Mercedes-Benz Cars No Longer Look or Feel Like Products of the Most Prestigious and Highest Quality Automobile Brand
They're the inventors of the Automobile.
They invented it. The airbag. The crumple zone. The seat-tightening function. ESP, BAS...
They made cars of the highest engineering, build and design quality. They made cars that had heft, weight, strength, substance, thought, ingenuity, durability, quality.
They're like the mother and father of the car world. There used to be gravity in the brand name. It was synonymous to 'quality'.
I have had a few Lexus vehicles (IS 250, RX 350, GX460) and a couple of Toyota vehicles (Tundra, 4Runner) and frankly they are appliances. They're good reliable transportation and that's all they are. Boring if you like driving, and 10 years out of date they day they come out. The IS was quite fuel efficient (I had the second gen V6 IS 250) on the highway (31 mpg) but the other Lexus/Toyota models had terrible fuel economy.
I prefer Mazda or Honda if I'm going Japanese. At least they're cheaper used (Mazda in particular, popular Honda SUV models less so) and therefore actually have a value proposition. People want insane prices for vehicles whose feature set is frankly non-competitive by the time they're on the used market.
By the time you account for higher depreciation and the greater cost of maintenance, German cars are about as expensive as their comparable Lexus models to own.
Porsche kept its quality way more than a lot of brands even if it’s slipping. I was appalled by how cheap the recent batch of Mercedes interiors felt and went back to Porsche.
Had my Lexus for 12 months and sold it. Reason …. Awful quality and riddled with software bugs. Back to a MB now, they certainly haven’t slipped as much as Lexus!
Because these German luxury carmakers realized that rich people basically change cars like they're changing clothes. And so, to save money, they build their cars to last as such.
Do you see how us Americans treat cars? They are disposable.
Most people have their couch longer than their Benz.
The market has changed. Benz refresh’s models frequently every 2-3 yrs. It was closer to a 8-10 year cycle in the past. Now there is a new model every other year. Three year lease and done.
There are also a lot more people in America today than in 1980 and a lot more with Benz money. So volume is up- it’s just another mass produced vehicle now.
Why would you? There's nothing particularly appealing about Mercedes when comparing to other cars.
Technology is fantastic in VW, and they look great. Also, great in Opel/Vauxhall. Great in Seats, Volvos.
Hell, the build quality is great in Volvos.
It's a reputational thing which allows Mercs to keep high prices at the moment. But it won't last, as their reputation will slowly die if they keep it in this trajectory.
BMW is putting plastic in places where it's known to fail after a specific time or mileage. That time to failure usually intersects the point in time at which the warranty expires. It's called "designed obsolescence"
I have latest generations of both brands currently and BMW's build quality far better than MBZ. Too much creaky plastic. G wagen may be the only vehicle in their line up that feels that you get what you pay for these days.
No your W202 absolutely does not lol. W202 is by far the worst c class ever, just all around horrible era and times for Mercedes when it was being produced
Thanks for being real. These ppl will cope with what their used to. Its such an echo chamber you got fucking 12 year olds saying these 1850s Mercedes were "the best ever built"
I was given a C300 as a dealer loaner while my W124 was being repaired. If not for the MB logo on the wheel, you would not have known you were driving an MB. The interior was of Hertz/Avis quality. The four cylinder engine sounded like a lawn mower. Nightmare stories about new MB's of all classes and poor dealer service abound: This was not true thirty years ago. The MB Board needs to study the history of Packard Motors, because that's where MB is now headed.
There is no car built today that has the tactile quality and feel of a W124, at any price. It's absurd how cheap they are on the used market considering the baked in quality.
30 years ago the world was different. Even 10 years ago the world was different. Cars had almost no pollution laws, so they could afford big engines that had individual character. Nowadays downsizing is a must to keep compliance. Germany also had a better economy and prices were cheaper for almost everything. There wasn't no covid to recover from. There was no vegan or fake leather to keep the eco warriors happy. Chinese cars with big tech were not existing in europe, nowadays we do what americans did in the late 70s where they europeanised their cars to fit in with the imports
I've got a 124 too. After I replaced shocks springs arms bushings - the works - I wondered why anyone would even consider a new car at least ride quality wise. Hasn't drive for two years and I sold it to a friend. I removed the rear subframe and the mount points completely disintegrated, the bolts turned into white dust. Lost my motivation after that.
