What sort of dullard would buy a brand-new S65 AMG?

"sm70- why not Duesenberg?" (sm70-whynotduesenberg) 01/22/2018 at 12:55 • Filed to: None

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Forget the G65, the Mercedes-AMG S65 AMG by AMG or whatever the fuck it’s called these days has to be the worst new car value I’ve ever seen. Why? Well, it’s $80,000 more expensive than an S63, despite the S63 having only 18 fewer horsepower and being 0.8 of a second faster to 60 miles an hour. Ok, so the V12 is gonna be smoother and faster at the top end, but is that difference worth $80,000? Even if you’ve got more money than you know what to do with, that seems like incredibly diminished returns. Hell, it’s not that far off the amount of money it would take to get you in a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

And if you really want smoothness, get the sublime S 650 Maybach, which uses the exact same 6.0 biturbo V12 as the S65, making the exact same power and torque and taking only an extra 0.4 seconds to get to 60. The Maybach sacrifices only a small amount of speed to the S65, gains you a boatload of extra luxury, and get this, it still costs $30,000 less than the S65!

None of this is taking into account the fact that the Bentley Flying Spur W12 makes basically the same power and 0-60 times as the S65, is a good deal more prestigious, far more opulent, and even that costs a few thousand dollars less.

So to recap, the S65 AMG, a car which has historically been one of my favorite cars, and which falls under one of my favorite categories of cars, no longer has a reason to exist. You’d have to be a moron to buy one new. And I don’t mean that in the way Jeremy Clarkson does when he says you’d have to be a moron to buy X silly fun car over Y sensible, objective car. I mean an actual moron.

gmctavish needs more space > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 13:00

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That green on the first one is amazing

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > gmctavish needs more space 01/22/2018 at 13:01

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Isn’t it though?

The S65 is still a fantastic car, when you ignore the price tag and put it in a vaacum. It’s the alternatives and the $230,000 asking price that ruin it.

Arrivederci > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 13:01

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If I can get a Flying Spur for less than a S65, that seems like a pretty easy call.

jimz > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 13:01

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What sort of dullard would buy a brand-new S65 AMG?

no one. they lease them.

HammerheadFistpunch > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 13:04

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The 65 series of Mercs is and always has been a skunkworks program of research and development with the goal of determining the the amount of money that can be extricated from buyers. Until now its been theorized that there is a limit at which point buyers would no longer be able to stomach a price based, more or less, on the social value of being the priciest thing. That theory is strained with each new successive generation of product. There are some that postulate that there is no such limit, a terrifying prospect indeed.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 13:04

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Yeah I’d probably have an older Bentley, a turbo R or something.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Arrivederci 01/22/2018 at 13:05

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As best I can tell, you can.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > jimz 01/22/2018 at 13:05

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Also true

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > HammerheadFistpunch 01/22/2018 at 13:07

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I liked S65s of yesterday because they actually were the creme de la creme of Mercedes. Now, there are TWO S-Class models which do the job of the S65 better.

Arrivederci > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 13:08

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Looks like everything but the W12S so, yeah, I’d take the Bentley so I don’t have to associate with the plebes and their CLA250s during service.

fintail > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 13:11

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A rich one.

This is the new Belle Epoque (remember how the last one ended). There’s plenty of money floating around just waiting to be spent on something like this.

And to be fair, I suspect sales volume of these is minuscule, and shrinking with competition from the Maybach models. Now it’s for someone who wants the power, but something that can be debadged and look like a livery or rental S400 to the commoner on the street.

Dark chocolate > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 13:15

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when you have “fuck-you” money.

Also there’s something called as bragging rights.

And those who spend ungodly amounts on these cars don’t care about 30 or 40 thousand dollars.

When I was buying (more like haggling) my C63 in California.. I saw a couple (mid 40s) walk in. In the next 10 minutes, I watched / heard them request that all they cared for was that their sales guy put a certain kind of wheels on their S63 AMG and soon after the staff moved the only S63 in display to the delivery area.

Turns out the sales guy had sold them an AMG every 2 years.

Almost sure they didn’t bother negotiating a cent off .

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > fintail 01/22/2018 at 13:16

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Now it’s for someone who wants the power, but something that can be debadged and look like a livery or rental S400 to the commoner on the a street.

