Tuesday 2nd July 2002

Quality Uber Alles

Have Mercedes lost the plot?

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[stevenrt]

yep bang on.

[CarZee]

Quite right - the quality has declined overall - especially the use of nasty cheap plastic. And the new C Coupe has all the road presence of a Daewoo Matits (sp? )

Remind me Robert, what's a 'Sedan' ?

[marki]

I am interested to see how this SLR is going to be an improvment over the SL55 , ok it will be very limited but power wise 475bhp is a tough act to follow , i really can not imagine any one going for a SC430 over a SL500 that lexus is just butt ugly .

[GregE240]

Blame globalisation. Blame Chrysler. I do.

The new C Class is eons ahead of the old one in terms of build quality (I have driven both). I have no doubt that the new E Class will be better built than mine, which is by no means bad. Okay, so it doesn't handle like a 5 Series, but if I wanted that, I'd have bought a 5 Series. Cappiche ?

The real shitty Mercedes on the market right now is the ML series. Why ? Because it's built by a bunch of rednecks in America, not some bunch of robot like Germans in Stuttgart. V Class is a van trying to be an MPV. It fails.

I'm not disagreeing with you Robert, but to base an entire argument on either cars that haven't hit mass market or a minor gripe about a sun visor smacks a little of desperation. Not up to your usual standard.

If I was you, I'd buy an SC430 over an SL, if only to see the gawps of astonishment from your neighbours when you tell them you could have had a Merc.

[marki]

quote:

If I was you, I'd buy an SC430 over an SL, if only to see the gawps of astonishment from your neighbours when you tell them you could have had a Merc.

well said that man

>> Edited by marki on Tuesday 2nd July 13:33

[CarZee]

You can just hear the murmurs of "tssk, typical yank"

[flasher]

This is definitley true on some models. My old 124 E class (square shaped) was absolute quality. But when we bought the newer shape (round headlights) the build quality was nowhere near that of the old one.

However, we have just bought a nice SLK 230 Kmopressor and the build quality on that is stunning. My Tamora sits next to it in the garage giving it envious looks!!

[GregE240]

All too often though critics (and I include Mr FarToGo in this crowd) concentrate their spleen venting on the bad rather than praising the good. Personally, I think there's quite a lot of decent Mercs on the market right now - SLK, new CLK, C Class, SL to name but a few. Save the ML's for the school run, and the V's for the White Van Family Man.

So come on, Mr WashAndGo - TALK UP THE DECENT MODELS !!!!

(any minute now that little French oik is going to turn up and piss right on this parade)

[marki]

yeah where is Thom ,,, is having to work os sumat

[Fatboy]

quote:However, we have just bought a nice SLK 230 Kmopressor and the build quality on that is stunning. My Tamora sits next to it in the garage giving it envious looks!!

No, it's probably just thinking of asking the SLK to trim off that mullet

[CarZee]

Actually, we had an SLK for a week last year and they really are brilliant cars, if you can put up with the relatively limited power..

[flasher]

Yeah Carzee, it's not anywhere near as powerfull as the Tamora, it doesn't have the handling either but is beautiful to drive and it's 1000 times better built and looks brand new even though it's four years old. Still love the Tamora though They are chalk and cheese really......

One day I would like a 500 SL, I really like those, but I also want an Ultima Can Am and a F355 !!

[pbrettle]

Have test driven a 230K SLK and was totally underwhelmed with the car - but that is another story. However, the car rattled, skweaked and the quality of the internal fixtures and fixings was comparible to that of my wifes old Vectra!!! Very dissapointing... and not what I would expect from a £25K car....

Then a friend managed to blag a 320CLK Convertible as a temporary car from work. This with the extras was a £45K car brand new. And the quality was shocking.... switches didnt always work. The dashboard creaked and you could push it in some places to move the whole dash..... As for the centre console, well a leg leaning on it would push it to the other side!!!!

I wont even start to mention the hood mechanism and quality of fitting....

Imagine if you had spend £45K on that car brand new (OK so it was a company car, but they are still paying the tax) and you get that. Mercs are supposed to be very high quality and head-and-shoulders above the rest.... Not anymore. They are starting to look very ordinary and very second-rate. Shame as technically they are very good.

If it were the other manufacturers catching up then fine. But it isnt. Their quality is dropping and thats the worrying part. To be honest you can talk to non-car-mad-loonies and ask them what was the best built car they have had and increasingly you are hearing Audi or BMW.....

Time to take heed Mercedes Benz / Diamler / Crysler (SP?)

Cheers,

Paul

P.S. Own a TVR and know what crap build quality is....

[gnomesmith]

quote:
To be honest you can talk to non-car-mad-loonies and ask them what was the best built car they have had and increasingly you are hearing Audi or BMW

Only because they have no Bristol Experience.

[Fatboy]

I test drove an SLK about a year back (my mum was looking at getting one), but I didn't fit in it! The bloody thing had sod all headroom and the seats were way too narrow - I had to stop the test drive after about 2 minutes as I just couldn't drive it with me head bent forward to clear the roof. The salesman's face fell a mile, cos my mum loved it - was a dead cert sale, until she found I couldn't drive it...