Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

stickguy

Don't forget. This is a Canadian car..

Also a reason I want apple CarPlay in my next car. Can just run the phone app through the car, and have real time status updates.

driver100

stickguy said:

Don't forget. This is a Canadian car..

Also a reason I want apple CarPlay in my next car. Can just run the phone app through the car, and have real time status updates.

That is true....so I don't have that traffic option. But, like I say, I do get these remarks at times about traffic conditions in a major city (upscale major city) like Sarasota for some reason.

driver100

abacomike said:

@driver100

Do you subscribe to Sirius?  In the US, Sirius Traffic and weather is free for 5 years on 2016's, 3 years on 2015's.  Check with Sirius or refer to the new car sticker that was on your window when you bought the car.

I have Siruis but it is Sirius Canada. Now that I think about it I asked my salesman about traffic and he said it wasn't available in Canada so they don't offer it.

It should be a snowbird option.

imidazol97

stever said:

Instead of sweating over the Interstates, what's the big hurry? Enjoy some blue highways and real scenery and get away from the semis.

In that part of TN and KY, I enjoyed getting off the interstate and traveling the legacy main routes when we had planned for that. E.g., we got off at Corbin KY and used 25E because it paralleled a main railroad track. Our son enjoyed seeing trains at that age. We took a picnic lunch and found a spot to eat along the road that used to be the main N&S route before I75. Then joined back with I75 at Williamsburg farther south before Jellico Hill.

BUT taking the back road when it's full of travelers who have been shuttled off the interstate is no pleasure.

I had said I'd like to take the old 25W and some other time take 25E which headed from Corbin KY SE toward Myrtle Beach for some travelers long ago. But my wife's bad back means sitting longer becomes more painful for her after a few hours in the car.

28firefighter

stickguy said:

Don't forget. This is a Canadian car..

Also a reason I want apple CarPlay in my next car. Can just run the phone app through the car, and have real time status updates.

Aside from being able to stream Pandora, the single greatest feature of CarPlay is this.

graphicguy

stickguy said:

Don't forget. This is a Canadian car..

Also a reason I want apple CarPlay in my next car. Can just run the phone app through the car, and have real time status updates.

Yeah...I really love Apple CarPlay....up-to-date traffic, up-to-date routes and maps, easy-peezy voice recognition. Put's the map and traffic right on the in-car navigation screen.

ab348

28firefighter said:

stickguy said:

Don't forget. This is a Canadian car..

Also a reason I want apple CarPlay in my next car. Can just run the phone app through the car, and have real time status updates.

Aside from being able to stream Pandora, the single greatest feature of CarPlay is this.

Can''t stream Pandora in Canada either.

andres3

iluvmysephia1 said:

Don't forget Steve's Body by Fisher corollary - if the same logo is on the sills, why buy the Caddy instead of the Chevy?

And South Korean is another carmaker category - that's just it - a different company with different parts ordered - different engineering team with different outcomes desired. I prefer the Asian companies these days, but, don't like the larger cars, so that limits me a lot in what I study and go after.

I wouldn't buy something I didn't like, though. Even though I haven't even test-driven an Audi or a BMW before, I could see how I might like one. An S4 perhaps - I just tread carefully with costs, and, I don't think a Warranty you'd get with an Audi could come close to matching Kia's. And it ain't cheap ta fix an Audi or a Beamer or a MB. I expect what I buy to stay together well. I'm not saying a new or late-model German car wouldn't - it's just the starting costs dissuade me from stepping closer to that blowtorch even just a little bit. Automobile shopping is emotional but it's also very logical, too.

All three of my Kia's have stayed nicely buttoned-tagether, and, I don't need to drive like Adam Carolla at Leguna in his Datsun 510...tooling around SW Kansas at the speed limit suits me just fine...wait a minute. Datsun 510 - as in 411 Bluebird? Oh...the little orange one! Is it still in St.Louie for sale? It's only selling for $12,900.

