How did GM do it

[elitecustombody]

Well, for somebody not wanting to argue....

Not to be difficult, but I'm not going to judge the quality of a vehicle brand by a few pics in a few posts on a single site. We all have examples and experiences that shape our opinions. Yours is cleary based on your experience, which just happens to not match a lot of other peoples. Frankly, I find the finish quality of the Kias and Hyundais to be "OK" when new, but also not holding up over time. I can provide pics of that same '00 CLK320 TODAY that still has a mirror like shine. The car looks better today than a one year old Tuscon I was parked next to yesterday. That MB is now approaching 200k miles. The guy who bought it from me still loves it.

For every S class, more than 10 C or E classes are sold. So, let's add some non-debatable facts here, shall we?

In 2010, MB sold 216K cars in the US - which is an 18% growth just for info. Of that, here are the actual public sales numbers which anybody can review anytime they want. No opinion. Just fact...

At a minimum, the following models are certainly in that group of far less than $90K that you keep talking about.

C = 27% of all sales.
E = 28% of all sales
M = 14% of all sales
GL = 9% of all sales
GLK = 9% of all sales



So, of ALL cars sold in the US by MB in 2010, a total of 88% sold fall FAR below that number you threw around. You just painted a picture of a brand based on a generalization that only applies to 12% of their lineup. Not a great logical argument, if I say so myself. Actually, let me correct that. 4% of those sales figures are the Sprinter utility truck which is not a passenger car. So, you made a generalization based on 8% of their lineup AT BEST. Just an example of how assumptions and allegations can get you in trouble.

My own opinion is that your experience is clouded but that's my opinion. I simply totally disagree completely and without reservation that the Kia or Hyundai paint jobs are "obviously much better" than the BMW or "smoother" than the MB. I could not possibly disagree with you more. However, I expect that as you have already in other posts indicated your disdain for those brands. No problem - your right to your own opinion. I would simply ask that you be more cautions about portraying your opinions as facts and instead make sure you call it what it is. My '08 E350 has an excellent paint job on it. I compare it to my other vehicles (a 2009 Chevy, a 2008 Honda, a 2001 Ford) and it is clearly superior IMHO - and it's darned tough. But that's just my opinion.

Dude,just because you owned 2 MB's, your opinion ,well ,is your opinion. I stated my own experience,not something I read somewhere. I never worked on C or M class,I have worked on and owned S class,worked on regular CLS and AMG ,as well as SL and E class,I do remember the paint on black S550 I put full Lorinser body kit on,it had tough paint,but this thread was started not about how durable the paint is, but how slick it is.IMO MB paint finish is no better than Korean car's paint as far as appearance goes,it is more durable, no doubt.

As for BMW finish, don't take my word for it or absintheisfun's, take a drive to your local BMW stealership and take a look for yourself, recently I had two 09 335i tt coupes at the shop, one was t-boned and another took serious blasting from glass falling off the truck ,requiring everything but the trunk and rear bumper repainted.Also had one 3 series cabrio for some spot repair. I was disgusted at the quality of the finish on all of these cars. I am not lying, it literally looked like chipguard texture that you see sometimes on lower half of the rockers on some cars. Argue all you want about your two MB's,I've seen and worked on enough brand new cars that are still in plastic,cars that are fresh off the boat to come up with my "clouded" opinion or experience.