Comparing Mercedes C class to Model 3 is like comparing Motorola razr to iPhone. Trust me, I have had c class, BMW 5 series, Audi A4.. its like comparing flip phone to an iPhone.
OK. Let's compare them
1. Customer loyalty: Tesla wins. I know 4 people who have Teslas. Everyone of them says the same thing: “It’s the best car I have ever driven.” Three of them previously owned Mercedes. The partner of the fourth drives a Mercedes, and is getting a Tesla next. One of them had their delivery delayed 8 weeks because, according to a person she spoke with, Tesla hadn’t gotten around to making the red version of her car. Despite the bad service and lame excuse, that person will never drive another brand of car. I am starting to thing there is a sex robot somewhere in the car, or maybe a keg of beer. Or maybe they were brainwashed in Fremont. I don’t know.
2. Cost of Operation: Tesla wins. The cost of fuel would save me about $111.17 a month. But that savings drops to $93.33 if you factor in other costs I would incur, like installing a charger at home, lease return, mileage overage on the Mercedes, etc.
3. Saving the Planet: Tesla wins, and it’s not close. It didn’t come up in my threads, but in the past two weeks, I looked at the Kona EV. But my son drives a Kona, and I thought it was a little weird or us to drive the same car. I looked at the Jaguar too, but it was way, way out of my price range. Nonetheless, my three-year plan is to finish this lease and then go electric. (Other EVs were not big enough to hold my golf clubs, so they were eliminated.)
4. Drivability: Tie. Here’s my analysis: A Tesla drives better at under 50, but if you are on a freeway doing over 50, you probably want the Mercedes. If you are driving at 70 or more, you definitely want the Mercedes.
5. Exterior: Mercedes. The C300 Coupe is a work of art. It looks like a refined muscle car from the 1970s. Now, I grew up in an ethnic neighborhood in Boston. Old guys drove Caddies or Lincolns. Young guys drove muscle cars. (Watch the cars in Good Fellas and you’ll see what I mean.) If you drove a Beetle, you’d certainly be mocked, and maybe get a beating. My dad drove a Mustang, and the C300 Coupe kind of looks a little like that. In contrast, the Tesla was cool when I first saw it. But now that I have seen several hundred of them, they are kind of common In West Los Angeles. In fact, based on my informal survey, they are more common here than boob jobs, and that’s saying something. (Disclaimer: this is not of scientific survey.)
6. Interior: Mercedes. I know a lot of people complain about the buttons, knobs and switches on the Mercedes. They make it seemed like they were dropped into the cabin of the space shuttle in Florida, and were asked to take a few laps around the equator, and to land that bad boy in California. But if you can afford that car, you probably have the IQ to figure out the buttons in under a month. And I like the luxury. Personally, I don’t like the starkness of the Model 3’s interior. Also, I look at a computer screen almost every waking moment of my life. I don’t like a computer screen on my car. I also don’t like not being able to drive a car, or having to reboot it, if my computer crashes. I worry about computers taking over the world. I’ll be stuck in a Model 3 with the doors locked, and saying, “Open the pod door Hal.”
7. Seats: Mercedes. I always say the seat is the most important part of my car. The C300 wins this by a lot. It has one little adjustment in its seat that’s great: the part of the seat that hits your thigh can be adjusted forward or back, so your legs rest more comfortably. Love this feature.
8. Cabin noise: Mercedes. Not even close.
9. Roof: Mercedes. A glass roof is not a good idea.
10. Reliability: Mercedes. If you are leasing a Mercedes, chances are pretty low you will have a major problem in the first 45,000 miles. Tesla is going through growing pains right now. I expect it will grow out of them in 3 years, and that will be the time to buy.
11. Build quality: Mercedes. Not even close. And my car was assembled in Stuttgart, which is the Vatican of Mercedes plants.
12. Service: Mercedes. Not even close. I have had the same salesman since 1997. I have had the same service rep for about 15 years. If I have a problem with anything, I can get it resolved quickly. And they have a Keurig machine and really swell leather chairs with a big screen if you have to wait around. And free popcorn and apples. Sweet.
13. Lease plan: Mercedes. Who the hell has a lease program with no residual? Only Tesla. (Query: no one buys their car off lease, so why not have a residual Mr. Musk?) And why is the lease price on a $39,000 Tesla about the same as a $51,000 Mercedes?
14. Accessibility to charging stations: There are so many Teslas on the road in now, that I have noticed they are now hogging all the charging stations at work. I know people at work who drive plug in hybrids with limited EV capacity, and they used to have free reign of them. Now that the Model 3s have taken over, getting a charge at work is difficult. (And their cars do not have the electric range of a Tesla, so they are kind of pissed off at this recent development.) Hopefully, in 3 years, there will be more charging stations.
