if Mercedes offered a gas powered, true luxury small car, that averaged 35-40 mpg?

NO! not the SMART car. A very nice vehicle like the C-Class or SLK. Comfortable, sturdy and economical to drive.

Is that too much to ask?

 

Yeah Infinity did this with the G20 remember? But us Dumb A$$ Americans didn't buy them so they stopped but this maybe the time form companies to try again. Bad thing for alot of people Luxury = large.
But like the size or a Civic offered in 2dr and 4 dr. Maybe a B-class coupe and sedan?

 

That would be nice. Well, in order for it to work for larger families or families or friends with people over 6'2 a little larger car like that would be nice. Yeah Americans do tend to associate luxury with large. And once you start getting into the luxury totem pole and up, gas mileage sometimes become less and less of a priority. In fact even as gas prices go up, it suppose to show that you have it made if you can afford to spend one hundred dollars a tank to fill up ya Cadillac Escalade since it's starts to weed off the people who can no longer "afford" them. That's why even old Mercedes and BMWs and other high end luxury cars have so much appeal to upper class-rich people. Yeah, just about any smoe joe can buy one, but can he keep one? Can he afford filling the tank? Can he afford the repairs? Can he afford to operate it? That's the question.
Status in Germany is sometimes measured by the size of your car. Anyone can buy a large car, but only people with the money and deep pockets usually do due to the high gas prices which in turns makes driving a large car more exclusive. (Keyword is car. Large SUV are usually too large to fit on some of the narrow roads and even the people that can afford one don't buy em, just as Americans probably wouldn't have been so keen on buying the Toyota Pius and other matchbox
go-karts (new to us but you can see older similar models in Japan) when gas was $1.40 a gallon.) Gone are the days of every other corner you see a 560SEL, or 735il or 750il or 500SEL and such. These cars are even hard to find because people that have em, keep em and people who don't have em, usually are not trying to buy one due to gas prices. Especially the 560 SEL and W140 S600. Them are the two hardest domestic cars to find over here. And is a even rarer sight to see on the road.
Note: The C-Class is considered a nice sized car here. And in compare to the other little go-karts zipping around here, it seens pretty large (until you get into the back seat.).

I don't think Infiniti sold as well as they thought it would to begin with.

And they are currently or actually I think they are about to release a Civic that get that type of gas mileage.

 

Most of my friends and I believe Infinity's are just Datsun's with leather. Lexus' are Toy's with leather and Acura' are Honda's with leather. Get the point. I want a real luxury brand that is worthy of daily driving. I am really surprised that those brands sell as well as they do. It must be something I don't get.

I spend nearly $6000/year on fuel. Most people in my position (construction estimator) would by a Buick, a small truck (or similar) to wear out driving every day putting a lot of miles on it and getting some comfort and creature features. We would cycle through cars/trucks every two years or so, as they are "just transportation".

Fuel costs would be about 22-27mpg, but the vehicle costs would be reduced enough to offset overall driving costs per mile. If that makes since.

I would rather have a more expensive and longer lasting high quality car that is cheap to feed. Give me a cool Benz that I can drive all day for $20 worth of premium.

 

Regarding what you may be missing (Lexus, Acura, Infinity, etc.) my personal belief is that some people will fall for anything. I share your observation that these are just dressed up versions of the Datsun, Toyota, Honda etc. and am amazed how many people think they really have something different and worthy of the extra $$'s.

-for what it's worth...

 

People will fall for anything and most companies know that and that's why they do the things they do. They save money by taking a Toyota, put leather in it, change the badges, alter some, the keyword is some, bodypanels, and a nice plastic cover for the engine and jack the price up by $10,000. Profit. But I think these days you can have leather in the Honda, Toyota and NIssan.

I can't understand why people can't see the similarities just by looking a little harder. People that I know to this day still don't beleive me when I say that Lexu is owned and made by Toyota. Or Acura is a Honda, or the Infiniti is a Nissan (Datsun is the proper term.). Them three "luxury" cars can hardly be found in Japan. Of course some rich guy can order one but they are not really on the market. The IS, is the Toyota Altezza, the ES is a Toyota Camry, The LS is a Japanese full sized Toyaota that is not sold over here.

And all Acura's are Hondas over there. But the Acura engine performance is closer to the Japs engine than the regular Honda engine. That's why you have Honda's with either Acura engines or Japanese spec Honda engines or Acuras with Honda Japanese spec engines.

And Infiniti is Nissan. They never even really caught my eye, don't know anyone too much that owns them but besides the lights (on some models). it look just like a Nissan.

