I have driven the sclass in the past 3 in fact. I now drive the ls. I buy what I like and what suits my needs. Not the needs or opinions of others. The number one thing I teach my children .is DO NOT live your life or make decisions based on what others think of you. So dont ever buy a car to impress anyone ever.
living in a small town makes getting to dealers a nuisance. With Mercedes they are not always so willing to help with parts and often want you to bring the car in. Lexus on the other hand is extremely helpful and will FedEx parts out to me asap. I do most of my own repair work because I can and enjoy doing it . Lexus is loyal to me as a car owner MB is NOT. That's why I don't drive an s class. It's that simple. I really like the cars I don't like the company.
I have 5 Lexus vehicles at the moment. MB used to be a great company....Lexus has overtaken them in the service department by a factor of 10. I have owned 7 Mercedes and 7 lexus's. 7 H1 hummers and a few higher end autos. Lexus I can say is by far above all others when it comes to service. That's why I don't drive an S class.

Heck I would like Maybach but won't buy it due to MB service

 

Generalization is OK but it depends a lot on local dealership as far as service goes. About repairing part, mechanical yes but today's complicated electronics gadget needs special tool or knowledge of
minimum enectronics theory to work on it. One mistake, Poof! the car will die. There are two Lexus dealers, also two MB dealers in Calgary. There is differences in their sales, service people.

 

Just open a door of a MB or Lexus look how it is hinged to the car body. Scratch paint finish on Lexus or MB. Is there a difference? Do you see a difference? Some MB engines are still hand assembled. Any Lexus engines hand assembled? For precision robots do better. I don't understand how come MB assembles some engines with hands.

 

 

Some of us have the "limited" knowledge. Lexus accepts that MB doesn't. I have found this to be true I'm three different countries. It's a corporate culture, not dealer specific. For me anyhow

 

Yes, they are all older, most of their houses have been paid off, no debt, kids college tuition paid for, they aren't big spenders, invested throughout their lives, and in most cases their houses were not that expensive in the first place. They can afford $1000 a month for a nice car. Making 90-95K a year in a area with low cost of housing, being debt free, knowing how to save can give you the same or even more financial freedom then someone making well over 100K a year but living in a area with high housing prices, high taxes, being in debt, not knowing how to save, etc.

 

Thats a different story LOL

 

And it's super, super common these days. I see it all the time. It's the American way. Live beyond your means. Make $50k but live the $100k lifestyle. Funny, it never lasts long.

 

 

I'd rather plan for a fruitful future than plan for an untimely death.

 

I 100% completely agree. One can still have this ^^^ mindset and enjoy expensive stuff. If you have the money for a nice lifestyle, then good, go for it. What difference does it make? I have said this so many times, those with the money to do something, then generally don't tell people why or how etc etc, they just do it.

The issue I see in some responses is that there maybe some implications that not everyone has the money for expensive stuff but they do it anyway or they find justification for telling people why they did something, that is something that is irrelevant also. If you want to do something, just do it.

 

Many people simply do that by leasing. In my area (D.C. suburbs), even though a lot of people here have money because of cushy government and high-tech jobs, leasing still helps keep the luxo-vehicle dealers here in business.

 

Maybe not a sales disaster, but the car itself is a disaster, for reasons already mentioned. Looks are subjective but the thing isn't pretty. I'm 5'10", barely above average height and hit the top of my head getting in and out. The car itself is humongous but feels noticeably cramped inside. Just having a lot of space is a big part of the luxury car experience (at least IMO), and this car doesn't. IMO this is why you see nothing but Escalades and $80k Yukons everywhere, because they have the space people want that you don't really get in cars anymore, with the swoopy designs so prevalent. Axing the V8 is unforgivable, I said that from the start. A Lexus LS is known for the glass smooth V8 (as in, smoother than any competitors' V8s). I know I'm beating a dead horse here, this has been discussed in detail, but yes. Lexus made a huge mistake turning its best car into a wannabe Panamera. As an LS owner I have no desire to ever own one, and CERTAINLY if I were about to drop 100k on a luxury car I wouldn't be interested. Mercedes has had some problems, for example the W220 was a total disaster but it still had that curb appeal, as in, it still had all the S-Class hallmarks (style, prestige, luxury, nice V8) that everyone was used to, and liked. Lexus is asking customers, or LS drivers, to make a radical departure from the old successful formula. So we will see how it pans out over time. And trust me, I wanted to like this car, and wanted it to be a knockout as much as or more than anyone on here.

I also said this before and a few disagreed, but I would say it's definitely possible this could be the last LS. Q45 was every bit Infiniti's LS and they killed it off and never looked back. I think that was a mistake as Infiniti as a brand has hardly any identity at all now.