What's the speed limit in Kansas? The speed limit when no one is looking in CA is unlimited. The problem is knowing when no one is looking.

abacomike

driver100 said:

Don't forget. This is a Canadian car.. Also a reason I want apple CarPlay in my next car. Can just run the phone app through the car, and have real time status updates.

That is true....so I don't have that traffic option. But, like I say, I do get these remarks at times about traffic conditions in a major city (upscale major city) like Sarasota for some reason.

Then you do have it.  Those updates are fed to your car which in turn prompts your GPS to respond.

andres3

stever said:

iluvmysephia1 said:

Even though I haven't even test-driven an Audi or a BMW before, I could see how I might like one. An S4 perhaps - I just tread carefully with costs

Audi just blew the doors off in the 2016 Consumer Reports best car brands report. "They need to have consistency across a range of models in reliability and drive quality to get to the top," (USA Today)

So everything we thought we knew about spotty reliability of Audis is wrong.

Kia came in at number 9, a couple of spots ahead of Hyundai, which surprised me.

Well, to be fair, Audi has been inching up the rankings in Consumer Reports for over a Decade now. If anyone was listening to me, they'd of known this was only a matter of time for them to be #1 overall (safety, road test score, reliability).

andres3

graphicguy said:

Mike...so glad you got a clean bill of health.

Thanks everyone for the concern. As the saying goes, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. I'll answer questions. I'm not shy about it. Don't care who knows details....but pretty straight forward. If your spouse would rather live in a different country without you, as opposed to at home with you, it's pretty clear what the future holds. Was never really fond of the idea of her spending the holidays away. When the trip kept being extended, eventually a line had to be drawn in the sand.

Thanks, again! I'll be fine!

Look at the bright side, at least you don't have to drive around in a lemon anymore; at least... yet...

andres3

abacomike said:

driver100 said:

driver100 said:

Mike, how are you doing today?

I have two questions for you if you are up to it.

No rush.

I am at my primary care doc's office waiting, what can I do for you?

Good luck at the doctor's office...hope it is all good news.

2 things then:

1) I was curious about Consumers Reports saying the 2016 Audi A6 was the best car in it's category. When I was looking for a 2015 I tried an A6, and though it was pretty nice I chose the E400 over the A6 right away. Here is the CR review of the A6:
CR REVIEW 2016 Audi A6
At the time I was really impressed with the A4, so I didn't have an anti-Audi bias, in fact I thought I would love it - if I was that impressed with the A4 I thought I'd be blown away by the A6. What would you say to someone interested in a Mercedes but says Audi A6 came out 1st with CR?

2) My 2nd question is how does the auto parking feature work? I know you drive by the spot you want to park in. The BLUE P is lit up meaning it can park itself. What do you do next to get it to start parking. I will probably never use it but if I ever do it would be nice to know what to do.

I saw pix of the 2017 E400 and it looks and from what I read it looks pretty nice...maybe I will become a compulsive car buyer.
https://www.yahoo.com/autos/2017-mercedes-benz-e-class-222625243.html

I almost never read reviews by publications and then go running out to buy a car based on those reviews!  I read reviews for one basic reason - I love cars and want to get a taste of what car reviewers have to say about ALL cars in the luxury sport sedan segment.  Just because CR has made the A6 their top pick in the segment doesn't mean it is the best car for the money out there.

I have driven the A6 - just before I bought the CLS400.  I found the seats uncomfortable for my needs - too stiff and too harsh for my tastes.  I prefer rear wheel drive over AWD or FWD.  The A6 3.0 liter 6 cylinder engine delivered a nice acceleration from start or at 40 mph.  I am not a fan of the Audi front end for the same reasons I do not like the front ends on the Lexus LS460, GS350 and ES350.  But taking everything into consideration (quality, interior, power, styling, etc.), the A6 is a formidable entry in the luxury sport sedan segment.

Before I buy a car, I want to drive everything in the segment to determine which car is best for me, not what CR or any of the other publications say is best for me.  I rest my case!