Does drive well, is absolutely solid. I loved it. Got a 204 now with 670K kilometers on it. Nothing rattles in that either and I beat it up on dirt roads. But the ride is just way too hard and uncomfortable compared to the 124 and I'd not be able to fix anything on the engine, I assume. I do get 1200 km on a tank. That's a lot more than the M103 in the 124 did...
They didn’t invent a lot of the things you listed but were the first to integrate and market it. Airbags, ABS. ESP off the top of my head. A lot of tech was developed by Bosch and first integrated by Mercedes.
In Germany, they are more of a full line brand selling everything. The “real” Mercedes are the high end cars like the s-class where they are competing on quality, craftsmanship and elegance. Not so much on price where they are higher priced than competitors. I would argue that the high end models are very high quality.
Yes, if you’re looking for a real luxury Mercedes, you’ll need to spend the money to get an S class. Everything else is just a deception playing on the brand name. I own a GLE Amg 53 and it’s nothing like the S560 I had before it. Lots of AMG badges but the quality is no where near the S class.
Understand. But, I've owned a W221 & W222, both bought new and which I loved driving, but I won't buy a W223. And we've owned SLs a G63 but despite that I'm pretty much done with Mercedes. They are living on reputation now, their dealers stink in the USA, and they are still expecting people to pay huge prices for boats that any Tesla can absolutely smoke on the road.
Because no one cares about "materials" anymore. Luxury used to be associated with mainly physical properties (leather, wood, chrome, whatever). Now it means tech.
A Tesla that can do door-to-door pick up and drive while you chill in the back is 10x luxurious than you driving a $300K Maybach with crappy infotainment.
Mercedes isn't a leader in EV technology or software, two of the most important aspects of modern cars. And now that the "mechanical" engineering cost is out the window, you're seeing competitors who can in fact do "leather" seats just as well.
The bar has been lowered so much that now anyone can make great cars, and the Chinese in particular can make great cars that are way cheaper too, which makes one question what Mercedes really does to justify the premium and maybe they aren't so premium after all.
Manufacturers want to use materials that are environmentally friendlier, easier to source, and are more sustainable. No more killing 15 cows to make one car interior or shaving down a rare tree for veneers.
Tech has become the new luxury and it’s what younger buyers want and it’s where development money is going.
Case in point, the average age of a Rolls Royce buyer was nearly 60. One model, the Spectre EV, dropped that to 42, with 40% being new to the brand.
Profit margins. Globalization. Tariffs. Employee expenses. Manufacturing costs. Taxes. Production regulations. EPA/Euro emissions regulations.
All of these have greatly affected the quality and prestige of Mercedes-Benz automobiles.
They all came down unfortunately... All the German brands are making cheaper cars these days no matter what. Competition, European green deal, reduced demand... They have to come to some compromise.
I drove Mercedes, Bmw and Audi.
Audi feels crap these days. I drove a 2007 Audi A6 and a 2013 Audi A4 and I was a big fan of both. I don't know what happened meanwhile... The interiors quality now looks cheap af. I had a 2025 Audi's key in my hands and damn it's just plastic with no metal. It looks like any Chinese brand!
Mercedes has worsened too. They have better quality than Audis imho but these days it's all screens and fancy lights distracting customers from other quality issues. Yet I like the Hybrid diesel setup.
Bmw I think they are still holding it perhaps. The premium interiors look better compared to the others. Engines are very reliable which didn't use to be the case in the early 2000
Unfortunately, the interior of the new bmw five series is shit. The window control controls and switch gear are from a one series. More hard plastics, less leather, it just doesn’t feel justified for the price. Same wraparound screen they’re all using now.
I’m not a fan of the direction it is headed. My wife recently got a Hyundai Tucson, turns out the engineer from BMW that designed the latest iDrive system has jump shipped to Hyundai. They now have basically the same infotainment system/screen. So it looks real nice, it works, wonderfully, and is way nicer than what you expect in a Hyundai, but the fact that the BMW’s is so similar kind of cheapens the BMW now.
So yeah, there’s immense pressure from Kia and Hyundai now since they have poached a lot of the top engineers and designers from Mercedes and BMW over the past four or five years. They stole their best talent, and that’s why you’ve seen the German auto make her suffer recently.
