Mercedes Rant...The First Post
Mercedes-Benz. Some people think that it is the pinnacle of exclusivity and luxury. When people are buying a Mercedes, they feel special. Don't get me wrong; Mercedes still does a good job of making every customer feel special. But, I am sorry to tell you that the feeling of individuality is slowly fading away.
Back in the 1990s and even the early 2000s, Mercedes was almost like Maserati. They made cars that had beautiful exhaust notes and pure passion. They stood apart from their German counterparts. Every time you took a Black Series AMG around a corner, it would have its tail out. Every single time! If you don't believe me, check out Jeremy Clarkson's review of the CLK 63 AMG Black Series that he shot with the best automotive show, Top Gear.
It was the big engines, monstrous torque, and the genuine leather on even the top of the dashboard that made people admire Mercedes. Sure they have the new AMG GTs that produces 503 Horsepower and 479 pound feet of torque. But just look at the rest of their range. As I write this, I am sobbing: Mercedes has become too mainstream.
Before you begin a comment war with me, let me give you some evidence. Look at all of the models that Mercedes has to offer. Only one is "track focused". The others are the product of being appealing to the general public. Take for example; there are 6 different SUVs to choose from! 6, you read right! Sure, they have their AMG counterparts, but Mercedes still offers more "regular boring" trims than their "bonkers" AMG trims. SUVs demonstrate none of the passion that Mercedes used to have.
Mercedes seems to be chasing the money since they were the number one seller of luxury cars in the US for 2014. It was mostly due to their expansion in the SUV industry. But 6 SUVs! Isn't that overkill? This also makes the company feel like a generic luxury brand that is watered down.
Before I end this post, I would like to make one more point. Materials. Yep, that's right, I want to talk about the interior of those boring cars. During a family vacation, we used and Uber to get to a restaurant and we were driven in the brand new 2015 Mercedes E220 BlueTec. The nomenclature might appear a little bit different since we were in England. Anyway, we got in and I recognized that everything felt fake. The leather and the wooden trim felt like they were plastic. Even when I went to the NYC Auto Show and sat in the brand new C300 that apparently has the best interior, it felt wrong. These boring mainstream cars violated the brands motto: “The Best or Nothing.” The only cars that I feel are true Mercedes is all of the S-Classes the G-Class, and the SL-Class.
So, I leave you with this one question: do you think that Mercedes has gone mainstream and their quality has gone downhill? Leave a comment and make sure to check for new posts!
