how to tell the world you've made it

[solon]

This almost sounds like sarcasm, but I think they're serious! Here are the cars you NEED to drive to tell the world you've made it.

http://jalopnik.com/these-big-luxury-vehicles-show-the-world-youve-made-it-1759679610

[gimp]

1. stupid unreliable
2. stupid unreliable
3. drug dealer / mom suv
4. slightly less unreliable, but come on, are you too poor for an 8-series?
5. omfg unreliable, worse than the others
6. wife won't let you buy an R8?
7. as expensive to maintain as a ferrari, but less reliable... can't afford a ferrari california?
8. literally seems to be completing the list of unreliable cars
9. "I've made my money, I made children, now I am just waiting to die of old age"

But to their credit, #9 is actually a decent car that won't leave you stranded.

I am impressed that they managed to pick 7/8 insanely unreliable cars out of 9. Doesn't matter how rich you are, unless you have a satellite phone and a lot of patience, you can't take 7 or 8 of those out on a real adventure, because the fucker's just gonna break and cost you insane amounts to fix. Even the brand new ones are unreliable, but at least they're warrantied.

And of course none of them are nice enough that they won't get laughed at by other people.

If you're going to spend tons of money on a car to show that you've made it, here's a better list:

- Lexus, any
- Supercar, any (don't half ass it by getting something as expensive to maintain as [but not] a supercar)
- Modern american muscle, fully optioned out (viper, corvette, hellcat, shelby, even a ford raptor)
- Import muscle that will at least drive for 60k miles (GTR, BMW M-series, whatever)
- Something classic and restored
- A toyota landcruiser for off-roading

[gimp]

Actually, if you want a G-wagen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al3p4Ozunvw - put in a lot of work and it can actually be used as an off-road vehicle that doesn't constantly break.

Like, you know, replace the paper skid plates with 8mm thick titanium ones.

I kind of hate people who buy $100k+ off-road cars and never take them off-road, but I hate even more $100k+ off-road cars that can't be used off-road without breaking immediately.

[Chris22]

Modern Mercedes are reasonably reliable. It was the DaimlerChrysler era when they sucked.

[gimp]

Modern mercedes is not reasonably reliable when you're talking about their high end. The $120k mercedes cars depreciate to $10-30k in like eight years for a reason. Dealerships can rarely fix even small issues in the big ticket parts (engine, transmission), requiring either a full replacement (often $30k+) or at least an engine out and serious rebuild.

Even if they were reasonably reliable, the cost to fix something broken is just massive.

Buy a C400? Sure. S600? Leasing is a much better idea, or better yet, have your company pay for it.

There are reliable $100k cars; mercedes doesn't make them.

[chesebert]

Another great article from one of my all time fav site. You should also check out their "German cars are POS" from a year or two ago. Golden.

[solon]

It reminds me of this MMM piece: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2014/04/01/the-top-4-suvs-for-growing-families/

Which is why I thought the link in the OP must be parody.

[chemistk]

As an avid reader of Jalopnik and related sites, I can tell you that it's mostly parody. The author owns a couple old Jeeps in various states of condition worth maybe $10k total. They have been publishing "buyers guides" of the basic information of new cars and how they (the writers) would spec them. This is just a list of some of the higher end ones they've published.

[JordanOfGilead]

4. slightly less unreliable, but come on, are you too poor for an 8-series?

They don't make an 8 series right now. There have been rumors of them bringing it back though.
Besides, people who have "made it" don't buy used cars. Duh.

[Dicey]

This almost sounds like sarcasm, but I think they're serious! Here are the cars you NEED to drive to tell the world you've made it.

http://jalopnik.com/these-big-luxury-vehicles-show-the-world-youve-made-it-1759679610

This article was a total snarkfest. I loved it! Click around at some other articles and I think you'll find tongues firmly planted in cheeks. (Ooh, that sounds nasty!)

[gimp]

4. slightly less unreliable, but come on, are you too poor for an 8-series?

They don't make an 8 series right now. There have been rumors of them bringing it back though.
Besides, people who have "made it" don't buy used cars. Duh.

Well, they make an i8, but you're right that the 850i and 840i aren't in production at the moment as far as I know (but I have seen one locally... sitting at a repair shop.)