My Doctor's Wives Group and their Mercedes' - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

blackmercedes · #1 03-19-2003, 05:17 PM

A friend of mine is a surgeon, and he and his wife have a daughter about the same age as mine. The Mom stays home, and we have playdates once in a while. Once every other week or so, we meet at the McDonald's with the biggest durn play-place I could imagine, and we chat while the kids wear themselves out.

There are five Moms (all Doctor's wives) and me that meet.

We started this about a year ago. One funny thing in the McD's parking lot is the cars. Each of the five had ML's, and I parked my "lowly" C230 next. Six Mercedes' all in a row.

Well, things have changed. These are not happy campers when it comes to Mercedes. Now, I'm the only one that still drives up with a Star on the car.

Three of the ML's have been replaced with Acura MDX's, and one with an RX300. Sydney, my friend's wife, has replaced her ML430 with a Honda Accord, the new model V-6.

We were talking about this today. They are all disappointed with Mercedes, particularly the car's build quality and dealer's ability to solve problems. Then I learn about hubby's cars:

One 2000 S500 has been "disposed of" in favour of an LS430.
One 2001 C320 has been "disposed of" in favour of a G35.

Youch! Aren't these families the prime MB target demographic? Late 30's/early 40's, top 1% of income levels, safety conscious, image conscious, and somewhat brand loyal? Like to have a reasonably new car, meaning a good supply of quality trades?

One Mom tells me about their buying the LS430. Her husband was having untold number of problems with his S500, and she even more with her ML320. They picked up Consumer Reports, and did lots of online research. They found ALL the German brands right near the bottom with intial quality, three year reliablity and five year reliability. They drove on down to the Lexus dealer and bought an LS430 and RX300.

I know that MB's sales are still steaming along, but I wonder how much of this is happening? It'll be a frosty day before any of these families returns to an MB dealer's floor.