I had to take a car to Ohio to a friend who was in medical residency. It was S class, maybe a 2002 or so. You couldn’t use the AM radio (I wanted to listen to Rush). You could get static and what I think was the spark plugs.
The car had lots of problems, not just that, but it’s unacceptable in a car that expensive.
Then I took the Lexus that belonged to his father-in-law back home. The difference was night and day. The Lexus had a much sportier feel, was faster and had not one problem.
If one were to plop down a load of money on a car a Lexus is the better choice.
Oh, I can definitely relate, though I have, regrettably, no experience with driving a Lexus. Maybe one day…and the W220 S-class (built from the 1999 to 2006 model year) was a low point in terms of quality at MB, though I liked the shape of the car. I found that quite elegant to look at.
It’s just that J. Schrempp, the CEO of the firm, had abandoned the tradition of overengineering the cars when he got at the helm in 1995.
What a disaster! The brand never recovered from him and his yes-men within the board of directors. E. Reuter, his forerunner and later the head of the supervisory board, was nearly just as bad.