[V8] The Bangle-butted bungles are buggering all of us....

[Scott Simmons]

Is this the new C that's priced around $31,000?

2007 Toyota Camry:  $30,000
2008 Mercedes C:  $31,000

Granted, the Toyota is loaded, but is there really a choice there?

~Scott S

Roger M. Woodbury wrote:

>I was looking at the new Mercedes "C" class that is being introduced in
>Geneva now.  I liked the version that has the big Mercedes star square in
>the center of the grille.  Since Mercedes in its infinite marketing wisdom
>decided to make almost everything look like it came from Japan and abandoned
>the traditional grille with star on top in favor of perching the star in the
>middle of the hood, I have lost interest.  But I liked the nose of the "C"
>class.
>
>Liked it until I saw the ass end.  Too many lines and grooves for me,
>thanks.  I confess, I like simple, straight forward lines.  
>
>Then I looked at the new Audi A/S5.  The first image I saw was a full
>profile.  It was almost ok.  Then the front quarter and I began to lose
>interest.  I really don't care which car it is on, but that rounded snout
>looks like a 1950's Hoover vacuum cleaner, not a car.  But still the car
>didn't strike me as terrible.  It's better than the BMW 6-series coupe, I
>think, but if you compare it with the BMW 3.0CSI coupe of 1972, it is just
>clunky and heavy looking. Even the rather bricklike BMW 635CSI coupe of the
>mid eighties is better, and that was not a particularly handsome car.
>
>Then I saw the rear.  Both Audi and Mercedes have fallen into the
>Bangle-butt theory of automotive design.  Too many lines and grooves.  Of
>course, very little of it is sheetmetal, and since plastic moulding is so
>easy, I guess it means that the designers can spend a little longer at the
>design table than their contract requires.  Since the boss will have gone
>home, those designers can light up a toke, and just draw lines and squggles
>to their heart's content.  Either that or the boss is smoking too, which is
>a very scary thought, but pulls what passes for modern automobile design
>into a kind of, if you will pardon the expression, focus.  
>
>Nope.  I don’t want any of them.
>
>Then I saw something that I thought was pretty good looking and pretty
>interesting.  It seems that the VW Golf is gaining a "variant" or station
>wagon model.  And I think it is really good and clean looking.  The model
>standing next to it in the picture could well be seven feet tall, but the
>car really looks "right".  Not too many lines or crevasse...pretty clean.
>Apparently the car will have the double supercharged engine as the "big"
>one, and two diesels.  If VW could bring the diesel engined cars into the US
>with four motion, I would get excited about this vehicle, I think.  It would
>be a good fit for me as a daily driver.  
>
>But then the article said that there were rumors that the car was going to
>be brought into this country.....with a Japanese name plate.  HUH?  How does
>that work?  Well, maybe we're supposed to accept that one Axis power is the
>same as another?  
>
>Yesterday I went to visit my parents and then drove to my daughters house to
>show it to a prospective buyer.  Total mileage just over 110, and we took
>The Black Mariah.  The temperature never rose above seven all day, although
>the wind had died down, so it wasn't as frigid as the day before when the
>wind never went below 20mph, and the temperature never above zero.  The
>Black Mariah runs so well, it is hard to imagine driving anything else.
>
>Right now some folks are selling a tan 100CS Quattro Avant on eBay.  The car
>has 105,000 miles, and is a '93.  Supposedly two owner car, and it is in
>Maine a bit more than a hundred miles from here.  I am thinking about going
>to look at it as a replacement for the Black Mariah.  The car is going to be
>cheap, and cost about what the Black Mariah will probably cost to go another
>100,000 miles.  Naturally, I'd welcome comments.  NO, it won't be the SAME,
>but as serviceable transportation, the CS is a nice car...and for cheap
>dollars.  Better than spending large dollars for something that I just don't
>want to drive, isn't it?
>
>But then, I am thinking about taking The Black Mariah to the mechanic and
>doing some things to it to make it go further.  The later model car is not
>an improvement over the Type 44...just more "modern".  And for $5 grand the
>Mariah will run and look like new.
>
>And if I keep the Black Mariah as a daily driver, I can still watch for the
>V8 that eventually will come here.  The V8 has wasn't "Bangle-butted" to
>death, and still looks better than most of what passes for modern automotive
>design.  And if not plentiful, at least they are cheap.
>
>Roger
>
>Yeah, yeah, I know.  But it is cold, frozen and not spring yet, so I am
>talking about cars so I won't get surly because I am sick of winter....
>
>  
>