As the ad campaign of a few years back said "Nobody takes a picture with their toaster."
hahahaha.....a good one! I'd never heard that....hahaha..yes, I made a few reflections for myself that I shared with all of you, guys somewhere in the thread of "Shall I buy a Merc?" or something like that in the General MB forum.....
Yes, here in Mexico you may call them Merc and everyone knows is a MB not a mercury (much more known than the Ford product)
Is this prounounced "merk" or "merz"? If it's pronouced "Merk" why would you abbreviate "Mercedes" with a K sound, i.e. precisely like the shortening of the word "Mercury"? If it's pronounced "Merz", a shortening of the sound of "Mercedes", why would you spell it with a C, which would call for a K sound? And lastly with two makes starting with the exact same 4 letters how could the use of that abbreviation ever be anything but ambiguous and a source of confusion?
I think the reason people THINK MB's are the best is the amount of time germans put into the asthetics(think i spelled that right) of the vehicle. You can get in a new benz or an old benz and tell that someone put a lot of time and effort into making sure that what you touch and see and feel is the best quality. Mechanically they are inferior to asian models in many ways. But I have never been in another car and FELT as good as I did in a Benz.
Yes, the feeling, and for me also that each MB (OK no Merc...it is just an abreviation,man!)...and I was saying each car is a piece of history.... first car ever made, the brand of quality, and that may many models now are pieces of modern automotive art...:
Cos BMW's are for girls and Volvo is what you buy your wife
(Not to mention of late, BMWs have become really hideous looking)
Quote:
Originally Posted by jomoto
Why is better than Japanese cars....Acura, Mazda and Honda?
Do you see 30yr old Acura's/Hondas or Mazdas on the road? i dont, but i see 1980s S-classes and 1970s E classes all the time. Not show piece toys. But being driven in the dirt or snow and ice etc... An old Merc is a byword for quality. just respect it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jomoto
Why is better than the bunch of American cars...like Ford (in all thier gama) and GM in all their gana..including Cadillac?
Taking the bus is better than an American car, so i'm not even going to respond to this one.
Technically speaking I do find that the design and execution of a Benz automobile to be more advanced than many of the other makes.
Take for example a Lexus LS 400, and compared that to a E420 (W210). When I look under the hood, I see that the engineers at Mercedes have used more advanced designs and better components in their vehicles. Look at how the electricals are protected from the elements. The way electrical ground is wired, and the terminals for each ground wire. Look at how the engine cover can easily come off with a few latches and a couple nuts. The design of the subsystems are more elegant and clean. At around, 125,000 miles, the Benz doesn't feel worn when driven. I can tell that on the LS 400 with the same mileage, the bushings or ball joints are worn. Gas mileage has really gone down, and power with it. The shocks are completely gone. The wipers have a worn joint somewhere. One can also verify some of this by reading the Lexus forums. Although, for the E420, the fuel mileage and power also went down, it was not to the same degree and was easier to restore.
To put into perspective, a LS 400 is a really nice car when compared to many others. But put next to a E420, I find the Benz to be better engineered, and to be more durable. Moreover, I also like driving the E420 more. I can see that the Lexus engineers are still too familiar with the Toyota counterpart and I think that maybe they are using those designs more frequently than they should, instead of coming up with more advanced designs.
Another example that I can come up with is a 2001 V70 T5. In looking under the hood, I can surmise that the engineering level is below that of the LS 400, but certainly competitive with some Japanese luxury cars.
Both the V70 T5 and the E420 uses coil per plug ignition, but look at the Benz's design. The coil mount is spring loaded, whereas for the Volvo, it is a simple solidly single-bolt fastened unit. And the electrical ground on the V70 is atrociously bad from the point of view of ignition. Vehicle dynamic wise, the Volvo is more solid that an Acura Integra, but I felt that it is below that of the German brands (MB, BMW, Audi). Mind you, the 2006 S60R's engine performance is a standout, but overall, it is not in the same league as a E420 or the German Luxury Brands that I have driven.