Then I'm sure (as always) I'm going to have the counter point of what about the American luxury cars like Cadillac, Lincoln, and Chrysler?
I never really considered Chrysler to be a luxury brand. It's called the upscale brand of Dodge, but it's not really a luxury vehicle.
Lincoln and Cadillac, yes technically for the most part are Fords and Chevys overall in retrospec, but at least it seems they put alot more effort into making them cars stand out from their lower grade counterparts. With GM's SUV lines people don't realize it's a little more complocated, but simple. Here you start with your basic Chevy SUV/GMC SUV. Then you have the GMC Denali, upscale GMC Yukon, and then ya Cadillac SUV. People say why buy the Escalde while the Denali have basically the same features but cost less. The Denali serves that middle ground for people who want something more upscale than the regular Yukon, but finds the Escalade styling too brash, too bold. Without the Denali, most people who was looking for the upscale luxury SUV but found the Escalade too brash probably would of went to Ford (just as they did when they killed Camaro/Firebird.). But people come to find out will pay top dollar just for style. Just as they would pay $150,000 for a Bentley that (IMO) looks too much like that VW Phaeton to cost that much, especially on the inside. I have a feeling that it's nothing but the Phaeton in a custom made tux. I don't know if VW tried to place it's signature on the Bentley or did VW borrow ques for it's other cars from the Bentley but there's too much VW in them Bentleys. If I had the money, I would rather just find a 1999/2000 Red Label Arnage, the style before VW started building their own version of the Bentley. Don't get me wrong, they are very nice cars, but too muc hVW like. It's like the stuff they should of placed in the Phaeton if they wanted people to pay 90,000 for a VW.

 

A couple of months ago, WE were invited to a survey geared toward why we DON"T purchase Cadillacs. Your points answer that question. It is that I know that badging and chrome do not make the car better, first it has to BE better. American cars are not fun to drive, don't have any real value because of the plastic feel and look they present.

WHEN the auto unions are dismissed, because Detroit starts producing their vehicles with robots, perhaps they can invest more in real quality and set themselves apart from the pension fund loaded chassis' they currently produce.

I know, German cars have this issue as well, but at least I get a car I am proud to drive and is worth maintaining and keeping for years, because it was made to do so.

 

Yeah I took that survey.

You would think that the least they can do is take the money that they save by using robots is invest in better cars and designs. Oh wait, they fired all the few good engineers and designers. Oh geesh.

 

But I remember when a Cadillac used to be A Cadillac.

You know, it used to have a distinct ride feel. Floaty, but "traditional Cadillac" feel. The super spacious feel, harder to park, and the back end always stick out because of the side, but you knew it was a Cadillac and had no problem finding it. Even it had a distitive smell.
To me the last real traditional Cadillac was the 1995/1996 Cadillac Fleetwood. Long hood, Spacious for five people with plenty of legroom and elbow room. And a trunk to match for luggage. Use to joke that you can fit the five occupants into the trunk comfortably and take em on a long trip. And the Corvette engine, quiet, powerful and fast for a two ton beast. I actually dragged raced and smoked plenty of things. Should see the look on thier face when a "big-body" Lac smokes them. It's like a giant four door corvette, or a plush rich boy's 1995/96 Impala SS. And they stopped making that Lac and the Impala. Damn. Upsized the Deville a bit and tried to make it like the Fleetwood, but the Northstar engine, even though slighty more powerful on paper,300 hp compared to 280hp, but felt way weaker, but then again they use a 4.6 compared to a 5.7. And they lost the distintive ride. It feels like a reject Lexus or something. Like they was trying way too hard to be a BMW but wanted to be that level with half the work and thought process. Even that distintive "Cadillac" interior scent was gone. The steering wheel feel is gone. And what they did with the Impala is a total debacle. No sense. No wonder the 1996 holds and most of the time value and sell for a higher price than the new ones.
But as good as the Fleetwood was, it's still was a GM product and it's starting to show it's GM side. I let my dad hold my 1987 BMW and he hardly drive the Fleetwood any more. And is in the market for buying a W126 soon. And he said that he rather buy an older car that will outlast these new car than spend $60,000 on a new one that won't go past ten years without a major overhaul and a leg and an arm and maybe an ear for labor to keep it running. Only reason he never bought one yet before, he always thought they was too expensive to maintain until I showed up at the house with mine and let him have a spin in it, showed him all that it has to offer. And my AC compressor locked up in the drive during that trip and then he seen it wasn't as expensive as he thought and after I told him that even though you pay a little more W126 parts, they tend to break less often and this car still will be running perfect with 300,000+ miles on it. But I can't bash that Lac too much, it did survive two car wrecks and never totaled (can't say the same thing for the cars that hit it though.) and it still gets more looks than anyone with newer cars and or new Cadillacs. One guy actually asked me if I wanted to trade the 1995 Fleetwood for his 2000 Deville. I turned down that offer quickly. But as they say once you go BMW or Mercedes, you never go back. But if I had to buy another American car and planned on keeping it awhile car it probably would be that car. Every now and then I do miss that super long hood and floaty ride and all that chrome and looking for unsuspecting rice burners. None in thier right mind has yet really challenge the BMW or the 560SEL. (on a side note: If ya gonna spend all that money on them upgrades and tuning, do it right. There's no reason why you should be getting smoked by two-ton Cadillacs and BMWs and Mercedes that you could of bought three times for the price of the turbo charger.)

 

In the comment about Chrysler the reason that most people today dont look at Chrysler as a luxury Brand is because they were never made to compete with Cadillac of Lincoln since the 30's or 40's Chryler had its luxury brand which was the Imperials from 1926-1975 it was a different company not just a Chrysler Model like it was in the 1980s.