LostKiwi
Senior Member
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2006
- Messages
- 31,326
- Reaction score
- 21,574
- Location
- Midlands / Charente-Maritime
- Your Mercedes
- '93 500SL-32, '01 W210 Estate E240 (RIP), 02 R230 SL500, 04 Smart Roadster Coupe, 11 R350CDi
Yes, on my 3rd and will get another one if I ever do change. Mine's so good that after 7 years, I still have no great desire to change. The old man's been running them since 1980 and wouldn't consider anything else.
Beemers are great but in terms of quality and reliability, they're no better (or worse) than mercs.
Things may have been different though. Back in the late 90's I was looking to get a decent car for the first time. I'd always fancied a 5 series so made a bee line for the local dealer. I collared a salesman and asked about a used 525i. His reply astounded me. We don't have any - and with that, walked off.Stuck up $%!*. I guess as I wasn't wearing Gucci I wasn't worth talking to.
Rang a few MB dealers and they all offered to bring cars to my office for me to look at. That's despite them being able to sell everything they could get their hands on (at that time). So I bought a beautiful C class and never looked back.
Point is, I've had good and bad experiences with BM and MB dealers and all cars have their foibles so to criticise any one vs another is foolhardy and naive.
That almost mirrors my experience.
In 1995 I was looking for a company car and couldn't decide between a Mercedes or a Saab. The Mercedes dealer was excellent. I went in there dressed in scruffy jeans and an old T shirt and asked about them. I was offered a test drive next day so accepted.
Went back with other half and young baby and the salesman gave me a set of keys, pointed at the car and asked if we would bring it back before closing (its 10am and closing was 5pm!). Way beyond what I'd expected and gave us a good chance to try the car. In the end I bought the Saab just for the sheer performance.
Roll forwards 2 years...
In 1997 I was running a Saab 900 Turbo Se - top of the range 900.
It was a company car and was due for a change. I shortlisted a Lexus IS200, BMW 325i and Mercedes C class. As I was at work and happening to pass a BMW dealers I decided to drop in to look at a new 3 series. I parked the car and (dressed in suit and tie etc) walked into the showroom. Had a good look at the car in the showroom and waited for a salesman. And waited. And waited (I was the only customer there). And waited some more. Eventually I caught the eye of a salesman who as I approached just picked up his phone and started dialling a number. I coudn't believe how rude he was or how poor the service and walked out.
3 days later and it was Mercedes turn. Remembering my previous experience I waited till the weekend and went in dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Within 2 minutes of walking up and looking at a car in the showroom (which was quite busy at the time) I had a salesman asking if he could hlp. We had a good long chat which culminated in 3 test drives - A C240, a C230K and a C250 diesel. We went back and had another chat over coffee and he went through the options, model differences etc. Couldn't have been more helpful.
The Lexus experience was broadly similar but ultimately the car wasn't to my tastes. I ordered a C240 with the factory collection option, all arranged through the helpful dealer (who knew it was a company car and was still amazingly helpful). They also got all the servicing work and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the C240, so much so that I bought another 10 years later as a private sale.
Since then I have been back to BMW dealerships for a look and even managed a test drive on one occasion but even then the experience was never as relaxed or helpful as either of the two MB dealers previously.
I have now owned 3 MBs (four including the Smart) and have yet to own a BMW. Just shows how a bad experience can lose not just one sale but several.