I have driven more current models from Audi and the Japanese luxury brands, however, I have not gone wrenching under the hood in them. Among them, I felt the the Audi A6 V8 is an impressive car overall. The Lexus IS350 is a standout for something more sporty. I hadn't driven a Lexus LS 460 but I did drive the then just replaced LS 430 and it drives very similarly to the LS 400. I didn't feel the Infiniti M45 is even in the same league. The Acura RL is better, but really, I felt that from Japan, the only car that I drove that is close to the E420 was the LS 430.
I think in terms of vehicle dynamics, I don't feel Benz has a monopoly on that, but from the point of view of design, engineering and durability, I am finding out more and more that Benz's are a standout.
The FoMoCo brand Mercury isn't sold all over the world, so the nickname has been applied to Mercedes-Benz outside the US. On my registration card, the abbreviation used is MERZ.
They have cars OUTSIDE the US ?!?!? My GOD when did this happen ?
Cos BMW's are for girls and Volvo is what you buy your wife
(Not to mention of late, BMWs have become really hideous looking)
Do you see 30yr old Acura's/Hondas or Mazdas on the road? i dont, but i see 1980s S-classes and 1970s E classes all the time. Not show piece toys. But being driven in the dirt or snow and ice etc... An old Merc is a byword for quality. just respect it.
Taking the bus is better than an American car, so i'm not even going to respond to this one.
I think that's a very simplistic answer.
The real question that people should ask and carmakers do when they design and develop cars is: "Who will this car be best for"
If you just want a car and are not really that into cars and all the trimmings then I don't think you can go past Japanese cars. All brands have some kind of appeal and are the best cars for all sorts of different people to think otherwise would be just plain crazy.
A good example would be my car the W140.
It's not really that new and for what it costs to buy a good one here in NZ I could get a newer Lexus or other nice Japanese car. On paper a Japanese car would be better for me:
Less cost in terms of fuel, insurance and maintenance and a lot of the same "extras" like climate control power windows reasonable ride etc. Sure my car has extras like closing assist, power seats and ride quality that is better. The question then is "well how much better is it?" To me it's worth a few thousand a year extra in maintenance and however much more it is in insurance but to many people it's not.
I think the differences in what makes a car "better" are even slimmer when you look at for example a new S class relative to a new 7 series. Both the cars have pretty much all the same features and many of the same design cues. True the W221 has some extra things like night vision in the dash and I'm sure the 7 has some things the S does not. But to the average buyer HOW much better are either of those cars to each other? The answer is not really clear but people here may say MB but just as many people choose to vote to the negative of that with their wallets and I'd like to think that when people look at putting into a car what is here anyway almost the price of an average home they've done a bit of thinking about what is the best car for them.
As far as old Mercedes are concerned. With the exception of people like us on this forum and those that drive classics, I think most of those who drive old MB's are exactly what they look like: People who would like to buy newer MB's but can't I don't really see any difference between the 20YO W126's or W124's that I see here and 20YO's Toyotas or Fords. They all look the same to me and the people who drive them all look the same with the exception of those who once again are like us and spend hours and hours attesting to every little detail on those cars and you can then tell the enthusiast owner from those that are simply limited by their finances.
The real reason Mercedes has such a reputation or a cachet is the brand and how that brand has been built up over time. Just like when you buy a Toyota you know you should be getting a reliable car when you buy MB, BMW, Audi etc you know your getting something that should be well designed and quality etc, your paying for it and if that extra benefit is really work $100,000 extra...well that’s dependent on the person not really how "good" the car is at all. A great example would be how the W220 has seats that are stuffed with coconut husks of some kind, now I'm going to assume that is for whatever reason better than normal stuffing but imagine telling someone who’s considering a Lexus that it's worth however many thousand to them to have..I know what they'll tell you. The same goes for handling and the like sure it's better but how often would a normal person push the car that hard and how much of their hard earned cash is it worth?
So MB the best car? Well the answer depends on who you are and what you want from it and what you consider value to be.
Is this prounounced "merk" or "merz"? If it's pronouced "Merk" why would you abbreviate "Mercedes" with a K sound, i.e. precisely like the shortening of the word "Mercury"? If it's pronounced "Merz", a shortening of the sound of "Mercedes", why would you spell it with a C, which would call for a K sound? And lastly with two makes starting with the exact same 4 letters how could the use of that abbreviation ever be anything but ambiguous and a source of confusion?
In Canada, specifically in Ontario, your car registration will say "MERZ"
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