It’s about practicality and smart financial decisions rather than cost.
This is exactly what I was referring to.
I’m usually pretty good about getting the car washed as much as possible to help with the salt. BMW’s as far as I’ve seem don’t seem to have rust problems like other cars. Mercedes surprisingly seem to have rust problems which I find pretty surprising. Despite the E60 reliability issues, the car has aged really well. In a way I feel like E60 could go down in history as a very important car. It kinda set the stage years ago for what cars are like now.
MB rust issues aren't new. They're not Mazda bad, but they do exist. Our old E had rust issues and we owned that for way less than four years. It wasn't a lot, but it made no sense since we get very little rain and our roads aren't salted (we get no snow). I don't know of any wash chemicals I own that could cause it. Our current cars don't have rust. Beats me why it'd rust. Older brother bought a W140 new and it developed rust at some point. I suspect the torrential rain our region of the US suffered in the late 90s, but I'm not certain. I think our dealer checks for rust each time the cars need to get lifted up. Some indie mechanics check free of charge. As much as I love the company, it has its issues. Paint hardness is always a peculiar issue with Benzes. Sometimes MBZ uses soft to medium paints, and sometimes hard paint that's pain in the ass to perfect, especially for the DIYer who has little experience working with harder paints.
Thing is with MBZ I haven't seen rust on body panels unless the vehicle was neglected for a long time. But rust is normal on clamps and general parts of the car that require considerable work to fix or replace. Sooner you catch it and have it fixed, the better the outlook. I've never found any consistency with the classes or even two of the same model and year.
I don't know what BMW uses as a process for their underbodies, but I rarely read about rust plaguing modern BMWs. BMWs I've seen rust the most are cars decades old. As in 70s and 80s. Rust happens on modern cars, too, but they're few and far in between. Sometimes rust can occur on oxidizable panels if there's a pin prick or slightly larger exposure "hole" (not sure what the correct term would be), that can cause the paintwork to bubble at that area, or simply rust and leave a rust tear over time.
I think the X3 or even X5 would be a solid choice for me. The thing is there’s already like 3 new X3’s in my immediate neighborhood. The BMW SUVs just don’t seem as cool as they used to be. Every other soccer mom in town has an X5. If I had to go out and buy a car tomorrow I’d probably get an XC60 or maybe even an XC90. The Porsche Cayenne is also very appealing. Or maybe I should just bite the bullet and buy a G550. It actually wouldn’t be a bad investment considering the G-class’ resale and the amount of driving I do.
Get them in a non boring color. They look rad and stand out among the drab colors people pick up. That blue BMW offers is very nice. Or green, if it's available. Maybe red. I've seen a few Volvos as of late. They look nice, but I'm curious about the long term outlook. The new Cayenne looks superb. I believe we test drove it last year. Panamera, too. We haven't locked down a choice either. I like both cars, except for the whole touch thing Porsche is doing. Listen, I love tech as much as the next person, but at some point I'm going to whip out my old man card and say enough is enough. Fingerprints, scratches and dust are vile. New G550 looks great from what I saw in the Doug video. I wouldn't own one myself, personally, but that's mostly because I'd feel silly driving one. But they're great cars and you can use them for their purpose.
I wish there was a Land/Range Rover model I actually liked. Unfortunately the new ones have become far too disconnected from Land Rover’s heritage.
What about the convertible SUV? I think that looks amazing. How can you deny it looks great? It's so versatile, too. You really ought to try it out!
Even I'll admit I'd rather buy the BMW X3 or X5 if I were in the market for either SUV class. Three star offerings are eh, and while I like the Audis, the BMWs offer enough different to catch my attention. That and the blue offered in a weakness for me. It looks great regardless of time of day.
[doublepost=1547697983][/doublepost]Or buy a boring color for resale and get a quality wrap in a similar to OEM paint.
