2nd Jul 2007, 00:25

I don't see anything outstanding, even from a Mercedes point of view. If you look at the reviews about Mercedes from the 90's to date, they are very good.

If Honda is The Best auto maker and Acura is their best brand, then read the reviews on the RL, probably their most representative model... Not very good. Nevertheless, I think these are good cars.

You have to know if the car was brand new or abused and reviewed by the fifth owner, if there is just plain and absurd loyalty to a brand or the contrary: bad intention, if the review is real or from a 15 year old kid talking about "his Ferrari", you see: there are some things to think about before believing all the reviews.

Anyway, Porsches are great cars, very durable, very reliable, and Mercedes, Toyota, Honda, and some other are too. And there is nothing like having a car or to know the owner of a car to know if it is good or bad. My experience: 7 Mercedes in my life, 5 from the 90's to today -I still have 2-, and all of them have been wonderful cars, even with very high mileages I have never been left on the road by them. 2 BMW, one good in the 70's, one brand new: not so good -it drives wondefully, but it's just too complicated in electronics, and they have terrible dealership service-, and I changed one Mercedes for that BMW -great mistake-; 1 Honda, very good; 1 Porsche -very old to rate its reliability -1957... And so on.

In resume, it isn't so simple. Toyota is one of the brands, if not "The" brand with more recalls in the world, but they do make fine cars in durability terms -not so good in handling, acceleration, etc. And I know well the ML, and it is wonderful, I am sure we will see them in the streets running for a very long, long time, and that is often the best way to know the quality of a car in reliability and durability.

Cheers.

2nd Sep 2007, 23:15

"Some people use statistics much like a drunk uses a lamp post - more for support than illumination".