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Sedans Luxury Lounge
21520 messages, Last post on Dec 08, 2009 at 10:26 AM
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Replying to: draz2 (Apr 18, 2009 12:50 pm) We'll see, but I really don't picture myself falling in love with the new E any time soon. I thought the current gen 5 was hideous when it was released, and I still think its hideous. The new E is somewhat less of an affront than the 5, but its still rather unattractive. I understand what MB is trying to do with their modern interpretation of the '80s MB brick look, re-establish their quality rep that they had when the cars were still properly built. It just doesn't work for me. I don't want an '80s rehash in any shape or form. That, and the hood ornament just doesn't fit anymore. The interior does appear richer and more luxurious than before. The last one was a bit of a hold out from the MB dark days of embarrassingly bad interior design and quality - most notably in the early last gen C and S/CL classes. The new HVAC controls in particular are a big improvement. Those cheesy old dials had to go. That said, I just don't like the '80s style upright, blocky look. It turns what could've been a very warm and inviting interior into something cold and clinical. There's also still far too many buttons plastered on the center stack. What's with the dial pad? Honestly, who still needs that? What is this, 1991? For some reason MB and Volvo just wont give them up. The gauges are just ok, still nothing great. The large, center mounted speedo still reminds me too much of a minivan, and the fact that MB thinks that the clock is as important as the tach says that performance is still not something they take very seriously. The secondary seat controls on the inner thigh bolsters are just a bad idea. Infiniti experimented with that briefly, and fortunately that experiment is over. The new S and especially the CL class have stunning, warm, and invitng interiors. The E's, like the GLK's, is just ruined for me with the '80s throwback look. The engines for the US market are direct carryovers from the old car. MB has new direct injection "CGI" engines lined up for Europe, but we won't get them because MB can't get them to work on just 93 octane, or some such nonsense. Sounds like lazy engineering to me. Audi had no problem adapting their FSI engines to US spec gasoline, 5 years ago. I'm excited about the next gen C7 Audi A6, and the next gen Infiniti M - particularly the hybrid version. I'm sure the E will probably continue to lead mid-lux segment in sales for... some reason, but I'm not interested. but recognizing that my beauty cost $34,480 In the interests of being... diplomatic, I'm not touching that one. |
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Replying to: ljflx (Apr 18, 2009 1:21 pm) So.. we should go back to the boom-bust cycles every generation like prior to the depression? The general stability we had from the '40s until the gutting of regulations that lead the way to the S and L crisis, the boom, and now the current crisis is bad? If Glass-Steagall was still in place, we would not be in the mess we are in now. There's a simple cure for that. Put a very high tax rate on any income over a certant exorbitant amount. Someone makes $50mln in a year they pay a combo 75 cents on the dollar to the fed and state. They make 100mln that rate rises to 90%. No one is going to cheat a system if there is no reward. Come on, let's be serious here. You know there's no chance in hell of anything like that ever passing. The Republicans are going nuts over a 3% hike for people making over $250K, essentially nothing more than the Clinton tax rate. I'm sure you can imagine what would happen if a Democratic administration proposed anything like that. The south would secede, and there'd be another civil war.
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Replying to: dewey (Apr 18, 2009 2:40 pm) I don't know how you manage it. I've become quite the Audi fan/promoter in part because I like the company's products overall and their direction, and in part because I've had such a great experience with the S6. If my experience was anything like yours, Audi would be buying the car back, and I would be driving an Infiniti. |
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Replying to: dewey (Apr 18, 2009 1:59 pm) You guys have been alluding to the free markets and deregulation. I agree for the most part. However, and this is a big however. There is a trend of thought that interprets the concept of free markets absolutely. To that I say, we live in a free society with many liberties, but that doesn’t mean we can live without a military and local police forces to defend those liberties. It’s no different with the financial markets. Give the financial industries enough rope and they’ll hang themselves and us along with them, drunk on greed and excess. Letting them off the leash is like turning a 3-year old kid loose in a candy store. He’ll kill himself on excess. We just experienced it thanks to the deregulation that Washington unleashed 10 years ago—the Gramm Leach Bliley Act and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. Take away our town police and we would be left with looting, robberies and the rape of our families. There has to be law and order. This doesn’t mean the financial industry can’t thrive. It was out of control, turned into a casino that was much bigger than the stock market. The stock market is one of the ingredients that form the foundation and stability of our economy. The casino environment that Wall Street and banking became is not. I have no problem with gambling and derivatives. Heck, I can walk up to a crap table with 20K on a night out in Aruba. I just don’t want the banking system involved with that. 20K isn’t going to break a responsible individual and if it does its his and only his problem. Could the same be said if there was no government intervention? Ljflx, I remember a while back talking about buying on margin and you said “that’s a line I will never cross.” Well, I agree and I also believe it is a line that should never be crossed where the welfare of the entire nation is involved. AIG, and the big banks were allowed to do so. Dewey, I say let them take that level of gambling where they please. At the same time I would like know that if they go bust, they go to hell by themselves without involving a nation that doesn’t want its well-being threatened by that level of risk. |
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Replying to: lexusguy (Apr 18, 2009 4:52 pm) Amen. |
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Replying to: ljflx (Apr 18, 2009 1:21 pm) I guess you are referring Sarbanes-Oxley? I generally agree with what you are saying about the government going overboard with regulation. On the other hand they let the genie out of the bottle with deregulation and the repeal of Glass-Steagall... and here we are today. There's got to be balance and adherence to the fundamentals of economy. We didn't get to this level of prosperity without innovation and calculated risk-taking. We also didn't get there without law and order. |