As for the self-parking feature in the MB, even though I had it in the last 2 MB cars I owned, I never ever used it.  Even if I was in an area where I could parallel park, I would never use it.  But in answer to your question - I never found out how to use it because I won't let a $70,000 - $80,000 car of mine park itself.  






CR states right in the publication that no one ranking can determine the best car for everyone. Their total scores take into account safety (which may never be used or realized as a benefit; until it is), and reliability heavily. Lots of other factors contribute to the scoring system and different people have different priorities that would skew the weighting of their scoring system at another angle. If you value impeccable quality, safety, fuel economy, and reliability, then CR is the KING.

Lots of Mercedes still have the Chrysler poor reliability bug. You seem to be extremely lucky and only get the good ones (then again you don't seem to keep them very long). Poor reliability lowers scores.

FWIW BMW had a road test score average slightly higher than even Audi, but average at best reliability holds them back from the top.

jpp75

andres3 said:

What's the speed limit in Kansas? The speed limit when no one is looking in CA is unlimited. The problem is knowing when no one is looking.

When I drove through in late 2012 it was 75 in rural areas, which was most of I-70 west of Topeka. I set the cruise on 82 and had no problems.

Stretches like that had to be brutal when the national limit went to 55.

andres3

Mr_Shiftright said:

stever said:

iluvmysephia1 said:

Even though I haven't even test-driven an Audi or a BMW before, I could see how I might like one. An S4 perhaps - I just tread carefully with costs

Audi just blew the doors off in the 2016 Consumer Reports best car brands report. "They need to have consistency across a range of models in reliability and drive quality to get to the top," (USA Today)

So everything we thought we knew about spotty reliability of Audis is wrong.

Kia came in at number 9, a couple of spots ahead of Hyundai, which surprised me.

Doesn't say what the basis for this "reliability" is, but apparently, using the same testing methods, the top single car was the Chevrolet Impala. So I guess we can say Chevrolets are better than Audis?

The basis of the reliability is 15 years of real-world reliability data tracking from real people, without being skewed by special interest money or "ringers" specially selected for a long-term evaluation by the manufacturer.

Michaell

jpp5862 said:

andres3 said:

What's the speed limit in Kansas? The speed limit when no one is looking in CA is unlimited. The problem is knowing when no one is looking.

When I drove through in late 2012 it was 75 in rural areas, which was most of I-70 west of Topeka. I set the cruise on 82 and had no problems.

Stretches like that had to be brutal when the national limit went to 55.

In 1986, I took a road trip from Southern California to Michigan and back. 55 speed limit all the way.

Oh. My. Gawd. How boring. I-40 from Barstow to OKC took forever.

On the return trip, we briefly touched 90MPH on I-10 west of Phoenix.

iluvmysephia1

How fast can you go in Kansas?

Kansas has one of the highest speed limits in the United States. Only 4 states legally allow speeds faster than the Kansas maximum speed limit of 75 miles per hour.

I wonder why?

imidazol97

This was posted in another topic.

dino001

andres3 said:

Lots of Mercedes still have the Chrysler poor reliability bug.

I disagree. As I recall, subpar to poor reliability was maring Benz well before the Chrysler merger. It all started some time in early 90s, when Benz's focus changed from making cars for the lifetime to those for the first customer, leasing it for 3 years. Chrysler might have exacerbate this, but Benz was on its way to do that, anyway. I think they are now pulling back from that stance, but ever so slowly.

Michaell

A little help from our Florida regulars:

http://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/39829/general/x/gap-insurance-direct-in-florida#latest

abacomike

dino001 said:

andres3 said:

Lots of Mercedes still have the Chrysler poor reliability bug.

