Mercedes-Benz 400SE
http://members.shaw.ca/AKRY/W140_Side.gif

2002 Acura TL Type S
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