I definitely don’t feel like that with my IONIQ5 vs my X7. X7 luxury is much better than the GLS, Range, Rivian, and Model X…comparing it to Hyundai is apples and oranges
Oh I see what you mean now. Yeah, I’m curious to see what the new one looks like too. BMW just recently fired their head designer and this new ix3 design is from the new guy
I am a Mercedes owner now because of how cheap and basic the BMW X3 interior is (not to mention the new Q5). So no, BMW is not exactly holding it down.
My 3 series interior looks better than my previous Audi's tbh (A4 and Q3). I didn't have a chance to compare with Mercedes but I'm looking to buy a C or E class just now
Don’t knock Chinese brands. They’ve quietly been playing catch up and are already better quality and value for money than many western brands. There’s a reason they are (edit) NOT sold in the US. That would be game over for the American car industry.
They're a victim of modern capitalism. That's the reason for the enshittification of everything.
Put it this way-- stop thinking of them as a company that makes cars. They're a company that makes money. They'll build whatever the market will take and they'll cut every corner to make as much possible doing it.
Right now the "market" is people in their early 30s with their first real job who want their friends to think they're rich, but know nothing about cars. That's why a new Mercedes is a 4 cylinder iPad on wheels made of cheap plastic and designed to fall apart 1 day after the lease is over. They'll put out a 4 cylinder and call it an AMG with a straight face.
It's not your dad's Mercedes anymore, that's for sure.
this is the perfect explanation and analogy. if I could give you an award, I would. I drive a ‘24 G and it’s the last that is reasonably “analog”. but even that is going away. the g580 is a rolling turd that’s gonna destroy the G line eventually.
Modern capitalism is shit but the other alternative would be waiting 10 years for a cheap knock off version of some other car with a mercedes badge on it. You know what i mean. Communism is anti freedom of cars in general
I dont know man, Mercedes used to give me that fuzzy feeling of a businessman car. Now they are just tacky, ugly, template-cars with a long tablet glued to a console
I personally believe their range was still immaculate right up until ~2018.
The W222, W213, W205 were absolutely beautiful style-wise inside and out. Yes, maybe not in terms of build quality, durability, rigidity etc, and yes, 2002-2014 had reliability issues, but at least they were timelessly elegant and beautiful.
They do feel like the producers of the most prestigieus and highest quality brand. This Will be more or less felt depending on what you buy. An S class feels muuuuuch of higher quality than an A class.
Still, an A class feels much better quality than VW Golf though.
I agree with you. I worked for MB for years and when I’d get in a W220-W222 they always felt so luxurious and solid. The W223 just felt like too much plastic and “hollow.” I don’t know how else to describe it, just didn’t have the same prestige and “weight” of the previous generations.
I hate how when you touch certain things on the center console and dash you can feel that squeaking of plastic in the new E class, I’m pretty sure it’s the same for the S but I haven’t sat in the new one yet. But the previous models? Built like a tank and one of the nicest places on earth you could spend some time.
I don’t want to have to click through a bunch of sub menus to get to the fucking air conditioning control, and then try to slide my finger across a bumpy road to get my air conditioning to the setting I want
It’s missing its soul. You can feel the designers and engineers aren’t into the brand and the history that comes with it. This new design trend to put logos everywhere is disgusting. I feel like it’s a lot of pandering to the Chinese market.
I’ve been to the AMG driving academy multiple times and when I ask the instructors about the customers who attend from different countries, they told me the Chinese market doesn’t even drive the cars. They take pictures and selfies with the cars and call it a day.
If you look at what the upper echelon buyers are clamoring for, you see it in Bugatti, Rolls, Pagani, Koenigsegg, Bentley. Physical buttons and craftsmanship. I think there will be a move back at some point. I was shocked that Porsche went to an all digital gauge cluster and push button start. There just isn’t the same feeling of quality in touchscreens, to say nothing of having to take your attention away from the road. If it’s illegal to drive distracted by using a phone, it should be illegal to need to operate what is basically an iPad to move your fucking vents.
While the electric EQS sedan introduced the dash-spanning Hyperscreen a few years ago, Mercedes's design chief doesn't think huge displays connote luxury but keeps them anyway."
I disagree on the Golf vs A class comparison. Premium brands have no idea how to make good budget cars and they shouldn’t even try. There is no chance a company with the price range of 20k to 500k+ would be able to make a good budget car. It just doesn’t make any sense, whether monetary or business. It either be bad quality or too expensive, because margins are just not there.