I disagree. As I recall, subpar to poor reliability was maring Benz well before the Chrysler merger. It all started some time in early 90s, when Benz's focus changed from making cars for the lifetime to those for the first customer, leasing it for 3 years. Chrysler might have exacerbate this, but Benz was on its way to do that, anyway. I think they are now pulling back from that stance, but ever so slowly.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I have owned 15 new Mercerdes-Benz automobiles in the last 30 years. I had a problem with only one of them - the 2013 White E350. It had leaking injectors which caused the car to stall frequently after I had run it for 20+ minutes. If I parked it and then less than 30 minutes later I started it again, it would choke and stall. Mercedes had the car for 2 weeks and after trying to identify which injector was causing the problem, they replaced all of them, which solved the problem.

I've had no electrical problems, no body fit or symmetry problems, no paint problems, no interior problems and no technology problems. On the 2015 E400 I ordered, there was a computer glitch at the factory which caused a problem and they had to build me another one - all of which you are all familiar with.

I do not believe driver100 has had any problems with his E400, but he can speak for himself.

IIRC, problems with the Mercedes-Benz brand were rampant in the 90's and early 2000's. That is why I stayed away from MB until 2008, when I bought my first MB E300 in many, many years.

Is Mercedes-Benz the best automobile manufacturer in the world? I doubt that very much, but they produce a quality line of vehicles. My latest purchase, my white 2016 CLS400 is flawless - I haven't had that car back to the dealer for anything except a car wash.

andres3

berri said:

If you're cooking goose, probably better have a big, big can for grease and Aba, I don' think your doctor would approve of it in your diet right now buddy!

Shifty, sorry about your car, but it is a "Mini" so maybe they didn't see it

I think that makes it worse, as being a Mini unless it was the world's worst parking job, it wasn't sticking out at all in the parking space.

isellhondas

imidazol97 said:

The first picture is mostly Big 3 products. In another topic here people identify the years and brands in old photos. But there is one interesting thing in that photo and that's the police car in the foreground. It looks like a Buick.

Here's another interesting photo. New Buick model? No. Imitation of Buick's portholes sincerest flattery.

Is there really a V6 under that hood with the 6 porthole outlets? They should have put only 2 on each side of the Civic.

That has to be a Special or Super. Only three portholes so it can't be a Century or Roadmaster!

driver100

ab348 said:

28firefighter said:

stickguy said:

Don't forget. This is a Canadian car..

Also a reason I want apple CarPlay in my next car. Can just run the phone app through the car, and have real time status updates.

Aside from being able to stream Pandora, the single greatest feature of CarPlay is this.

Can''t stream Pandora in Canada either.

But there is ACCURADIO which is not bad!

stickguy

From that list, it works out that, on average, if you buy the "best" car you will have 1 problem, and 2 if you buy the "worst" car.

This ain't the 70's any longer!

driver100

abacomike said:

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

Don't forget. This is a Canadian car..

Also a reason I want apple CarPlay in my next car. Can just run the phone app through the car, and have real time status updates.

That is true....so I don't have that traffic option. But, like I say, I do get these remarks at times about traffic conditions in a major city (upscale major city) like Sarasota for some reason.

Then you do have it.  Those updates are fed to your car which in turn prompts your GPS to respond.

Good to know, but I don't think it works all the time....maybe just in certain areas. I know it tells me some info, but I believe I have been stuck in traffic jams when it is on it seems to me.

driver100

abacomike said:

dino001 said:

andres3 said:

Lots of Mercedes still have the Chrysler poor reliability bug.

I disagree. As I recall, subpar to poor reliability was maring Benz well before the Chrysler merger. It all started some time in early 90s, when Benz's focus changed from making cars for the lifetime to those for the first customer, leasing it for 3 years. Chrysler might have exacerbate this, but Benz was on its way to do that, anyway. I think they are now pulling back from that stance, but ever so slowly.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I have owned 15 new Mercerdes-Benz automobiles in the last 30 years. I had a problem with only one of them -

I do not believe driver100 has had any problems with his E400, but he can speak for himself.
.

No problems, after 1 and 1/4 years and 20k miles. Best car I ever owned.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

This was posted in another topic.

