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BMW or Mercedes Benz?

iGav said:
You've got that the wrong way round fella, Bangle is van Hooydonk's predecessor, not successor. ;)

Bangle had been Chief of Design since he joined in '92 and oversaw the implementation of the 'flame surfacing' language and creative direction that his designers (including van Hooydonk) worked to.

Van Hooydonk, assumed his role when Bangle was promoted to Director of BMW Group Design back in 2003 or 2004 I forget which, with van Hooydonk overseeing BMW Automobile Design.
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-iGav

Ah! I stand corrected!

But by the assertation the "bangle butt" is really "Von Hooydonk Ass", and Chris was stuck with the blame - even though he approved it.
 
ksz said:
Maybe I'm the only one in the whole wide world, but I truly honestly like iDrive (the 5-series version of it). I have never found it to be confusing, distracting, or otherwise obnoxious. I never read the manual...what's there to read...it's just a menu-driven system.
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Yeah I like it too but I can understand why there are some that don't. When I got my new E60 it came with voice recognition (because of other options I wanted). I thought voice reco would be a wank and I had no interest in it.

What I've found is that I think voice reco is the fix for many iDrive complaints.

iDrive is a huge menu system that lets you adjust just about everything in the car. If you can imagine drawing out the menu hierarchy, it's a huge tree. Thus, if you are well down one of the branches, it is tedious navigating back to the root node and then traversing down some other branch to get to the screen/setting you want.

What voice reco gives you then is the ability to jump directly to the screen/setting you want (or damn close to it) from wherever you currently happen to be.

The other thing that makes the voice reco work is that it is a very limited vocabulary. There's only a few hundred commands it's listening for so it hardly ever gets it wrong.

I hope this makes sense. It's a bit hard to put into words.
 
devman: I understand what you mean. I often use voice commands to quickly modify a setting without having to traverse the menu system. This is especially useful when I'm looking at the navigation map and want to change the radio station, for instance.

The beauty of iDrive is the lack of unnecessary buttons. There is only one controller, and just like one mouse button, you can never accidentally touch the wrong controller or the wrong physical button. In other words, you don't have to take your eyes off the road and present a danger to yourself and others by fussing around on the console looking for the right button to press. The location of the LCD is high enough such that your peripheral vision stays on the road even while you navigate the menus. (I think touch screens in a car present a safety problem and are not ergonomically sound anyway.)

If I had an array of buttons surrounding the controller, I would often press the wrong one or take too long to find the right one.

Finally, the menus aren't too deep and it's always possible to move up the hierarchy very quickly by pressing the Menu button. Usually one press is all it takes to get back to the home screen. Two presses are needed from the "i" or system menu.
 
patrick0brien said:
-cait-sith

For planes - look at the logo - a propeller in motion.
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Yep, they made plane engines. Somehow I like knowing my car company used to make planes back when wars were going on :)

But it's not uncommon, MANY companies got their start in the war, making parts for war. I forget which two major Japanese companies got their start also making airplanes. Is it Mitsubishi? Did they make the ZERO fighter plane?
 
bobscliff said:
Which do you prefer? Personally i think the higher end benzes are better looking (s-class) but i drive a bmw and i know that they are verrry good to drive. bmw also has nicer suvs and the 6 series is gorgeous.
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I've driven both BMW and Mercedes.

When I recently went car shopping for my wife (and children), I chose the BMW X3. It handles like a dream. It's more utilitarian than luxury although, obviously, there's a certain amount of cache' that comes with owning a BMW. But that's honestly not why I bought it. Again, it handles well and also had superior saftey ratings-- not to mention a great resale value.

When I worked the numbers against any number of comparable (in terms of frills and safety) mini-vans we were actually getting more bang for our buck with the BMW. And the cost was NOT a hell of a lot more.

I'm more than happy with our choice.

My wifes drives the BMW-- I get the Ford F150 (it's not even 4 wheel drive :()
 
Earendil said:
Yep, they made plane engines. Somehow I like knowing my car company used to make planes back when wars were going on :)

But it's not uncommon, MANY companies got their start in the war, making parts for war. I forget which two major Japanese companies got their start also making airplanes. Is it Mitsubishi? Did they make the ZERO fighter plane?
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Mitsubishi started out by making bombs for the war back then
 
BMW did not get its start during WW II. They started out in the 1910s building aircraft engines, then motorcycles in the 1920s and cars beginning in the 1930s.
 
patrick0brien said:
But by the assertation the "bangle butt" is really "Von Hooydonk Ass", and Chris was stuck with the blame - even though he approved it.
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I think Bangle deserves credit for not diverting blame onto his subordinates though. :p
 
As a BMW 330i owner, I must say that BMW is better! I love it. I like Mercedes too, but they're a little too girly for my tastes. BMWs handle very nicely.
 
patrick0brien said:
True, but I think cait-sith was trying to point out the slave-labor thing.
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Somebody remarked that they "got their start" during the war. I guess this is true, but not during the second war but the first one.
 
puckhead193 said:
lexus... have 3 in the family (04 RX, 04 ES, 95 LS) with a forth on the way (LS 460) :D
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My family has 4 Lexi as well; let's read 'em off:

1. RX400 Hybrid
2. RX330
3. ES330
4. ES300

Every single one of them was purchased by and is driven by a female. These cars and SUVs do not handle nearly as well as my BMW. They are spartan inside and bland on the outside. They have a cushiony ride, soft steering, and a good service department, which are the three most important buying decisions for the women in my family.

To the men in my family, Lexus is also spelled "b-o-r-i-n-g." Needless to say we have many car arguments over here. All in good fun. :)
 
ksz said:
My family has 4 Lexi as well; let's read 'em off:

1. RX400 Hybrid
2. RX330
3. ES330
4. ES300

Every single one of them was purchased by and is driven by a female. These cars and SUVs do not handle nearly as well as my BMW. They are spartan inside and bland on the outside. They have a cushiony ride, soft steering, and a good service department, which are the three most important buying decisions for the women in my family.

To the men in my family, Lexus is also spelled "b-o-r-i-n-g." Needless to say we have many car arguments over here. All in good fun. :)
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have fun taking your BMW to the shop :p j/k my dad doesn't like BMWs so ya...
 
ksz said:
My family has 4 Lexi as well; let's read 'em off:

1. RX400 Hybrid
2. RX330
3. ES330
4. ES300

Every single one of them was purchased by and is driven by a female. These cars and SUVs do not handle nearly as well as my BMW. They are spartan inside and bland on the outside. They have a cushiony ride, soft steering, and a good service department, which are the three most important buying decisions for the women in my family.

To the men in my family, Lexus is also spelled "b-o-r-i-n-g." Needless to say we have many car arguments over here. All in good fun. :)
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Wow... that was the best assessment of Lexus I have ever heard. You basically summed up what I've been saying for years, but in much longer-winded form.

Especially the cushiony ride, soft steering... 100% Toyexus

As for BMW vs Mercedes, I really like them both, but for different reasons. BMW for handling and that *precise* feeling of the cars, Mercedes for sheer luxury and convenience.

I prefer the Swedes for power though... to equal the power packages of Saab or Volvo with BMW or Mercedes, you have to spend like twice as much.
 
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