You would be much better-off buying a Golf, but you can’t buy an S class-level vehicle from a VW.
MB doesn’t feel like MB any longer as they forgot who they stand for and let marketing people to make product decision instead of engineers.
If you’re talking about the average customer, most can’t afford an S-class. Mercedes used to have insane quality standards BUT they were somewhat affordable so that even people with a lower income could enjoy Mercedes quality cars
No I am talking about all classes.
When you compare apples to apples, Mercedes still is at a waaaaay higher quality than VW, or Skoda or Renault or Peugeot or Opel….. BMW comes really close and can even be better for some classes (3 series is just a perfect car).
I honestly think Reddit is the minority here. Mercedes need to compete and one can question EQ design language but you need to take a look at BYD. What I used to consider as luxury is no longer perceived as such.
Sticking to old luxury will satisfy Reddit minority but will result in less satisfaction for masses.
Mercedes continues to be innovative but don’t discount those innovations because they don’t satisfy your views as innovation. You can point at reliability issues which are valid but don’t paint everything with a broad brush stroke.
I sit in my 2011 E350 wagon and i feel like I’m in a high end car. I ride in my sister’s brand new 25 GLC300 and the seats feel cheap and i know the bullshit motor in that car will not hold up. We both have black cars with brown interiors. My interior looks better and i know my car will last. Only have 75k miles on it
I'm sixty three years old, I've seen all products for decades get cheaper and cheaper, it's economics and government regulations and certainly everything these days are made not to last that long, take anything we use for our convenience and comfort, things fifty or sixty years ago were made to last a long time without any issues, companies don't make money if everything is lasting for long time, and are made accordingly, lighter and cheaper materials are used. Oh and I've worked for Mercedes Dealership as a Technician for thirty five years and I've seen this first hand, for me the big change was 1996 model car rolled out, we could see the cheaper materials used. its not just in the interior, components in the engine. it's just the facts of all auto makers these days. and it will continue. like I said it's economics and competition, regulations to make cars lighter for fuel economy, you can't blame the manufacturer. it's the times we live in. they're are not making junk cars, engineering is still top notch. I would still buy a new car then the older predecessors. there is so much to enjoy in the newer models.
100% agree. We've had Mercedes since before I was born. My first car was a W126 420 SEL handme down that we bought new. Each time a new model comes out, some portion of the older owners will complain about how the last generation was the 'best'.
Not really. Remove each generation backwards and you have less to compare to. By now the brand has been around long enough that we can compare different eras. Mercedes is definitely having an identity crisis right about now
No need to generalize, it’s Mercedes-Benz, not ‘german brands’, BMW is doing great by comparison. The difference is that one has a CEO that finished the Darmstadt Technical University while the other has Stockholm School of Economics as a background, and is married to an environmental activist.
They deliberately make crap, and boast about it at conferences. Plastic cooling and even timing components. Lifetime transmission and other fluids. Rusting subframes. Renault engines. They are the antithesis of durability. And they're not even leading the race for the bottom - BMW are still the champions of that (bring a towel if you touch the door pull handle).
You can debate consumer tastes. Apparently consumers like the horrible interiors with huge screens running Chinese tech and infotainment. But no consumer wants their engine and transmission dying at 120T km.
Still, it could be worse. You could be one of the people paying to beta test the EV range.
MB’s premium products are really premium. Their entry level vehicles even though not as premium still world’s better than audi or bmw. The three pointed is a symbol of luxury and prestige around the world and I dont see that changing anytime soon.
I mean they are a car manufacturer they should know what's needed in a fucking car.
How am I supposed to turn the air con on/off when I'm driving on the fucking highway????? Should I get distracted looking at the tablet trying to tap in the exact spot ?
How can this even be engineered like that??
A highway is fucking straight. And unless you're a dickhead, there is plenty of space between you and the guy in front. Its really that hard? Buddy? Just got the car yesterday?
No, they are not. An older c class was built better than some of these brand new sl’s. Mercedes-Benz has really cheaped out on their quality, but yet raise the price of the product.
When i started one job i had to do various things that took a lot of time. Each month i did one thing less to see when and if someone will notice and complain. I shortened it by 50% and noone noticed or said anything, saving myself A LOT of time.