Interesting chart....I'm not sure it gives a totally accurate picture. They now include things like if someone doesn't know how the electronic gizmos work...which means the more electronics the more the problem could get reported. They even report if the voice instructions don't work as well as expected....what if someone has a weird accent?

Also, hard to believe that is the number of problems reported in 100 cars. Maybe I am not reading it right but it seems that almost every car has at least one problem. Many have 2. I don't recall ever having problems with any new cars....at least very few.

Like stick pointed out, the best cars have almost 1 problem per 100 cars, the worst 2 problems. Not enough to really worry about, and a lot of those are just finicky GPS or other controls.

It is of some value, but not a whole lot.

andres3

Mr_Shiftright said:

Lincoln could be cagier than you think. As we approach the threshold of Autonomous Cars, things such as "driving dynamics" will become totallly irrelevant, and soft, upgraded poofy luxury will be what consumers require and desire.

What if one manufacturer programs their autonomous cars to go faster than others, and get from A to B faster as a selling point. Or maybe provide a button that says "Maximum Speed."

andres3

stickguy said:

From that list, it works out that, on average, if you buy the "best" car you will have 1 problem, and 2 if you buy the "worst" car.

This ain't the 70's any longer!

The problem is averages are just that, averages. Many cars have no problems whatsoever, while others might have 5 or more. Also, the Dodge might have as its 2+ problems on average a failed transmission and failed head gaskets. Far different than a failed light bulb.

andres3

Mr_Shiftright said:

I think the autonomous cars will eventually master snow and ice--I mean, you've seen those robots that trudge through snow and over/around obstacles while guiding their own way ? They have agility and balance.

I think the days of high HP, driving "dynamics" and all that, are numbered.

The same way suspensions are now sold with adaptive capabilities (See VW Golf R with Comfort, Normal, and Race Car Modes), I would imagine your autonomous driver could be programmed the same way, with 3 options such as "typical Toyota driver, Normal, and Floor it!) as driving program options.

andres3

Michaell said:

roadburner said:

Michaell said:

From a looks perspective, I agree with you. But, the driving dynamics may be more German-like than we know; has anybody had a chance to get behind the wheel and report on it?

The problem is that the car has either FWD or a FWD based AWD system; that puts the sled behind the 8 ball from the get-go.

So, compare it to an Audi, not a BMW. Still German.

Now now, most Audi's are quattro AWD, and of those that carry the quattro moniker, most have the rear biased 60:40 split that adjusts as needed. In my test drive of the S3; I was able to get a little bit of spin noise from the front tires before the rear's seemed to kick in; just a split second though.

stickguy

I thought a big problem with the auto cars was that they were too faithful to the law. To the extent that they were a danger out there, and had to be programmed to "cheat" a bit.

I still think that they will never really take root. Just too many shortcomings. And no way anyone is going to sign up for a long highway drive at exactly the speed limit!

in any case, they still have to have full normal driving mode. So what might be of use is a highway mode, for when you are stuck on the 405 for an hour+ stop and go slog. There being able to put it on autopilot seems useful, and reasonably plausible and safe. Just thinking about driving around my area, I can't see it possibly working that I could get in the car in my garage, tell it to get me to the mall at dinner time on a Friday, and stop paying attention til I get there!

stickguy

also, will the autocar swerve around potholes? If not, major problem!

abacomike

@stickguy said:

"I still think they will never really take root. Just too many shortcomings. And no way anyone is going to sign up for a long highway drive at exactly the speed limit!"

I have learned in my many years here on "God's Planet" to NEVER use the word never when describing what the future holds for humanity - especially when it comes to cars and technology.  

Back in 1969, if someone said to me that in less than 45 years I could hold in my hand a mini-computer that was 3 inches wide and about 4 inches long and less than a fifth of an inch thick and I could talk to it and it would talk to me and I could make phone calls, get directions to almost any place on the planet and get a satellite view of where I live and in less than one minute get the answers to hundreds of millions of questions, etc., etc., etc., I would have said never in a million years.

