Kowalski

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shonguiz

???

CorpusCallosum

I believe that is wrong Mr. Clarkson... I thought it was just one turbo per 3 cylinders

shonguiz

He maybe thought the turbo technology used for the this engine is the the same as the one used on the 3.0d biturbo.

siko

Sweet... finally JC is exposed for the ignorant **** he is.

Guibo

SDNR

He gave this car a fantastic review ...and he made some great points too I think. The 3er has become bloated and "middle aged" ...the true spirit of BMW was has been compromised a little. The 1er is about getting back to basics ....I like that, it is something Mercedes could never do. Fundamentally, BMW is a different kind of car maker to Mercedes ....but over the past 25 years it seems like BMW was trying to be more and more like Mercedes ....the 1er is a type of car that Mercedes could never build ...it is BMW in its most pure form.

cawimmer430

Infiniti basically offers you a near BMW driving experience for less money.

Nissan just proved with the GT-R that they can compete on Porsche level.

Lexus is a serious competitor to Mercedes when it comes to luxury.


Basically, if Mercedes wanted to, they could build a car that can play ball with BMW. They just focus on other things namely comfort and luxury. The current C-Class for example has become a very sporty car for Mercedes standards, but it still adheres to traditional MB values which most people who buy a Mercedes expect. The same but quite different expectations can be found in buyers of different brands. Every brand stands for something different and focuses on different aspects moreso than others.

Claiming that _______ could never do this is a little ignorant, isn't it?

Guibo

I agree that "never" is a strong word. But I'm not sure he means MB can't technically acheive that. It's a difference of philosophy. In the examples you cited, there is nothing in the philosophy behind those companies that would preclude them from beating the establishment at its own game. In fact, that's what Lexus/Infiniti set out to do from day one.
In the case of BMW, they needed badly to get back to their roots. Their success was founded largely (and particularly in the US) on the 2002. MB had nothing that was a direct competitor to this, just as BMW had no direct competitors to the large V8 luxury cars of MB. And to this day, there seems to be no clamor among the MB customer base to produce such a car.


I have no doubt that if they wanted to, they could. But in head to head tests against the 2-year old 3 Series, the C Class has consistently come up short. They don't even hold an advantage in their traditional strengths of comfort and luxury, unless the two are compared on UK roads and the BMW has the sport suspension. This is most glaringly obvious in tests (so far) between the M3 and C63, which has completely forfeited the ride comfort advantage that the C55 had, while not exactly making good on AMG's promise that "We have left no stone unturned in efforts to provide our new car the necessary qualities to lift it above the competition."

Nikos120i

Well done Jeremy...glad he liked the 135i Coupe.