The cars and bikes thread!

[Raza]

My wife said she wanted to go car shopping this past weekend. She had two trips to Orlando this past week and apparently, she's not happy with the Infinity. Not certain about what she wants. I just rode along and we were at Lexus and BMW so far. God are BMW overpriced? Some more to come.

They love the optional extra. I also think the quality of the cars and the differentiating drive factors have lowered over the past few generations, so the cars seem less worth it. I say this as a BMW owner—Audi, in general, makes a better car and a better value. Not always, but in most classes, I’d take the Audi over the BMW.

[geoffbot]

They love the optional extra.

You're telling me. My car has a screen but no satnav. No electric mirrors. No rear folding seats!! Then again it is a 2014 - I think this is all mostly standard in the new 3 - they were options back then. That the previous owner didn't spec and I didn't think to check when I bought it.

Still, audis are girls cars :-)

[Samanator]

Still, audis are girls cars :-)

And they all look the same and don't have nearly as good of interiors as the use to. In many cases, they now look like VW's. Seems all their good designers went to Kia.

[mlcor]

Sort of true the German cars have no value of building packages into a level. Porsche at least has an S level. BMW seems to start about $5K-$10K above the others. On all three of those everything is nearly a stand-alone option. Even Lexus has not done it as well as Acura.

When I was shopping last year to replace my Panamera 4S, I compared a new 4S to the Mercedes AMG CLS53, around the same performance level. The Porsche, comparably equipped, was 35% more expensive. I bought the AMG, couldn’t justify the difference. Plus the AMG’s interior is nicer.


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[Raza]

You guys are tripping. Audi interiors are great, the design language is cohesive, and they still make the best looking cars on the market in their respective segments.

[Seriously]

I've had a brand new Merc A180 for the past three weeks as a courtesy car , It came to me with 50 miles on it, I've put 700 on it.

Two things to note:

A180 would normally imply it's a 1.8Litre - it is in fact a 1.5Litre

The gearbox whilst being advertised as an auto is in fact a 7 speed DCT (I don't mind DCT but I think they shound advertise it as a DCT as it will mislead some customers imho.

It has this so-called 'driving assistance' package:
It will brake if it sees something (via radar) in front that isn't moving (i.e. a car )
It will pull you back into line if you stray onto, say, the lane bump markers

[Raza]

I've had a brand new Merc A180 for the past three weeks as a courtesy car , It came to me with 50 miles on it, I've put 700 on it.

Two things to note:

A180 would normally imply it's a 1.8Litre - it is in fact a 1.5Litre

The gearbox whilst being advertised as an auto is in fact a 7 speed DCT (I don't mind DCT but I think they shound advertise it as a DCT as it will mislead some customers imho.

It has this so-called 'driving assistance' package:
It will brake if it sees something (via radar) in front that isn't moving (i.e. a car )
It will pull you back into line if you stray onto, say, the lane bump markers

Mercedes' engine numbers haven't meant much in several years now.

[Samanator]

You guys are tripping. Audi interiors are great, the design language is cohesive, and they still make the best looking cars on the market in their respective segments.

I think you have drunk far too much Kool-Aid from the Audi bowl. Based on what I've seen if you substitute Volvo for Audi for European cars I would agree with you.

[Samanator]

I've had a brand new Merc A180 for the past three weeks as a courtesy car , It came to me with 50 miles on it, I've put 700 on it.

Two things to note:

A180 would normally imply it's a 1.8Litre - it is in fact a 1.5Litre

The gearbox whilst being advertised as an auto is in fact a 7 speed DCT (I don't mind DCT but I think they shound advertise it as a DCT as it will mislead some customers imho.

It has this so-called 'driving assistance' package:
It will brake if it sees something (via radar) in front that isn't moving (i.e. a car )
It will pull you back into line if you stray onto, say, the lane bump markers

My wife's current Infiniti QX30 AWD shares the engine (in this case a 2.0liter turbo) and drive train from the Mercedes including the DCT. It fairly decent. As far as the safety stuff my Honda Ridgeline truck has all that and about a dozen other safety features. Seems this has become quite standard in the more common brands and the luxury segment has not caught up.

It was noted in the BMW X3 review that BMW charges a subscription fee for Apple Car Play. I'm not certain what they are thinking?

[boatme99]

I've had a brand new Merc A180 for the past three weeks as a courtesy car , It came to me with 50 miles on it, I've put 700 on it.

Two things to note:

A180 would normally imply it's a 1.8Litre - it is in fact a 1.5Litre

The gearbox whilst being advertised as an auto is in fact a 7 speed DCT (I don't mind DCT but I think they shound advertise it as a DCT as it will mislead some customers imho.

It as this so-called 'driving assistance' package:
It will brake if it sees something (via radar) in front that isn't moving (i.e. a car )
It will pull you back into line if you stray onto, say, the lane bump markers

Heck, the base Toyletta Corolla has all of that.