Over the past 45+ years, I have learned to never say never about what the human mind can conceive of and build.  I have replaced the word never when it comes to what is possible to the words, "...after what I have witnessed in my lifetime, I wouldn't be surprised!" 

dino001

abacomike said:

dino001 said:

andres3 said:

Lots of Mercedes still have the Chrysler poor reliability bug.

I disagree. As I recall, subpar to poor reliability was maring Benz well before the Chrysler merger. It all started some time in early 90s, when Benz's focus changed from making cars for the lifetime to those for the first customer, leasing it for 3 years. Chrysler might have exacerbate this, but Benz was on its way to do that, anyway. I think they are now pulling back from that stance, but ever so slowly.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I have owned 15 new Mercerdes-Benz automobiles in the last 30 years. I had a problem with only one of them - the 2013 White E350. It had leaking injectors which caused the car to stall frequently after I had run it for 20+ minutes. If I parked it and then less than 30 minutes later I started it again, it would choke and stall. Mercedes had the car for 2 weeks and after trying to identify which injector was causing the problem, they replaced all of them, which solved the problem.

I've had no electrical problems, no body fit or symmetry problems, no paint problems, no interior problems and no technology problems. On the 2015 E400 I ordered, there was a computer glitch at the factory which caused a problem and they had to build me another one - all of which you are all familiar with.

I do not believe driver100 has had any problems with his E400, but he can speak for himself.

IIRC, problems with the Mercedes-Benz brand were rampant in the 90's and early 2000's. That is why I stayed away from MB until 2008, when I bought my first MB E300 in many, many years.

Is Mercedes-Benz the best automobile manufacturer in the world? I doubt that very much, but they produce a quality line of vehicles. My latest purchase, my white 2016 CLS400 is flawless - I haven't had that car back to the dealer for anything except a car wash.

Mike, did you keep any if those for more than 3, 5, or 7 years?

dino001

andres3 said:

Michaell said:

roadburner said:

Michaell said:

From a looks perspective, I agree with you. But, the driving dynamics may be more German-like than we know; has anybody had a chance to get behind the wheel and report on it?

The problem is that the car has either FWD or a FWD based AWD system; that puts the sled behind the 8 ball from the get-go.

So, compare it to an Audi, not a BMW. Still German.

Now now, most Audi's are quattro AWD, and of those that carry the quattro moniker, most have the rear biased 60:40 split that adjusts as needed. In my test drive of the S3; I was able to get a little bit of spin noise from the front tires before the rear's seemed to kick in; just a split second though.

In my neck of the woods, most Audi are FWD.

driver100

stickguy said:

also, will the autocar swerve around potholes? If not, major problem!

Not if it is a Fusion and it can skip over potholes

abacomike

@dino001 said:

"Mike, did you keep any of those for more than 3, 5, or 7 years?"

Yes I did Dino.  I had a 1991 300E I leased in San Diego for 5 years and kept it for the full 5 years - 67,000 miles.  All I did was have regular services on it - no problems at all!  Just replaced a battery and 2 sets of tires - the desert heat played havoc on the battery and the tires.  Had one set of disc brakes replaced and that was it.

driver100

abacomike said:

@stickguy said:

"I still think they will never really take root. Just too many shortcomings. And no way anyone is going to sign up for a long highway drive at exactly the speed limit!"

I have learned in my many years here on "God's Planet" to NEVER use the word never when describing what the future holds for humanity - especially when it comes to cars and technology.  

Back in 1969, if someone said to me that in less than 45 years I could hold in my hand a mini-computer that was 3 inches wide and about 4 inches long and less than a fifth of an inch thick and I could talk to it and it would talk to me and I could make phone calls, get directions to almost any place on the planet and get a satellite view of where I live and in less than one minute get the answers to hundreds of millions of questions, etc., etc., etc., I would have said never in a million years.

Over the past 45+ years, I have learned to never say never about what the human mind can conceive of and build.  I have replaced the word never when it comes to what is possible to the words, "...after what I have witnessed in my lifetime, I wouldn't be surprised!" 

