Written on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 6:39am by Alan Bedenko | 10 Comments

Ceci n'est pas un post

Shh. I’m not really blogging this week. Or next. That’s why I keep popping up here, particularly at God-forsaken hours of the day.

A friend of mine complained to me yesterday about the dearth of car posts lately, so I thought I’d change that today, briefly.

1. Here’s a spy shot of the 2010 Ford Taurus. Currently, the Taurus is simply a re-badged, re-skinned version of what used to be called the Ford Five Hundred. It’s a gargantuan car that looks like a blown-up-last-generation VW Passat. Ford appears to be going in a derivative direction, and this grainy cellphone shot appears to show a blend of last-generation Camry and Saturn Aura / Chevy Malibu design details:

2. The New Honda Pilot has been spotted. I’m a former Pilot owner and dropped the SUV when gas prices hit the outrageous level of $1.85 per gallon.

Ah, those were the days.

In any event, the new version is more Acura-y, more modern and luxurious than the former version. I don’t get the grille at. all. It reminds me of what Zastava did to the old Yugoslav workhorse, the 101, aka “Stojadin”, back in the 80s. I’ll show you:

Old Stojadin:

New Stojadin, badged as the “Zastava Skala”

With that shown, here’s the next Pilot:

Apart from the massive headlights, I kind of like it.

3. I’ve seen a few of the the new Mercedes C-Class around town lately, and I think it’s a strikingly beautiful car. Amazingly, you can get one for about $32,000 – much less than most SUVs or well-equipped minivans. Much less than a BMW 3-series, and about the same as a Saab 9-3. The huge Mercedes emblem embedded into the grille looks sporty and modern. The headlights have LED eyebrows. In person, it turns heads, for sure. I realize it’s somewhat of a wanna-be, poseur car and that a “real” Mercedes costs closer to $50k, but I appreciate that Mercedes has a long history, a good reputation, and it’s made its baby Benz quite gorgeous looking. Problem for me is that it’s rear-wheel drive, although AWD is available, but only with an automatic transmission. You can get a 6-speed manual with the 2WD version. Just saying, I like this:

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10 Comments

  1. Paul says:
    April 10, 2008 at 9:29 am

    “Much less than a BMW 3 series”? A 328 has an MSRP of $32,400, while the Mercedes is $32,425. What are you talking about?

  2. Mike from Grand Island says:
    April 10, 2008 at 11:13 am

    I like rear wheel drive. There’s too much going on with those AWD and front WD systems and they wear out. Do I like going through the snow in AWD with snow tires – Hell Yes. But longer term it’s gonna cost money to repair.

    I think the big-ass mercedes emblem on the C class is garish.
    I want to get mine sans badges.

  3. Denizen says:
    April 10, 2008 at 11:43 am

    Funny how you continuously pick apart the most useless features on these cars.

    Under those grilles, fiberglass panels and “sleek” still, it’s still that some old oversized, gas-hogging machines that automakers refuses to actually change to deal with the realities of the ugly 21st century we’re bound to see soon.

  4. Buffalopundit says:
    April 10, 2008 at 12:59 pm

    My bad. Usually when I’ve spec’d out 3-series, it ended up being close to 40k to get things like a sunroof. Hadn’t checked in a while, but you’re right – although I’ll mention that this doesn’t include destination.

    The Mercedes’ price does include destination, so it’s $32,425 plus tax.

    The BMW is $32,400 plus destination, so it’s $33,175 plus tax.

  5. Paul says:
    April 10, 2008 at 1:38 pm

    Alan, not to be a nit picker, but I’m a car geek like you, and I have a new BMW Z4 coupe. I agree BMW’s option up pretty quickly with premiunm paskage and sport, but the sunroof is standard. Happy motoring!

  6. Buffalo Rox says:
    April 10, 2008 at 1:53 pm

    The pictures of the Mercedes don’t really do it justice. I saw one at the Galleria Mall last weekend and thought it looked pretty sharp (except I agree with Mike that the badge is obnoxiously large). Too bad Mercedes has a terrible quality reputation.

    When I was shopping for a new(er) vehicle, I looked at the Pilot but decided against it. I think the new Pilot is one of the more ugly vehicles – car, SUV, CUV or whatever. Except for the ugly nose, the rest of it looks like a rip-off of Nissan Pathfinder. IMO Toyota and Honda nameplates are boring style-wise. Nissan was a little more exciting but seems stuck in the interchangeable Altima/Maxima look. IMO few sedans have interesting styling – new Malibu, Passat, BMW, Audi, Fusion (borderline) being some of the exceptions.

  7. hank says:
    April 10, 2008 at 4:49 pm

    tsk tsk tsk, folks who live in a land the indians would call “former home of 40,000 automobile manufacturing jobs” who remain giddy about anything not produced by members of the UAW, be they produced foreign or domestically. Never any support for the auto unions here.

    I’ve been reading in “the Trades”–magazines for the auto industry, that M/B cars built in Alabama are showing an unacceptable (to Benz) level of fit and finish problems. Several owners of new(er)Benz’s say they don’t handle worth a shit.

    Other than my current stash of collector cars (65 Corvair Monza–done except Paint and Body) 1962 Corvair Rampside Pickup, 1964 Corvair Corvan 95 Panel Van–I sold both my Riviera’s–I’ve my eye on my bosses 1954 Packard Clipper.

  8. Mike from Grand Island says:
    April 10, 2008 at 9:56 pm

    Hank, While I consider myself a young man, I drive my father’s type of car: Grand Marquis.

    Rear wheel drive and cushy ride that reminds me of the cars my family had in the ’70s. That car is solid and I bought it new for $18k. So I share your affinity for good old American cars. And when I need brake pads I know it will cost me about $30.

    My other car is a VW passat wagon that I bought new last year and just had wheel bearings and axels installed under warranty. The dealer (Northtown) was excellent about it – no BS from them at all. That’s why I write above about FWD and AWD…I don’t like it. I had an A6 audi AWD too and I didn’t like the problems that arose in the CV joints. Too much stuff going on upfront. That car went like crazy through snow but if anything broke – bend over. I had to pay $160 for a rear view mirror adjustment knob worth $1 to manufacture. That is BS.

    So yesterday I swung through the mercedes dealer lot and saw a sweet 04 e wagon with only 17k miles for $31k. That car looked great! I went to edmunds and looked up some reviews and found everyone complaining about MB quality. I quickly got that dream out of my head…

    I’ve got to try an acura sometime but dollar for dollar that Grand Marquis is a steal

  9. dougk says:
    April 11, 2008 at 12:48 am

    oh christ, who the fuck cares?

  10. hank kaczmarek says:
    April 11, 2008 at 7:06 am

    Mike–inherited my father in law’s 87 Grand Marquis when he died. Always loved that car—in 94 it had 78K on it. When I sold it in 04 it had 240K on it. I did replace the AOD tranny, and it had been replaced at 30K under warranty. 302 parts are dirt cheap. Can’t get weatherstrips though. dual converters expensive as hell. But it would take you in comfort anywhere you want to go.

    I bought a 2WD 05 F-150, even though I could afford the 4WD–too many parts that break/wear out, service is expensive. and I’m not a mudder, never enough snow here to justify 4WD…put a couple bales of hay in your bed and soak them down—when they freeze it’s just enough weight in the back to keep from sliding around during ice storms.

    It’s a good general rule—fancy schmansy–lots of parts to break.

    if your car comes with a factory sunroof–buy the sunroof weatherstrip from the parts dep’t when you buy the car–by the time yours leaks the dealer will have discontinued the part and you’ll NEVER find one.

 

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