Is More really Less? A lesson from Mercedes-Benz

Is More really Less?

Automobile Magazine did an article recently (Automobile, April 2014), in which writer Georg Kacher explained that more luxury car is significantly less substance than less luxury car. Specifically, supersize luxury cars such as the popular Mercedes S-class, Audi A8, and Jaguar XJ offer supercar specs in their top tier trim lines in their performance packages. Mercedes has offered AMG, Jaguar the R, and Audi Sport (or “S,” for short) in many of their car offerings.

Few realize that many of today’s luxury cars offer supercar horsepower and torque numbers as well as mind-numbing acceleration, but they are seen as too “prestigious” for many to notice them.  Most interesting is that a base S550 (449 in the new model) in the US really offers more horsepower than a Ford Mustang (420) or even a Chevy Camaro (426 w/manual). The AMG offers an unreal 577 hp in the highly optioned S63 AMG (nearly $140,000). Anyway, the point that Kacher made that although there was a comparison test between 3 cars to see which was best, they decided there was no winner because none of offer any more car than windmills of engines, but nothing to make the cars feel “special.” The S63 feels like a regular S-class with faster shifting and more livid acceleration. The S8 feels the same, almost like a rip-off of a Bentley really and the XJR (the faster version of an already fast luxury cat), well, it would be redundant to go there, wouldn't it?

Anyway, I am definitely agreeing with what Kacher wrote about. I would like to expand a little, and go as far as to say what with the exceptions of Bentley’s and Rolls-Royce cars, pretty much any car above $50 grand in the new car world is pretty much either worthless or a pretty poor value. There, I said it. Yes, the occasional $56,000 Chevy is a lot of fun (See: Camaro ZL1. See: 2013 Shelby Mustang GT500.) and would be amazing to take to the long highways of Texas or the Nurburgring racetrack, but other than that and the fire-breathing Shelby Mustang, the return on in investment for a car goes downhill. Yes, I mean all those six-figure  S-classes on the road today, which in terms of luxury features, is little more than a stretched E-class with a slightly more egotistical driver. Add the V8 to the E’s option list, and presto!-instant S-class, minus some legroom, and around $30,000 less than the cost of an S. Okay, case in point: 2014 middle-size E550, which has the compact twin-turbo V8, the same engine from the regular S-class, with many of the same safety technologies from the S, is only $62,000. The hulking S has started at more than $90,000 for nearly a decade. Other than legroom, what’s the real difference here? Certainly not fun, because I am not seeing any more prestige, panache, or noticeable differences between middle E and the pricey S. Do you?