Take a look at this thread I started on the German Car Fans forum :
http://germancarfans.zeroforum.com/z...id=17186#17186



How true is that claim by a moderator of the forum "Try braking from 150mph in the GS, the pads, calipers and rotors would catch on fire and melt, showing its Toyota Camry roots. " I am really curious about this now......

 

that's definitely a hate statement. gs has one of the best brakes among all oem brakes. i know bimmer has just as good brakes and mb is not weak too, but i am sure the brakes on gs won't melt. it does have some fading problem though after long time braking

 

Not to mention the fact that someone might want to explain to Fritz that the ES is based on the Camry, not the GS. It's a shame that Chrysler, oops, I mean to say Mercedes, folks don't have as good a platform as the Camry to base anything off of. Still, he has a point. With as many electrical gremlins as bimmers and Mercs have, good brakes could come in handy. Guess I am in no mood for this nonsense today. The truth is that Mercedes and Lexus are both fine, but different, cars, as we always seem to point out. The vast majority of the public would love to have either. It's a shame so many people need to play "mine is bigger than yours" with the car they drive...

 

LMAO "oops".....classic

 

you have some very good points ron.... i don't really like it when people say something that they have no idea about.

the best ever would be those people who bash the is300 by saying that it's just another corolla. i always try to stay calm and ask them to shut up before they realise that the is300 is base on the gs platform. some people have no shame

 

Whoa Hameed
Yea, you started something over there - but you sure didn't make the Lexus folks look good.
The GS400 does not compare to the E55 - the E430 yep, but not the E55. Different price points too.

You should consider driving an E55, you might redefine neck snapping torque.

Doug

 

I love trouble.

 

Here is some ammo that will help you out.

Note: Read the fine print. Mercedes is BELOW the industry average.

 

nah, before it misleads too many people, i believe it's a 5 yr vehicle test, and mb failed that year coz' the 98 m class were the first one that's made in the US and it was so badly done.... so many quality issues that made mb failed the test in 2002.

since then mb has improved a lot (even the second yr they improved quite a bit already) and everyone is very sure that they are getting back in picture this year

 

I think all cars would have fading issues braking at high speeds...BMW and MB is not immune to this problem...I don't know about M5 or E55, but I know in my 540 I tried braking hard at 140+ and I can say "I know what fading is now". It was pretty scary.

 

I dunno about you guys but i think any car will have problems braking from 150MPH-0 without any fade or such problems ( Ferrari, Porsche and such excluded prob) and also when are you charging into the nearest 7-11 enterance at 150MPH?

MBs are nice car, the everyday cars i find are not up to Lexus standards (everyone talks about the E55 and such which are massively expensive compared to the Lexus), if Lexus truly wanted to compete with those cars they would be it really isn't that cost effective.

 

Sooner or later people will realize that most every system on an automobile is some kind of compromise. Stopping from 150mph just requires a system set up for that kind of performance dependent on vehicle dynamics. And, as we all know, old Fritz on the MB board needs that performance because he has to get to 150mph going to work every morning. Truth is, GS brakes are just fine for their intended performance. Will they fade? Sure, every street car will, including Ms and AMGs if run on race courses where braking is an issue. So what's the point? Some people would really benefit from a spot of road racing. Race cars are not very pleasant conveyances when used off race course. Heck, they're not very pleasant on the race course but that is not what they are intended to be.

rominl - I wouldn't buy a car based on Consumer's Reports but I wouldn't ignore them either. The only MB or Bimmer that gets a buy rating right now is the 5 series. And the 5 just gets an average for reliability. Everything else from those marques gets much below average reliability and is not recommended to buy. They are rating over several years but heavily weighting the most recent reliability data which is why the 3 series is no longer a recommended buy. The ML's had problems when they were introduced but, with the exception of the grenadable M3 engines, the biggest issues are electrics and from what I have heard the new 7, the S and the new E are setting records for electrical gremlins. Of all the complaints we get on this board, and internet boards tend to amplify the problems of the vocal minority, the Lexus is still in the top of that boring "It just works" category. Hey let's beat this horse again just to see if it's still dead.

Working seven days a week right now so it is good to have a chance to have a good laugh. E55 compared to GS taking into account "different price points." You've got to love it.

 

Very nicely put, RON430!!

 

well i never tried to say mb and bimmer are good, instead most likely vice versa with all the electronic problems. but what i am saying is, if you look at other yrs, their JD survey actaully has above avg numbers (i am talking about mb), and this year is low coz' of the m class.

 

rominl - You know, I can't actually say I have watched the JD Power stuff over the years. My wife was looking for a new car (that's how I have two GS's in the garage now) so we bought some of the car buying guides. She ranks reliability very high, she can get down right ornery if she has to spend any time with a car under warranty in the service department, whether she is paying for it or not. So, you flip through the CU guide and look for those little blacked in dots. I think we all knew about the problems with the ML but gosh darn if all the MBs and all the bimmers, with the exception of the five which gets the clear circle - average, don't have black dots for reliability. What surprised me the most was that I thought the 3 series was doing pretty good and had their recommended rating but no more. NONE of the MBs get a recommended rating and I have as hard a time as anyone remembering that when I drive by the dealer but when it comes time to give them a check, things get different...

Once again, I know I am preaching to the choir here but can't resist beating this dead horse.