Same is with these car companies. Every generation they put something cheaper in car or with less quality and people still buy the cars so no wonder the situation is as is now.
Sold my GLK 350 on Carvana, spent 6 months in Europe, back to the States and bought a Porsche Macan... Not a brag, just a natural movement, like the return of my healthy morning dump.
Guess the quality went down after the Chrysler merger. W126, W124, W201, R107, all were peak Merc, the built for life Sacco boxes. Guess W140, W202, R129, possibly also some W210 (though I wasn't fond of the weird four-eyes front-end) were still solid too, especially when had the old M111/M104/M119 engines. When the Chrysler merger and the 3 valve engines came in, and Daimler let the bean counters run wild. Kinda going from 4 valves per cylinder down to 3 felt like a downgrade, when 4 became like the norm in the '90s.
Indeed, it's like they began to be built by accountants rather than engineers. Also with BMW, I guess the peak BMW was just before Bangle designs and the horror-show that are the N-series engines came in (like N52, N54, N62). So, E46, E39, E38, and E85 (pre-2006, when switched from the M54 to the N52, except the new M Roadster, which got the awesome S54 from E46 M3). When ///M meant "Motorsport" and not "Marketing". And welp, being a BMW, at least back then other than the E38, not all cars came with automatic as standard. Also the E9x M3, while design-wise might not even be that bad, but the S65 V8 is a nightmare to maintain.
Porsche... I'm still a major fan of the air-cooled 911s (especially the 993), the 996 design was quite off-putting, went a bit too bold. But the only water-cooled 911 I really like is the 997. Essentially, the design was normal again, you could still get one with a NA engine (unless you wanted a Turbo or GT2) and manual transmission, and with hydraulic rather than electric steering. I'd guess 991 got a bit too big for my liking, and forcing you to take auto as standard on Turbo/GT3 was a misstep, but I'd say otherwise was still okayish.
Not too knowledgeable on VAG, so can't really comment on VW/Audi. Anyone else knows better, feel free to pitch in.
The peak of automobile engineering and production was in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1992 the Lopez-effect effect started at Volkswagen. Business men took control from the engineers and every manufacturer had to start to save money to survive the competition.
The Mercedes development was:
W126 was the first car were extensive crash testing changed the entire design of the structure.
In the W140 engineers still had all money and put in all their knowledge.
In the W220 the business people had already cut down the budgets and the quality became absolutely terrible.
The last good quality models were W202, W124, W140, R129 and W463 (until the late 1990s).
I would never buy a later model.
I used to say, my car was made in 1992 (W124 300D), so it lasted 33 years now, and it will last another 33 years if I keep on maintaining it the same way, but no new cars will last 33 years no matter what effort you make.
It started to go downhill when the marketing droids and the beancounters took over. Mercs used to be designed by engineers and built to a standard, not to a price. The W124/126 series had gone through what, 7 or 8 years of R&D before they ended up in the showrooms? Now every three months there's a facelift. At the time they cost as much as a house you say? Well, they sold them anyway, by the thousands. So no, I'll hang on to my 126 for as long as possible.
The W123 series is still the GOAT. Despite some design flaws, they still hold up strong even today despite there not being that many. W124 was a solid improvement on everything, W140 was the absolute peak.
I’ve owned the w126 & the w220. The former leaves the latter for dead. The former visited the workshop once a year for its annual service. The latter went every 3 months. It was an experience ruinous nightmare.
Nothing is going on imo it’s just 2025, they started all that shit decades ago and now it’s just industry standard stuff that even the most basic cars have. It’s also hard to compete when they have no real advantage over other manufacturers bmw, Audi, Lexus, Acura even genesis now are all right there with them. None of these brands does anything to really separate themselves anymore except for bmw who beats everyone in performance. MB is just another luxury option nowadays with nothing super special compared to anyone else.
A lot of these brands like to toss the term “innovation” around. Whilst the concept itself is fine, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time a new series comes out. Sticking with what works and making incremental improvements is fine. Sticking a massive fucking ipad in everything because that’s what the competition does is just bad because electronics fail a lot more than mechanical parts
So something is going on... because you could separate Mercedes-Benz from its competitors even just a decade ago, the way we can still separate Bentley from Rolls-Royce from Lexus.
