The good, the bad and the ugly....

[Deleted member 65149]

I agree with the Marmite statement on the GLE. I’ll just say that if YOU like it then that’s all that matters.

Interesting to read your views on the Aston Martin. Since childhood I’ve lusted after having one, and I still have to wipe the dribble from my chin when I see one on the road. But they are such a disappointment to drive aren’t they. The first one I drove about 20 years ago (DB7) was just a big lump that didn’t feel right. I thought there might have been something wrong with that particular one, but the next couple I drove were just as uninspiring - they just looked good in my driveway. (I experienced the same sense of deflation with the Ferraris I took home.) When the DB9 had depreciated to my poor man’s price bracket of under £50k I was very tempted and went to look at a couple of stunners. They were slightly better than the DB7 to drive but still didn’t excite me and still had too many cheap looking and feeling bits inside. So instead I bought a brand new, lower powered and very ordinary looking C350 (petrol) that felt right from the first drive and still does five years later (and accommodates our more recently acquired 2-year old daughter in comfort). Still thinking about Astons, I did a few laps of Silverstone in a Vanquish about three years ago - the disappointment remained, it’s nothing special to drive.

 

[Jim W]

Congrats on two great cars. The GLE63 is not the prettiest AMG by a long way. But I can (just about) see the appeal. The AMG GT is stunning.

 

[Red C220]

On the GT now you can order an "Aerodynamics package" which among other items adds a rear spoiler. It makes the rear end look a bit better:-

The GTC Coupe is the pick of this model range for me, the wide body of the GTC seems to suit that car more and makes it seem more balanced visually.

 

[Bluegnomes]

Interesting comments about the Aston Martin’s guys. I have to agree that they look great from the outside and pretty poor from the inside. I don’t like the look of the DB11 but I need to go and see one in the flesh. They seem to have made good use of the MB links for their tech.

Also I agree the interior of the new Bentley Conti is stunning inside - but it’s just too much of a big bus (heavier that Palmball’s GLE 63?) for me to consider.

First world problems! The 911 is a great package and quite a benchmark.

We’ll be seeing how long you keep the AMG GT this time.

Btw I take it you liked the SLS?

 

[Red C220]

Interesting comments about the Aston Martin’s guys. I have to agree that they look great from the outside and pretty poor from the inside. I don’t like the look of the DB11 but I need to go and see one in the flesh. They seem to have made good use of the MB links for their tech.

Also I agree the interior of the new Bentley Conti is stunning inside - but it’s just too much of a big bus (heavier that Palmball’s GLE 63?) for me to consider.

First world problems! The 911 is a great package and quite a benchmark.

We’ll be seeing how long you keep the AMG GT this time.

Btw I take it you liked the SLS?

Are the 911's that good? I've never been a fan if I'm honest. I did try to order a GT3 (which really does appeal to me) but I just got laughed at, and the dealer is a friend of mine of 40 years!

Each time I look at them they just seem to feel a little sterile and soulless and I struggle with the 1970's dash layout which they still persevere with.

They kind of lack a flair that you get with Italian cars, IYKWIM.

 

[kid-jensen]

I really line the "in your face-ness" of the GLE coupe, but I'm still confused why MB would want to build an SUV coupe. Presumably because BMW do..

The idea of the world's most enormous car but with no room in the back tends to negate the "utility" aspect, but as I'm not in your end of the market, my views will not concern MB one little bit....

Congratulations on acquiring a couple of fantastic cars, and when MB make a proper estate-back version of the GLE, that you can actually get "stuff" in, I will consider one (in a few years, obviously).

At least it would have a bit less rear-end lift..

 

[Bluegnomes]

Well lots is down to personal opinion but I really like the 991.2 911.

The 911 GT3 (991.2) is quite a machine but unless you had been buying regular Porsche’s from you friend of 40yrs you probably stand the same chance as the rest of us to get one.

Italian cars do have more flair and possibly more intimating to drive but they don’t cover as many bases

 

[flowrider]

Love the GTR, great looking cars but unfortunately i have never driven one. I hear there may be a black series on the way. Not a fan of coupe SUV's but i appreciate, styling apart, what great cars the GLE AMG's are.

 

[Palmball]

The GTC Coupe is the pick of this model range for me, the wide body of the GTC seems to suit that car more and makes it seem more balanced visually.

Agreed, GTC Coupe is the pick but not worth £50k more than what I paid for my GTS. It will be more 'appropriate' after a year or so of depreciation.

