Leaderboard

Shockingly, I didn't take auto shop in HS. But there were way more hours in 'shade tree class' auto mechanics in those years.

Neat...my high school had auto shop classes, but I was on the college prep/AP track and couldn't take them.

Very random (and funny ... we can all use funny these days) thought: When I am on my profile page, I have one very dated and inactive warning for some heavy duty arguing with ocnblu almost 13 years ago!

The current IC look is fine, if unremarkable / dated. Sure; it's here in '22, but it's not going to be around once MB goes all-in on batteries. You know; eventually.

I'm really torqued right now because I thought 2022 would be the slowing down of Covid 19 and things might get back to "normal," or close to something normal. I wanted to go back to enjoying "normal." It's pretty serious when, in modern day Europe, someone is ordering attacks that kill the vulnerable - children, elderly folks, sick folks, not to mention ordinary folks and which also destroy tons of property.

@trinacriabob What the heck, sad situation in Ukraine right now, might as well poke fun at the idiot dictator Putin! In Russia, you don't vote for Putin Putin votes for you Russia is Corrupt.... Proof is in the Putin Why was Putin late for dinner with Obama? Because he got Snowden What did Putin say to Ukraine after invading? Crimea River All I want is Peace, Putin says. Piece of Ukraine

According to the Mercedes-Benz group that makes up everything we have the following: On February 1, 2022, the previous Daimler AG was renamed Mercedes-Benz Group AG and Daimler Mobility AG became Mercedes-Benz Mobility AG. The former Daimler Trucks & Buses division was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on December 10, 2021. Figures within financial statements have therefore been split into continued and discontinued operations. In line with the newly formed Group divisions, the reporting structure and the prior-year figures have been adjusted accordingly. All figures are preliminary and unaudited. Mercedes-Benz Group revenue reached €168 billion (2020: €154.3 billion). The share from continuing operations was €133.9 billion (2020: €121.8 billion). Group EBIT was €29.1 billion (2020: €6.6 billion), thereof the share from continuing operations was €16.0 billion (2020: €6.1 billion). Adjusted EBIT, reflecting the underlying business, was €19.2 billion (2020: €8.6 billion). Group net profit was €23.4 billion (2020: €4.0 billion). The share from continuing operations was €11.1 billion (2020: €4.0 billion). In 2021, net profit excluding the deconsolidation result rose to €14.2 billion (2020: €4.0 billion). Earnings per share, excluding the deconsolidation result, rose by 280% to €12.89 (2020: €3.39). So the end result is we have a solid company but let's see as various section wind down how 2022 ends up as Compared to other auto companies, MB was down 5% over 2020 sales in auto's sold and the numbers for 2022 are not stellar yet either. 2021 (Full Year) Global: Mercedes-Benz and Smart Sales Worldwide by Region and Model - Car Sales Statistics (best-selling-cars.com) Europe has even stricter air standards that started with 2022 and as per the report above, MB is expected to see continued decline in ICE sales while growth in electric, but not expected to offset the ICE decline yet.

Kia and Hyundai each seem to have a vertical ladder within each brand...both have cheap entry level cars and CUVs, but also semi-premium Buick/GMC-ish larger sedans and CUVs....each brand has a spectrum (though they both have cut their largest most premium sedans). Kia seems a bit more premium in some of their models? They seems to have a lot of interchangeable models that seem to differ only in styling between the brands. The Stinger and Velociter are a couple models that seem to stand out from the generic stuff..

This would be a great 'next life' living situation for me: tiny ex-gas station house, 2-car 'finished car' garage, big shop.

From the mail bag.... occasionally I get these e-mails regarding this 10-year-old article in protest to @Blake Noble's conclusions.... usually, they're just one-line retorts calling us stupid... but I got this one last week and it was very well written. Dennis says: "I would disagree with your review of the Chrysler 2.2 - I had cars with both the 2.2 and 2.5 - my mom had an 83 Plymouth Reliant with the 2.2 and auto trans - she drove it until she quit driving at about 160,000 miles - when we sold it. I did have the head off once I believe, or maybe just the valve cover gasket - the main thing on this car is that it needed to be tuned just a bit out of specs for it to run right - if set within specs it would not run well at all until warmed up. Frustrating thing is that the mechanic showed me that it made very little difference in emissions tuning it to the place where it would run great. The car was comfortable, had one a/c repair at about 100,000 miles, roomy, and I thought it was an attractive car - hers had a nice dash and interior - unlike the ugly cars of today. I did try to keep this car well maintained - so that helped no doubt. But at over 160,000 miles, it was running great, not burning oil, and got great gas mileage. The 2.5 engine was very smooth, but I would take the slightly better gas mileage of the 2.2 over the smoothness of the 2.5. And the 2.5 still sounded not-sporty at a stoplight in my 87 Daytona" Dennis, we love to disagree with people and we love when people disagree with us. It's part of what makes this site fun. So please consider signing up and join in the fun.

