$55k - Which luxury sedan would you buy?

Noir · #1 07-07-2005, 04:51 PM

If you had $55k and wanted to buy a luxury sedan. Which would you buy?

A friend of mine is in the market for a luxury sedan and was looking at the Mercedes Benz E320 and E350 gas along with diesel. Apparently alot of people's having problems with the recent quality of their cars. What other options are there. BMW, Infinity, Lexus?

I figure since you guys pay attention more to cars than I do, you'd have a better idea.

Earthworm · #2 07-07-2005, 04:58 PM

You may as well throw Audi and Jag in there.

shelfy · #3 07-07-2005, 05:05 PM

my first choice is the acura rl. i briefly pondered trading in all of my cars and owning only one vehicle for a change.

Noir · #4 07-07-2005, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shelfy

my first choice is the acura rl. i briefly pondered trading in all of my cars and owning only one vehicle for a change.

yeah, i forgot about acura.

Earthworm · #5 07-07-2005, 05:20 PM

hehe, Cadillac?

Chiketkd · #6 07-07-2005, 08:34 PM

Does your friend like sporty premium sedans or just luxury sedans?

For 55K I'd have the upcoming Audi RS4 on my shopping list. It may cost a tad more, but from all reports, it's worth it! The new Infiniti M45 is within his price range and mixes luxury and sport pretty well.

If your friend is more into luxury...then the awd Acura RL, or a new BMW 5 series would probably suit him/her pretty well. Heck, a Jaguar S-type won't be great reliability-wise, but the ammenities are second-to-none!

-Chike

Chiketkd · #7 07-07-2005, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Earthworm

hehe, Cadillac?

You're talking like an ex "camaro-bird" owner who got promoted into senior management!

In all seriousness though, the CTS-V and STS-V are some serious performance sedans and can match their German competitors in every way at the track!!!

-Chike

Noir · #8 07-07-2005, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Earthworm

You may as well throw Audi and Jag in there.

well dude's wife isn't into jag's and audi's. i already mentioned those and she was like....'no'. also what models would you recommend.

b3lha · #9 07-08-2005, 05:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noir

If you had $55k and wanted to buy a luxury sedan. Which would you buy?

A friend of mine is in the market for a luxury sedan and was looking at the Mercedes Benz E320 and E350 gas along with diesel. Apparently alot of people's having problems with the recent quality of their cars. What other options are there. BMW, Infinity, Lexus?

I figure since you guys pay attention more to cars than I do, you'd have a better idea.

My Dad has an E320 CDi (Diesel). It's an awesome car, but I'd rather have an SVX.

Worst thing about it is the brake assist computer. Sometimes you touch the brake pedal gently and it slams on full brakes. It happened to me and I was like

WTF???

Scary. There's no way to disable that system, so I always feel uneasy driving it since then.

And I don't understand why they bother putting 10 speakers on such a crap sounding CD player.

Noir · #10 07-08-2005, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b3lha

My Dad has an E320 CDi (Diesel). It's an awesome car, but I'd rather have an SVX.

Worst thing about it is the brake assist computer. Sometimes you touch the brake pedal gently and it slams on full brakes. It happened to me and I was like

WTF???

Scary. There's no way to disable that system, so I always feel uneasy driving it since then.

And I don't understand why they bother putting 10 speakers on such a crap sounding CD player.

yeah, i went with him to look at the e320 cdi's and sure they look and feel alright, but i'm not terribly impressed. went to his house afterwards to read some reviews and apparently quite a few people have had problems with this car. he was looking at some of the stuff i saw and was like

Chiketkd · #11 07-08-2005, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b3lha

Worst thing about it is the brake assist computer. Sometimes you touch the brake pedal gently and it slams on full brakes. It happened to me and I was like

WTF???

Scary. There's no way to disable that system, so I always feel uneasy driving it since then.

The new s/c E55 AMG forums have owners complaining about this all the time. Even a few magazine editors complained about a non-linear braking application with the Mercedes system.

Personally, if I bought a 55K Mercedes, I'd be pretty upset with this silly quirk!

-Chike

Noir · #12 07-08-2005, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

The new s/c E55 AMG forums have owners complaining about this all the time. Even a few magazine editors complained about a non-linear braking application with the Mercedes system.

Personally, if I bought a 55K Mercedes, I'd be pretty upset with this silly quirk!

-Chike

yeah no kidding. but that's not all, apparently there are nice little electrical gremlins causing all sorts of little problems.

Royal Tiger · #13 07-08-2005, 11:03 AM

It would have to be the M45 with the change left over, you could upgrade the wheels and tires and the anti-roll bar and it would stomp all over the 535i.

Chiketkd · #14 07-08-2005, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PA_SVX

It would have to be the M45 with the change left over, you could upgrade the wheels and tires and the anti-roll bar and it would stomp all over the 535i.

Agreed. You can get a fully loaded M45 for ~49K which is about 10K cheaper than its competition.

This is a good review on the new M45 by freshalloy:

http://www.freshalloy.com/site/cars/...6/m45/home.asp

The lines of the new M45 are supremely sexy and the quality of materials is definitely on par with offerings from Lexus, Acura, BMW and Mercedes.

-Chike

Earthworm · #15 07-08-2005, 01:12 PM

Even Jeremy Clarkson on TopGear complained about the Mercedes brakes in the latest episode.

"nothing...nothing...nothing...I've just torn my face off"