Oh yeh, what about Dick Tracy...he had a telephone on his wrist way back in the 50s.

Just joking, look at the devices we have that we never even dreamed of. We were just talking about GPS's built in and that are built into cell phones. And you can pick up music and avoid accidents. I don't think we even imagined this technology 10 years ago.

OTOH, whatever happened to those personal helicopters we were all going to have?

The self driving car is almost here....it may need some refinement, it may only be used in certain situations, but it will happen.

dino001

U

imidazol97 said:

This was posted in another topic.

It's a measure, but far from perfect. Doesn't weigh seriousness of the problem, it also reportedly defines some of customer complaints regarding design as "problems", which is something else.

driver100

dino001 said:

abacomike said:

dino001 said:

andres3 said:

Lots of Mercedes still have the Chrysler poor reliability bug.

I disagree. As I recall, subpar to poor reliability was maring Benz well before the Chrysler merger. It all started some time in early 90s, when Benz's focus changed from making cars for the lifetime to those for the first customer, leasing it for 3 years. Chrysler might have exacerbate this, but Benz was on its way to do that, anyway. I think they are now pulling back from that stance, but ever so slowly.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I have owned 15 new Mercerdes-Benz automobiles in the last 30 years. I had a problem with only one of them - the 2013 White E350. It had leaking injectors which caused the car to stall frequently after I had run it for 20+ minutes. If I parked it and then less than 30 minutes later I started it again, it would choke and stall. Mercedes had the car for 2 weeks and after trying to identify which injector was causing the problem, they replaced all of them, which solved the problem.

I've had no electrical problems, no body fit or symmetry problems, no paint problems, no interior problems and no technology problems. On the 2015 E400 I ordered, there was a computer glitch at the factory which caused a problem and they had to build me another one - all of which you are all familiar with.

I do not believe driver100 has had any problems with his E400, but he can speak for himself.

IIRC, problems with the Mercedes-Benz brand were rampant in the 90's and early 2000's. That is why I stayed away from MB until 2008, when I bought my first MB E300 in many, many years.

Is Mercedes-Benz the best automobile manufacturer in the world? I doubt that very much, but they produce a quality line of vehicles. My latest purchase, my white 2016 CLS400 is flawless - I haven't had that car back to the dealer for anything except a car wash.

Mike, did you keep any if those for more than 3, 5, or 7 years?

Or even 1 (one) year!

abacomike

@driver100

Mike, did you keep any if those for more than 3, 5, or 7 years?

Or even 1 (one) year!

Yes, driver.  The 91 Benz, the 2014 CLS550, the 2013 E350, and the 2015 E400 I had for 11 months, 3 weeks.

stickguy

well, certain circumstances is much different IMO than the concept of the google car "pod" that totally drives itself. Heck, we almost have that today, with the laser cruise, autobrake, lane keep, etc. Just fire them all up, and you should be able to drive down a highway fairly well!

but I don't expect to ever see a day where I will fire up an app on my phone, hit "send a pod" and have a driverless transportation module show up at my house to take me to Walmart!

abacomike

stickguy said:

well, certain circumstances is much different IMO than the concept of the google car "pod" that totally drives itself. Heck, we almost have that today, with the laser cruise, autobrake, lane keep, etc. Just fire them all up, and you should be able to drive down a highway fairly well! but I don't expect to ever see a day where I will fire up an app on my phone, hit "send a pod" and have a driverless transportation module show up at my house to take me to Walmart!

You won't see that day - but your kids will! 

snakeweasel

imidazol97 said:

The first picture is mostly Big 3 products. In another topic here people identify the years and brands in old photos. But there is one interesting thing in that photo and that's the police car in the foreground. It looks like a Buick.

Here's another interesting photo. New Buick model? No. Imitation of Buick's portholes sincerest flattery.

Is there really a V6 under that hood with the 6 porthole outlets? They should have put only 2 on each side of the Civic.

