I am a HUGE MB fan.
But sometimes i wonder why MB haven't developped a cult like Porsche's or BMW's ? Especially in the US. Or am I wrong?

Is it because the cars themselves are costly? Aftermarket tuner parts are costly? Or what?

I also feel Mercedes have developped a big fan base of younger people since they introduced the C32 AMG, E55 K , CLS etc... (easily tuneable)

Discuss.

 

They have to make cars that look and feel bad. Cars that make your stomach all weird when you hear something crazy about it. Until lately no MB car has really done. But AMG stepped up their game, I'm pretty confident it is building a fan base, slowly but surely. As to pricing, it's not about the actual price of the car, it used to be more about the fact that quality control wasn't up to par, from what I've heard recently, things are changing for the better with more money thrown back into developing better cars.

The CLK Black edition is a nice start

 

all that annoys me about MB is that they keep producing auto gearboxes... that to me kinda destroys most of the appeal of a performance car

 

Quality of Mercedes' was horrible in the 2000-2002 model years, especially S & CL class models. But they picked it up in 2003.

I agree, but i read it has something to do with the creators of the AMG brand who didnt believe in MT on their race cars.
But overseas u find a lot of MT regular models though. Plenty, but no S, SL's, CL's or AMGs ever came in MT anywere in the world if im correct.

 

ya know, i went for an 02 s500 to and 04 745li, and i really cannot wait to get back into a benz. i liked it so much better. everyone says how horrible they are, but i loved mine. to each his own, i guess.

 

Drive my S 63 and then decide if it is an "old man's car"...LOL

 

The latest AMGs (55 supercharged and 63s) are definitely not old-people cars. I am really glad they are taking steps to differentiate the AMG cars from the vanilla cars in their appearance. Think back to the first E55 - it looked just like an E-Class taxi you'd find in Europe but with AMG wheels.

 

Even the non AMG cars are quiet good, drive the S550 or SL550 there are plenty of torque in the rpm range. an SL550 feels sporty off the lot with the 388hp compared to 03-05 306hp which sucked badly. I wouldnt mind buying a non AMG mercedes, ie G550, GL550 etc.

There has been talks of having a twin turbo 300hp v6 too,

 

The AMG cars are spectacular.However for some reason the resale values are poor if you wish to purchase rather than lease. This has keep me away. However the SLR does interest me and you can find new leftovers for around 340k instead or the 450K list.I don't think those cars will ever go less than 275 down the road.Wish they would have a manual trans. as an option.

 

thats why i sold mine =old people car jk

 

I guess I'm an old person because I drive an AMG

 

I think the AMG cars are very nice. The new C63 looks killer.

My non-AMG '03 W211 was a 100% POS from a reliability standpoint (nearly all electronics or fiber optics related)

The '07s are supposed to be much better but I doubt that I'll be in another M-B for a long time to come.

 

old man's car? i jumped from a M3 to a CLS 55... i wouldn't consider it an old man's car... i think the color combination on Benz's plays a huge factor in determining that IMO

 

Ya, I think so. Apart from the McLaren, what do they have? They keep making cars w/ A/Ts. They have some nice-looking sedans, but where are the sportscoupes to keep up w/ the M3s? Not a sporty image imo.

 

See my autox thread. Had a lot of fun in an old mans car.