Well; duh. Unfortunately, they're following the path toyoter laid down- making a wildly different looking sedan just because it's electric. What that says is mercedes' is dumping their existing design language for... this. Unfortunately, it's crap. What that also says, were you to say it; that the existing design language "failed" because it's getting dumped.

No one has, up until this point, and no one will if they have a set of eyes and read about the many criticisms of said design. Sorry but that is purely fanboy talk there. Then the fact that they retaining part of the lettering scheme is 100% irrelevant and pointless.

I don't think they want the EV to look the same as the gas car, although I would have preferred the electric cars look more like the existing design language. Also I won't be surprised if other brands start copying the EQS styling language.

They're literally not doing that tho. Who ever heard of a 'eqs'? Isn't is going to remind (the eight) people who remember the failed Equus?? On top of that, if MB really were the engineering company the ad men try to portray it as being, AND the brand was arguably at the zenith of it's popularity with the IC lineup.... wouldn't they find a way to take the existing bodies and drop them over a BE platform?? Tesla has a wonderfully low-slung Model S (despite being ancient now), but MB hands off a hastily-built pregnant slug you can't see out of going forward. AND changes the name. It's very weak..

Question. Is this a VW thread or Mercedes thread? I’m asking because you keep harping on the same damn thing that clearly only matters to you. It just comes off as more deflection from the legitimate criticisms heaped towards your favorite brand. That is what makes no sense around here. And they are failing miserably at it this far. See previous this entire thread and supported articles as proof. All they are doing is ruining the names of the S Class and E Class with those boring and horrible designs that don’t even begin to resemble the cars they are meant to replace. Not even a semblance of “heritage” in there. Knowing that, it makes “keeping the name” seem pretty damn pointless.

So VW is going to throw away brand equity in names like Tiguan, Jetta and Passat, for id3, id2, and id5? Makes no sense. Kia if they throw out names like Sorrento and Telluride (although new) for EV5 and EV9 is another bad move. Imagine Chevy throwing out Silverado and Corvette because the new EV naming structure is CE1, CE2, CE3, etc, awful. The Mercedes plan is to make an electric equivalent of every one of their gas models. GM basically has the same plan forming, EV Silverado, Equinox, the Bolt is basically EV Trax/Trailblazer, EV Corvette (eventually), the Lyric is basically EV version of XT6, and so on. These plans make sense because they are just going to map their current line and current names and make them electric, so they can retain current customers. Not sure which Tiguan buyer is trading their car in to spend $15k extra on an id4 which they never heard of.

Probably not a good time to be telling "Olga from the Volga" jokes and puns.

I still don't get why they didn't put the big slab of glass in ALL EQS's, instead of cheaping out. It's a $102 grand car, for crap's sake, and it's supposed to inherit the 'flagship' beanie in some (unknown) year. Escalade doesn't have a base trim with 2 iPads glued to a featureless dash; Cadillac puts it in every one.

Yeah, what do I know? I simply quoted actual reviews from actual people who actually drive them extensively and they all pretty much had the same opinions about the EQ sedans. Good f@#king god man! All of those cars are going bye bye once they go all EV, just like Benz issuing "EQ" in front of theirs. Furthermore, you talk a big game defending a company who has change their lettering on more than occasion. ML/GLK? GL/GLS? That's just for starters so please save us this bit about naming issues from a brand that doesn't even compete with Benz in the first damn place. Save that for Audi. Shhhhh! He's not supposed to acknowledge that. Any Mercedes fan that can make excuses for the ugliness that is the EQS and EQE, is capable of ignoring anything that's right in front of their face.

Moving under it's own power, ladies! ?