I think even Buick puts 6 portholes on their four bangers.

imidazol97

isellhondas said:

imidazol97 said:

The first picture is mostly Big 3 products. In another topic here people identify the years and brands in old photos. But there is one interesting thing in that photo and that's the police car in the foreground. It looks like a Buick.

Here's another interesting photo. New Buick model? No. Imitation of Buick's portholes sincerest flattery.

Is there really a V6 under that hood with the 6 porthole outlets? They should have put only 2 on each side of the Civic.

That has to be a Special or Super. Only three portholes so it can't be a Century or Roadmaster!

snakeweasel

andres3 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

stever said:

iluvmysephia1 said:

Even though I haven't even test-driven an Audi or a BMW before, I could see how I might like one. An S4 perhaps - I just tread carefully with costs

Audi just blew the doors off in the 2016 Consumer Reports best car brands report. "They need to have consistency across a range of models in reliability and drive quality to get to the top," (USA Today)

So everything we thought we knew about spotty reliability of Audis is wrong.

Kia came in at number 9, a couple of spots ahead of Hyundai, which surprised me.

Doesn't say what the basis for this "reliability" is, but apparently, using the same testing methods, the top single car was the Chevrolet Impala. So I guess we can say Chevrolets are better than Audis?

The basis of the reliability is 15 years of real-world reliability data tracking from real people, without being skewed by special interest money or "ringers" specially selected for a long-term evaluation by the manufacturer.

However it is based on self reporting of the owners. Self reporting surveys tend to be inaccurate.

snakeweasel

imidazol97 said:

This was posted in another topic.

My issue with JD Powers is that it reports the numbers of problems but not the severity of those problems. Small problems have the same weight as major problems.

snakeweasel

abacomike said:

dino001 said:

andres3 said:

Lots of Mercedes still have the Chrysler poor reliability bug.

I disagree. As I recall, subpar to poor reliability was maring Benz well before the Chrysler merger. It all started some time in early 90s, when Benz's focus changed from making cars for the lifetime to those for the first customer, leasing it for 3 years. Chrysler might have exacerbate this, but Benz was on its way to do that, anyway. I think they are now pulling back from that stance, but ever so slowly.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I have owned 15 new Mercerdes-Benz automobiles in the last 30 years. I had a problem with only one of them - the 2013 White E350. It had leaking injectors which caused the car to stall frequently after I had run it for 20+ minutes. If I parked it and then less than 30 minutes later I started it again, it would choke and stall. Mercedes had the car for 2 weeks and after trying to identify which injector was causing the problem, they replaced all of them, which solved the problem.

Be that as it may but that's a new MB every two years. Most manufacturers produce cars that can go 30K miles give or take over two tears with little, if any, issues. My ideal or reliability is getting past 150K miles with few issues and never being without your car.

Would you try to take a Benz to 200K miles?

abacomike

snakeweasel said:

Lots of Mercedes still have the Chrysler poor reliability bug.

I disagree. As I recall, subpar to poor reliability was maring Benz well before the Chrysler merger. It all started some time in early 90s, when Benz's focus changed from making cars for the lifetime to those for the first customer, leasing it for 3 years. Chrysler might have exacerbate this, but Benz was on its way to do that, anyway. I think they are now pulling back from that stance, but ever so slowly.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I have owned 15 new Mercerdes-Benz automobiles in the last 30 years. I had a problem with only one of them - the 2013 White E350. It had leaking injectors which caused the car to stall frequently after I had run it for 20+ minutes. If I parked it and then less than 30 minutes later I started it again, it would choke and stall. Mercedes had the car for 2 weeks and after trying to identify which injector was causing the problem, they replaced all of them, which solved the problem.

Be that as it may but that's a new MB every two years. Most manufacturers produce cars that can go 30K miles give or take over two tears with little, if any, issues. My ideal or reliability is getting past 150K miles with few issues and never being without your car. Would you try to take a Benz to 200K miles?

Considering that I only drive about 9000 miles a year, I'd be long dead by the time my current car hit 200,000 miles at that rate.