Interesting comments about the Aston Martin’s guys. I have to agree that they look great from the outside and pretty poor from the inside. I don’t like the look of the DB11 but I need to go and see one in the flesh. They seem to have made good use of the MB links for their tech.

Also I agree the interior of the new Bentley Conti is stunning inside - but it’s just too much of a big bus (heavier that Palmball’s GLE 63?) for me to consider.

First world problems! The 911 is a great package and quite a benchmark.

We’ll be seeing how long you keep the AMG GT this time.

Btw I take it you liked the SLS?

I have always wanted an Aston, both for the brand and aesthetics. Tremendous looking things, at least until the DB11.

As I said, I came to within a signature of buying a used version of what is still arguably their current flagship model (if not newest) and it was so so disappointing. I will revisit the brand again when the new V8/V12 Vantage launches but, if you ask me, Aston has got some serious progress to make just to reach the capability of a £30-40k hot hatch.

Yes, I loved the SLS. It was far from the best car I've had objectively - that'll be something like the R8 (performance), 911 (sheer capability) or BMW M6 (unbelievable all round and underrated capability). But the SLS was easily the most special car of the lot, the one where you felt like a million dollars driving it and easily the one with the most presence.

I should never have sold it really, but money talks and I did very well on it. I might have done marginally better had I got it now, especially the spec of the one I had. It was another car where the first owner (which wasn't me) ticked all the boxes....I seem able to sniff out a well spec'd car where the first owner has inevitably taken a bath. However, it was my daily driver and I do about 20k a year so it would've been a mega-miles car by now, and I'm not the kind of person who can leave something like that in the garage.

Here's a few of pictures for a bit of nostalgia...

What a car! And with the best steering of any car I've driven - super-direct, well weighted and feelsome. The AMG GT has the same rack (indeed, the AMG GT front end underpinnings are identical) but you'd never know it given how light AMG made (and ruined) the GT's steering.

SLS's are now far too expensive to buy though, and lovely ownership prospect as it was, it does not drive well enough to justify the £200k cost that many of them are now, but I guess people don't buy them to 'properly' drive these days.

Are the 911's that good? I've never been a fan if I'm honest. I did try to order a GT3 (which really does appeal to me) but I just got laughed at, and the dealer is a friend of mine of 40 years!

Each time I look at them they just seem to feel a little sterile and soulless and I struggle with the 1970's dash layout which they still persevere with.

They kind of lack a flair that you get with Italian cars, IYKWIM.

In a word, YES.

However, despite this I do agree with your view on 911's - they do very little for me too.

I had a 997.2 Turbo a few years ago which I hated a few, and that lasted all of 4 months.

But then I tried a 991.1 S in 2014, just before I bought my second SLS (the one in the pictures above). I very nearly bought the Porsche because it drove so well, technically better than the SLS or anything else I'd driven up to that point. But I faltered at the last minute because it just did nothing for me aesthetically.....and bought the SLS (bloody glad I did too).

Then, when I was having issues with the R8 earlier this year I tried a new 911, the 991.2 with the new 3.0 Turbo engine and a whole host of trick chassis tech (four wheel steering, dynamic roll control and even the 4wd system in the C4 was quite spectacularly effective and yet subtle). I was mega impressed with the C2S and the new Turbo engine was impressive....so I ordered a Turbo S (because it was the fastest).

Then my dealer sent me to the Porsche Experience Centre at Silverstone to try the Turbo S and I didn't really like it - compared to the R8 it was muted, it behaved too much like a point and shoot device and it was a but, err, boring. The C2S new downsized turbo engine was nowhere near as fast as the Turbo S, but it was much nicer, revvier, sharper and it sounded not far off the older N/A unit. I cancelled my order for the Turbo S and downgraded' to the new GTS that had just been launched.

It was quite incredible really. My AMG GT wouldn't see which way a new 911 went down a twisty bumpy road and I have never experienced anything that can hold the road, and feel so good whilst doing so. The new R8 probably came closest, but that had over 600bhp to the 911's party 450bhp.

I didn't really want to get rid of it but that fact is, I like cars and I like trying as many different ones as possible (can you tell?!). So, if I find myself in a position to enjoy a car and get out if it with minimal loss then I will do so. With Porsche this was easy as they do generally hold their money very well and these new GTS's appear to be well sought after (not GT3-like, but still very good for a vanilla model). I managed to do 6k miles in it (including a trip round the NC500) over 5 months and it genuinely lost almost nothing. I was blessed with a bit of luck - just after I ordered my car Porsche put their prices up by 3-5%, I managed to get £6k discount (I'd negotiated that on the Turbo S and the dealer reluctantly honoured the discount on the GTS) and there's still a healthy wait for one. Thing is, a 992 is merely months away and with the miles I do, I concluded my luck was going to run out and therefore getting out of it so cheaply was too good an offer to miss.