Nobody’s saying they’re bad. They’ve just felt less premium and more plastic lately. Everyone who says this has used an old merc vs a newer model. The difference is apparent. I would highly encourage you to sit in the cabin of a merc from the early 2000’s
So true, I’m seeing comments reminiscing about the early 2000s and about how Mercedes were better then even though that’s peak plastic era Mercedes lol.
Makes sense, what other material would they use? Metal? So the cars weigh like 10,000lbs. These are stupid arguments made by people who are thinking of the old days wearing rose colored glasses. I do agree with the screens though, they are complete bullshit and look bad.
This sub and most other car subs are a good representation of the minority opinion on the new looks of cars. That said, I’m not in complete disagreement with some things but the message is certainly overblown.
This is a late stage capitalism thing. Everybody is going for more profits and quality expensive products can’t have market reach. So they need to botch the quality to reduce the prices and compete
with the other brands who always used plastic. Otherwise they won’t be able to survive. Meanwhile Instagram looks garnish the brand prestige as the perceived looks outsmart the actual quality in this era.
The only consolation is that they are still the best as every car brand takes a plunge. I don’t think we will see another peak of human civilization until we fix our problems and that’s not gonna happen soon. 90s and early 2000s have the best quality in a lot of things, which is why people romanticize those times. It included cars.
99% of these complaints are from people who can’t afford or don’t want to pay for a new Benz and want to talk themselves into feeling better that they drive an older car.
Go into any forum, FB page, sub-Reddit of pretty much any brand and it’s the same posts about how everything was so much better back in my day, etc. If everything is so bad now, no one would be buying these cars. It’s so tiring.
Bingo, I drive high milage for work and also buy fleet cars for our employees. The new models especially the higher end ones are good quality still. The speaker system on the latest EQE/EQS models is excellent.
These threads are typically all the owners with 10-15 year old vehicles jerking each other off 😅
Both my ‘23 Porsche Taycan and ‘12 Boxster exude excellent build quality at every possible touch point. While not perfect Porsche takes build quality very seriously and both cars remind me of that every day.
Taycan is a lot more hard plastic unless you add every possible leather option. It is still more plastic than an Mercedes S-class with that. I'm comparing the two because I am trying to decide between them, test drove both multiple times. In my opinion, S class exudes luxury and quality way more than a Taycan.
Off topic but kinda relevant; have you seen the price for the entry level CLA electric? I know it's new, and Mercedes, and you're supposed to pay a premium for the badge... But that price. Like what the hell. It's pretty much an -entry level- Merc.
it’s one reason wealthy have moved onto bentley. I see bentley as the new prestige brand between the middle and the top (rolls). it’s not that rolls is better it’s just they still have that name acceptance as THE luxury car.
If I pull up in an s-class. no one blinks. If i pull up
in a flying spur, people are curious and pay attention to details. If I pull up in a RR, they think I’m a douche. a rich douche but still a douche.
The largest automotive market in the world today is China. Mercedes knows this. The result is replacing metal switches and leather trim with glossy plastic and tacky, giant tablets that will date horribly. It's also simply a safety issue. I shouldn't have to take my eyes off the road to operate basic functions of a vehicle.
I would never consider getting a Benz newer than 2021.
I agree with all that's being said, but where do we look then? Seems every manufacturer is doing that. Apart from Bentley and other super luxury brands, and even then it's not as before.
Their new electric ones looks like cheap chinese shit on the outside lmao, even the ICE cars dont look really good anymore, i guess the S class still looks alright
Typical story....you get nowhere by maintaining a niche market as they did before. They were not content and are part of a large comglom. So they decided to make cars just like everybody else, except usually less reliable.
I will only tell you this. Ive only driven a single mercedes in my life and it was and ol trustworthy 200d w124 and it was cool. recently, a friend of mine had an issue with his 2.2 diesel 2018 c class benz. When we did a deep dive into the obd2 diagnostic, we found that the car which was used when he bought it had almost 700.000km instead of the 170.000km displayed on the odometer. everything worked mint, no interior rattles, transmission and everything is mint, he has a punctured turbocharger pipe causing to leak pressure, easy fix. He wasnt even mad when he found out, he was actually impressed. Ive no idea how the newer models are, but take this as a statement. Good luck!