Ah yes, the lucrative “rich person who wants to look like he’s driving a hired car that a slightly less rich person would take to the airport” market.

fintail > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 13:20

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I suspect a significant amount of these sold in Europe are debadged. There’s a market for wanting to be at least a little subtle, maybe it will grow in time as the chasm continues to expand.

LOREM IPSUM > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 13:20

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The kind of dullard that makes significantly more money than his co-workers, and wants that point made clear every day they walk past it in it’s much-closer-to-the-front-door than yours parking space.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Dark chocolate 01/22/2018 at 13:21

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Even most rich people, or at least all the rich people I know, would not spend more on a car without getting something out of it. In the case of the S650 Maybach, they are getting the same engine with the added snob appeal of the Maybach name/badge. To put it bluntly, the Maybach would appear to the untrained observer to be more expensive.

If the absolute only, and I mean THE ONLY thing you did was walked in and asked for the most expensive S-Class without doing any other research or looking at any other models, then you would end up with the S65. Even people with “fuck you” money don’t want to feel like they got ripped off or paid more for less. The only people who do that are people who actively want to pay more just so they can brag/fake complain about how much they spent. And those people are, as my title says, dullards.

xc90v8/I4 :( > jimz 01/22/2018 at 13:35

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The only times I see an s65 is in Zurich with some russian dude in the back that has just been to a tax evasion conference. And I’m guessing they don’t lease a car an they buy because it’s 80 grand more. Probably without even looking at a spec sheet.

syaieya > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 13:42

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Met a guy that owned one a couple years back now.

Middle eastern guy, son of a CEO, being groomed to be the next CEO. I think he was more interested in business real-estate. Had it parked in a handicap spot when he and a bro of his were inside the LA Fitness.

He had a S63 from the previous gen but traded it when the new V12 showed up.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > syaieya 01/22/2018 at 13:46

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I should clarify, I meant that you’d have to be dumb to buy one now, with the S63 being quicker and the S650 Maybach being a thing. A few years ago it made more sense, since the S650 wasn’t a thing and the S63 was slower.

syaieya > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 13:52

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Yeah this was when the new styling was still new and Maybach wasnt a trim line.

Saracen > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 13:54

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I wouldn’t get either. S560 all the way.

WilliamsSW > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 13:57

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Rich people are a mixed bag of smart and stupid just like the rest of us.

I live around a lot of money, and it’s clear to me that the high end dealers are used to having people walk in and buy a car without any real negotiating. A friend of mine just did that on a 540 and an X5, package deal. Just didn’t want to deal with it.

We end up getting cars from dealers 30 miles away to save as much as $5k.

So yeah, dullards.

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 14:31

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I don’t care too much for the new S-Class, but sign me right the fuck up for a 2013 S65 AMG.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Saracen 01/22/2018 at 15:12

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Meh

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo 01/22/2018 at 15:15

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Same. Drove an ‘06 (last year of the previous gen) and it was delightfully fast.

Jack Does Cars > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 15:54

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You get can W220 S65's for pennies on the dollar these days. ~$25k for 604 HP, 738 torques and endless luxury? Sure, yeah, doesn’t sound that bad.

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > Saracen 01/22/2018 at 16:56

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S450*

Saracen > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo 01/22/2018 at 19:22

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Only after the S450 switches to the straight six.

Saracen > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 19:23

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Oh yeah, the M178 is just so meh..

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 20:18

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I keep hoping they’ll come out with a new V12. Maybe based on the new I6? A la M120... If that happens you might be looking at a 7-800hp S65. Hopefully with 4matic+.

Nauraushaun > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/22/2018 at 21:01

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Forget the G65? The G65 is also $80k more than the G63, but for the money you only get 0.1s faster.

Also consider that at least the S-Class is a good car, perhaps the best car that is on sale. And that the AMG G-wagons are amongst the worst cars currently for sale. The G is still the king of bad value.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Nauraushaun 01/22/2018 at 23:20

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Yes but the entire and sole point of a G65 is to be obnoxious and stupid, and the G65 furthers that purpose.

And it at least manages to be faster, not slower.

Nauraushaun > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 01/23/2018 at 16:27

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You’ve got me there