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Replying to: ljflx (Apr 18, 2009 1:21 pm) Our tax system is so severely screwed up it is rdiculous. Taxes are thrown at us from every level and at every turn. We pay taxes on our money we earn (income taxes)... our money we then spend (sales taxes, consumption taxes)... and then what we own from our money we have spent. (property taxes). Even if our money increases in its value, we are taxed on our realized gains (capital gains, interest income, etc.). Beyond the over-taxation of the vast majority of us working citizens, there are absurd loopholes, typically for the very wealthy. Any suggestion of massive disproportionate taxation just makes me sick... with all due respect. I hate any idea that penalizes success by imposing increased taxes. This is why I hate our current tax code that places higher rates upon those that do well. It is counter-productive and penalizes success instead of rewarding it. The answer is a FLAT tax. Same for everyone across the board. It is simple and fair... something this country hasn't seen. There is always an excuse for government to dip its hand in our pockets more than it should. A flat tax will generate enough revenue, and should help to streamline the thousands of pages of absurd, distorted and dysfunctional tax code, which is a national tragedy. Here is another example of stupidity: I have to pay property taxes on the equipment I own at my company... and not just once, but every year! This is equipment that is productive, and gives people jobs. What rocket scientist thought up the idea that the government should place a tax on productive company equipment? Anyway... the goverment will take your money at every opportunity it gets, and will do so most when it penalizes success and productivity. That is why I cannot endorse your idea of increased taxes on increased income. I am clear that a flat tax is a better solution to taxation, and is fair for everyone. (I personally believe the proper amount is 10%). The problem we have is with the spendaholics. Bush and Cheney spent soooooo much of our money in Iraq. Obama and Congress are throwing money around like there is no tomorrow. The military has historically sucked up way too much of our economy for years, and many of the military contracts themselves were corrupt and bloated. There isn't a shortage of money. There is an historic shortage of brains and good policies out of Washington, and in many of our American companies. There is, however, an abundance of greed and corruption in both Washington and Wall Street. We've been cheated and robbed!... as well as made economically vulnerable... and long before Obama ever showed up on the scene. We are now seeing and paying a dear price for this. TM
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Replying to: tagman (Apr 18, 2009 5:32 pm) Could you imagine the life of an accountant in the absence of miles of ridiculous tax code? 
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Replying to: lexusguy (Apr 18, 2009 4:52 pm) Re your first item - we need a free system but with better checks and balances. One easy solution is that a borrower has to have risk in a transaction. Lending 95-99% of a transaction is crazy. Pushing borrowers to higher mortgages to get higher fees then selling the mortgages with no transparency is equally crazy. We lost all our checks and balances this last go round. Re - the second - we just tried to do it on the Wall Street bonusses so it's not as outlandish as you think. But note my post to Dewey. I hardly think that's a solution but it's a much lesser evil than trying to control growth in markets. |
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I'm over the 1K mark today. Rather than gush, which could take several pages and try everyone's patience, I think I'll relate a few tiny nigglings: 1. Bright bits: The "satin aluminum" side-view mirror housings are inconsistent with the overall design concept (they muddy up some of the clean) and a tad over the top. I would prefer having color-keyed, disappearing red ones, thank you very much. It isn't worth any real harping, but it's there. Same goes for the quad exhaust with stainless tips. Unless each port is breathing a cylinder of its own, and the stainless is required for heat dissipation or somesuch, it's a styling cue of no benefit. Hell, why any four-banger would need more than one decent tuned pipe is beyond me. Again, ever so minor a detail, but there it is. 2. Power, power, everywhere power: The rear hatch release is electrical from either the key or a very nice feather-touch switch on the driver's door. Why? What's wrong with a manual latch under the deck and a mechanical remote? I realize this is petty, like a nit on the nut of a gnat, but then again so are all of my complaints here. 3. Stow and go: I'd really like an out of sight place in the center console to stash my pen, pressure gauge, fuel log and Tic-Tacs. Mama always said: "petty is as petty does..." 4. With the key out please: Homelink does not work unless the key is in and the systems are turned on. Hardwire the damed thing to bypass so I can operate the garage door whenever I jolly well feel like it! As I said, they're all nigglings, and barely worth the bandwidth to report them. The car is a dream come true, and more than I had anticipated (and I anticipated quite a lot). My last ruffle is like a Waco Kid line from Blazing Saddles: "It got so that every pissant prairie punk who could hold a gun..." People seem to want to tangle with me in this toy. It's not punks in old Zs, or WRXs or tricked out Integras; they just smile and gesture politely, but most every SLK, 750, M3, etc. goes blasting off the line when they pull up next to me, and I'm not showing the slightest inclination to play. Last night I turned up Windemere Parkway on my way home (newer road, sparse traffic, pleasing pavement) and back behind me a little way some lone car turns around to follow me. About 10 seconds later, the SL550 (as it turns out to be) sails past me. Now I'm already going about 60 in a 45 (I think; could be 40), so I'd estimate it was doing at least 100. Dumbass. Now maybe he just forgot something at home, and was in a real big hurry to get it, and I'm just taking things personally, but the dumbass still applies, IMO.! Today, as I pulled onto 680 coming home from BevMo (home away from home), a purple 750iL roars up next to me in the fast lane, slows down right next to me and paces for about 10 seconds or so, and then blasts off like I'm supposed to chase him or something. The CHP cruiser that shot by me on my right shortly thereafter had zero interest in red cars...
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