haven't been here in awhile, but after checking out the new sonderklasse and the new GL450 on saturday, i had to express my disgust at what has been taking place at daimler.

i am of the bruno sacco school of car design. he has not been replaced, it seems.

firstly, these cars are ugly.

and if you thought that benz was going to de-electronify them after their last five years of electronic self-abuse, you would be wrong. in fact, it appears as if daimler has thrown more of its chips onto the table. a bad wager when it comes to my future purchasing decisions.

the GL450 has one interior design flourish that is so astoundingly ill-considered that i almost suffered from cardiac arrest. it is hard to describe it, but it involves the center console.

oddly enough, i just opened the SPORTS SUNDAY section of today's NYT. there is a review of the new S550. i think that the author of the review explains daimler's latest salvo in its electronic war on drivers quite adequately. i think you can read this on the NYT's website.

so, i shall continue to pleasure myself when driving by driving my old masterpieces of manufacturing and design['86 560SEL, '87 560SEC, '95 E320 Cabriolet, '97 S500 coupe, and the old guzzler, '79 450SEL 6.9].

i did view the new Maser Quattroporte the other day. gorgeous. if it is minimally electronified, and if i were looking for a new 4-door, it would be the one for me.