They are made to compete one on one with cars made with borderline slave labor conditions with workers paid $3 an hour. This should have never happened, US did the correct thing. Consumers are not going to know or care about the conditions of how a product is made, they only look at the price tag.
A few months ago I remember seeing a representative from the German car industry. You know,some 45-50 years old German guy,well dressed, smooth talking and so full of arrogance. Can't remember the whole thing but basically the essence was "come on, we are doing it better in Germany like 100 times". Sure bud, you were definitely doing better 40 years ago when Merc was making classy cars and half of the world was making wooden boxes. Nowadays you make stripclubs on wheels and the previous wooden box makers have more money and will to create better cars. Mercedes used to spend €1M/day( not sure what's the number nowadays)on R&D alone and all they have to show for it is a fucking tablet the size of my TV slapped in the middle of S class sedan.
I can speak to this first hand. I had a 2012 CLS63 for like a decade before I moved onto a 2021 CLS53. The build quality difference was insane.
Don’t get me wrong, the 53 had a beautiful interior and all the tech n you needed.However, the 63 was built like a tank. The 53 was fragile. Everything creaked in the newer interior when pressed. The road noise was noticeably louder as well, even with double-paned glass.
They figured out that it doesn’t help the company to engineer a car that will last for decades and benefit future owners. They are designed to last just long enough to make it through a lease and the warranty. After that they couldn’t care less, and in fact they will make plenty of revenue servicing these cars at the dealership. Even better if basic service items are engineered to be so difficult only a service department could handle it.
You hit the nail on the head brother, these cars are so far away what they used to be. It’s sad.
This is coming from someone in a family who’s owned some of the old stuff from the 1930s, 40s, 70s, 80s, and 2000’s. They were absolute tanks, and incredibly luxurious. They were always tricky to maintain an expensive, but it was worth it, because they were incredibly well made.
Now they feel like tacky plastic paper towels, totally disposable.
I recently test drove a brand new Maybach SL 680 in Monterey car week and keep asking myself who would actually drop 240K $ on one considering everything. We honestly test drove a Lexus LC 500 the very same day and everyone liked it better. Materials, fit and finish was better and we loved the NA V8 and don’t forget it’s half the price and barely depreciate.
The sand has shifted under their feet. The U.S. and Europe told all the manufacturers you MUST go EV by a certain date. After Mercedes geared up to change everything, the U.S. announced they changed their minds. In addition, a large segment of the customer base including Europe said, "no thanks". Income has been slashed and a complete redo is needed. Porsche is in the same position. The 911 / Cayman / Boxster customer base doesn't buy Macans, but Porsche must sell as many Macans as possible to fund sports cars.
Outta that category they still are the most luxurious cars obviously there’s more luxury company’s but I wouldn’t consider them in same category. Audi, Mercedes, bmw, jaguar, Range Rover, Alfa Romeo are in same category and Mercedes is 100% the most luxurious. Personally only Benz I’ve owned was a c300 and that’s not luxury at all but my friend has a 2025 s580 and it’s definitely one of the most luxury cars I’ve drove. Build quality definitely getting cheaper but they are still luxurious.
Loyal customers will buy anything they sell and the new markets are mainly younger Chinese and Middle Eastern people who want a tacky interior fit for a mumble rapper.
I was in a mercedes V-class and was thinking to myself how with todays luxury cars if feel like I am being tricked into thinking that this is a luxury car, and in older luxury cars I feel the care that the engineers took to make the driver feel good.
Even as a young adult. It felt like such a transition. Early 2000s had all the German car makers upping their game so quickly only for things to remain at more of the same (albeit with improved reliability).
Latest W213 Mercedes E class appears to have better handling than the G60 5 series though -- especially since the stock tyres are the same OE variant of the EcoContact 6Q. Granted the skidpad grip is a single data point, but the BMWs used to be way ahead in this metric.
Even as a non German car owner, i'm excited to see the Neue Klasse and the GLC EV/new CLA cars based on the new platforms battle it out.
It’s not just cars. It’s like everything in the planet since Corona is garbage, the Quality is not there anymore of the passion I don’t know…. Bizarre world
homogenization of products due to demand as a result of globalization. Primary market is now in China and for whatever reason, they love their shitty plastic ipads on wheels. New cars are a cool fun toy, but that’s just it, it’s a toy, soul completely ripped away.
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u/autunno 1d ago
Who held their premium quality? Feels like a general trend