SW17LS

Yeah, we all do.

Toys4RJill

Not all AMG engines are hand built. The lower end models are not.

SW17LS

Thats exactly the point. The "lower end" models shouldn't exist, the real AMG cars have handbuilt engines. Anything without such an engine shouldn't be branded an AMG car.

Striker223

100% agree here, don't waste the badge on little cars with what used to be the optional engine.

SW17LS

All the *43s and *53s of the lineup should just be regular models, a "430" or "530"

Striker223

Speaking of AMG/M/S badges being thrown around like candy I have a real M3 in right now, just dropped off to torture me this morning.

M3 stands for misfire on cyl 3, manual shifter 3cm of play in all directions, and all trim moves 3mm past 3mph.

Man I would rather have a GS of the same vintage lol!

LH1

AMG and M just don't have the cache they used to. Still cool but MB and BMW diluted the specialness.

BMW slaps M on everything now it seems.

LH1

I would take an Estoril Blue/Grey leather E36 M3 in a heartbeat. That thing was so damn good looking.

Allen K

iTrader: (4)

Just spent a week in a 2023 Infiniti QX80 rental and wanted to share some quick thoughts. Avis must've gotten a great deal on them as they were introducing the next gen because they had a ton of them available. I had originally booked a minivan (along with 4-5 other people in line) but they barely had anything available since it was a holiday week. It was the first time I had to go to the counter instead of straight to the car an it was horrible. Anyway back to the Infiniti. When I picked it up it was at 10K miles and I dropped it back off at 11,950.

Good

• Smooth V8. Drove between SoCal and Vegas and it did a great job. Effortless between 80-90 mph although the transmission was a bit rough shifting from 1st to 2nd.
• Interior
  • Seats. I like the seats in my R1S, but I loved how comfortable the seats were in the QX80. Had multiple hour+ drives and didn't have an issue finding a comfortable seating position
  • Screens / center infotainment stack: a little dated, but the screen was responsive and Android Auto and CarPlay both worked without issues. It would've been nice to have wireless AA as wireless CarPlay was available, but I used it wired in either case.
  • Digital rear view mirror: I love this option and wished my Rivian had it. When people are in the 3rd row, it makes things so much easier.
• Entry / Exit: On of my biggest complaints about the Rivian are the lack of handles and running boards to help with entry/exit and the QX80 had both. Both kids had no issues getting in and out and it has led to me ordering rock sliders for the Rivian.
• A/C: The QX80 regularly made me uncomfortably cold and I loved it while in Vegas with an average high in the 110s. The only time it had issue cooling the car was when it heat soaked in the sun for 3 hours. As long as it was parked in the shade, it could cool the interior within 3-4 minutes.

Bad

• Steering: the steering in this thing was unreasonably heavy. I checked the settings to see if I was missing something, but couldn't find a setting to adjust. I could still single hand it, but at low speeds in parking lots, it was definitely more comfortable to two hand it. When I got back in the Ody to drive home, it was uncomfortably light lol
• Turning radius: it's a big SUV with a big turning radius. Easy to adapt to, but kind of annoying to deal with
• Loading height: One of the reason I prefer a minivan when traveling is because of how easy it is to load things into the back. As expected, both set of grandparents gave the kids a bunch of toys and clothes and loading the overweight bags in at the end of the trip was not fun. Wasn't a killer, but annoying
• Efficiency: my average efficiency over the week was 14.9 mpg. Even when with cruise control set at 80 on the way to Vegas, I couldn't get past 18mpg. Combined with the CA gas prices, I spent more on gas on this trip than I have for the Ody YTD.

Overall, it was a decent rental. I still would've preferred the minivan I reserved, but it could've been worse.

link13

Maybe they should hate them because they are hot garbage. It's basically a crap box Opel with a star on it. They are awful cars.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

LOL @ satan package. yeah, horrible.

if they didn't exist, you'd probably be paying 20-30% more for your s-class which would lower their sales and appeal of those, possibly forcing mercedes further up market leading to fewer sales, repeat. that's the problem all luxury brands have and do face.

and that's the problem with not having split brands like toyota/lexus, vw/audi, nissan/infiniti, hyundai/genesis, etc.

newsflash, many customers of high end mercedes also want them for the badge.

in low income areas here, we're more likely to see something like this



well all the luxury brands disagree so there's that.

so is this a 'real' m car or not to you? certainly not luxurious, or hand built, lol.

i test drove one of those back when they were new, and loved it, but i kept my legend gs instead and then yeah, went to a lexus gs400!

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

haha, i don't think there's any connection to opel (is or was a gm company).

FrankReynoldsCPA

I think as long as the actual AMG or M cars deliver a top experience, it doesn't matter what they do down the line.

The A class and other FWD entry level cars aren't my taste but if they sell, they sell.

mmarshall

Although I could be wrong on this, Opel, to my knowledge, never made any vehicles for Mercedes.

For a while, Dodge and Jeep products were serving as the downmarket-vehicles for Mercedes, but, of course, Mercedes no longer owns Chrysler.



That's a 1964 Chevy Impala, of course. Actually (this may surprise some of you)....full-size Chevys in the mid 60s came with 15 inch wheels from the factory. Mid-size cars got 14s, and Compact cars got 13s.

Striker223

Damn bro, tell us how you really feel. It's not THAT bad lol!