However......despite my appreciation for how capable and technically 'perfect' the 911 was, it still didn't do anything for me aesthetically (inside or out). It was an amazing thing to drive, but less amazing to look at and be in. The AMG GT has it licked on both of those counts and, when I'm trundling along in traffic, it feels really special being sat in the AMG GT. It has stacks more 'presence' and it's rare, whereas the 911 was....just another 911.

One of the guys I did the NC500 trip with had an AMG GT and, despite the fact my 911 was notably faster on the twisties (but not in a straight line as he proved on more than once occasion), I still looked longingly at it and I much prefer the AMG's spectacular interior. It's a bit of human nature though....one always wants what one doesn't have!

For a bit more recent nostalgia, here's a few pics of it for Beetle fans....

I really line the "in your face-ness" of the GLE coupe, but I'm still confused why MB would want to build an SUV coupe. Presumably because BMW do..

The idea of the world's most enormous car but with no room in the back tends to negate the "utility" aspect, but as I'm not in your end of the market, my views will not concern MB one little bit....

Congratulations on acquiring a couple of fantastic cars, and when MB make a proper estate-back version of the GLE, that you can actually get "stuff" in, I will consider one (in a few years, obviously).

At least it would have a bit less rear-end lift..

Thank you!

They do make an estate-back version of the GLE coupe. It's just the 'GLE' (which itself is a facelifted ML).

And you'd be surprised by the space in the GLE-coupe. It is a massive beast. We had an ML63 a couple of years ago and this GLE coupe has exactly the same cabin up-front and exactly the same leg room for rear passengers. It has a bit less rear headroom due to the sloping roof but a six footer can still sit in the back with enough headroom. Boot space below the parcel shelf is similar to the ML/GLE estate too and it's only above the parcel shelf where the sloping back loses out to the estates more practical shape.

 

[Palmball]

nice cars and nice house! you've done well, well done sir! Can we have a look at your garage?

Thank you

I don't have any garage pictures without a car in it....so these will have to do

 

[flowrider]

On the GT now you can order an "Aerodynamics package" which among other items adds a rear spoiler. It makes the rear end look a bit better:-

The GTC Coupe is the pick of this model range for me, the wide body of the GTC seems to suit that car more and makes it seem more balanced visually.

I thought the model lineup was GT, GTS, GTR and then a convertible GTC. You mention a GTC Coupe but isnt that what the GTR is?

 

[flowrider]

Threads like this are a love/hate thing for me. I think i have done ok for myself and have driven nice cars (presently an SL500 and an Audi S5) and then Palmball comes along and blows me away!

Keep posting though...........

 

[Red C220]

I thought the model lineup was GT, GTS, GTR and then a convertible GTC. You mention a GTC Coupe but isnt that what the GTR is?

The GTC Coupe is effectively a slightly softer GTR and shares it's chassis and bodywork, but it's a less hardcore version and has circa 550hp.

So it's GT, GTS, GTC, GTR

 

[Palmball]

Thanks guys, appreciate the comments

Had a bit of misfortune with the GT today, or rather last night, as I woke up to this...

Must have driven over a bottle on the way home last night.

When I say the previous owner of the car spec'd it with every option, I mean everything including the Cup tyre option....for what appears to have been 3k miles driving around London for the 12 months they had it.

However, those tyres were undriveable in the cold so I got these new Michelin Pilot Sport 4S (the Supersport replacement) just two weeks ago. Bloody annoying, the tyre is brand new!

It's more the inconvenience over the Christmas break that's most annoying but my father-in-law pooped round and took out of his boot a tyre plug kit he bought off eBay. With nothing to lose I thought we'd give it a try....

You screw a corkscrew-like device into the damaged tyre to make the hole bigger, then insert a tough rubbery tacky 'stick' with another of the supplied tools. Remove the tool and voila....a sealed hole. It's holding the pressure for now, although I suspect it's not made for a sidewall so I won't be going far in it. Hopefully it holds up for local driving until I can get a new tyre later in the week.

 

[Petrol Pete]

EEK! That 'repair' could invalidate any insurance you might have. Go easy.