As a German car enthusiast, I keep up with the stats on pretty much all German cars. One of the biggest things that I notice is that a BMW costs a lot less than a comparable MB. For instance, a well-optioned 330Ci Coupe costs a hair over 40 grand. A well-optioned CLK320 Coupe cost around 50. Or the new 7, starts at around 70 grand and fully optioned tops out around 80. If you go by straight engine size, the S430 would be its direct competitor, but I say the S500 is, because the BMWs 325hp 4.4 will blow the doors off a 302hp S500. Quite the hp/liter difference. So if you go by that, a decently equipped S500 will cost you upwards of 90 grand, all the way to over 100 grand. That's at least a 20 grand difference!!! But for what? What are you getting for that extra minimum of 20 grand? BMW makes excellent cars, all car magazines ever do is incessantly rave over their engines, trannys, suspension, steering, handling, overall "feel", etc. The M5 has been heralded the "perfect car" and so on. They regulary make C&Ds Ten Best, sometimes more than one model at a time. They constantly place 1st in comparos.

I love my 86 MB, I'm never selling it. I don't care for older BMWs, they looked like crap compared to MBs. But the new ones are right up there with MB. If I were to plop down my money today, I would be hard pressed to pay the extra 10-20 thousand, not being sure what I was getting extra, arguably getting less.

So I was wondering what everyone's take on this is. And please...no cheap shots like the whole Ford/Chevy thing...like they are junk, BMWs suck, or you get what you pay for. MB has had more than their fair share of quality problems here lately. I'm looking for intelligent thoughts and comments.

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'86 420SE Euro
904 Midnight Blue, Gray Velour
Dad bought it new, now I own it.

"A Mercedes-Benz is like a fine wine, it only gets better with age."