[Leica] Car Prices

[rmcclure2 at woh.rr.com (Rob McClure)]

Frank,

I disagree with your comments about BMW automatics.  They are smooth, 
quick shifting and give up only a few 1/10ths of a second in 0-60 and a 
few MPG in economy.  They also have a very nice sport mode and 
tap-shifting mechanism for manual selection.    In comparison, many 
Merc automatics default to a second gear starting mode unless really 
thrashed and have a notchy shift gate.  That said, I  do prefer manual 
transmissions in general and find BMW's manuals to be the best shifting 
of any car i've driven.  I agree with your comments about Mercedes 
being ill suited for automatics due to the foot parking brake; an easy 
enough fix if they decide to target the manual-shift buyer segment (and 
challenge BMW as "the ultimate driving machine").

Regards,

Rob McClure
Upper Sandusky, OH

Current BMW:
2004 325i (5 speed)
Past BMWs:
2001 BMW Z3 3.0 Coupe (5 speed)
1996 BMW 318ti (automatic)


On Jun 4, 2005, at 3:27 AM, Frank Dernie wrote:

> Hi Mike,
> I think different cars appeal to different people. One thing I have 
> noticed, as a long time Merc owner, is that Mercedes have had to lower 
> quality to keep their prices competitive with other brands, some of 
> which have gained a good reputation by marketing despite being very 
> cheaply made.
>
> Another point about gearboxes. The Merc cars do not particularly suit 
> manual gearboxes, they have foot parking brakes and their latest auto 
> 'boxes give away no performance and little economy to the manuals. 
> BMW's OTOH are much better as manuals, firstly it suits a sporty car 
> well second the BMW autos kill the performance and economy.
> Frank
>