[mjr24]

I just think Mercedes' offerings are pretty blah right now.....especially if you want a driver's car. They were pretty damn hot up until their models that came out over the last 2-3 years, too.

C class....boring (especially versus the new 3).
E class......incredibly boring unless it's an E63 (which are still going to be $500 more per month to lease than the M5)
S class.....on the last year of it's life cycle. S class will always be king but BMW did a great job with 7 series LCI.
CLS class.....boring. Boring AMG models for this car. I mean, the AMG model goes like 0-60 in 4.5 or something....my 2003 SL55 was faster than that. Just whores out the AMG name.
ML....boring especially versus the X5.
GL....boring....especially versus the X7.
The G550's are gorgeous.....but they aren't really aimed at normal MB buyers.

Audi's models started looking worse two years ago. It seems Audi hit a peak in the early 2010's and it's hard to live to that standard. I thought the A5 was cool when it came out as was the A7.....the A8 model that started in 2012 (I think) looked great, too. I loved the last generation A7 and the new one is just plain. They all look the same, all the performance cars are slower than the BMW ones. Tech is way behind BMW (and I have a new Q7...it's meh).

Mercedes is lost with their AMG models that aren't 63's. No, a M550i is not a real M car and some might say it brings shame on the M name....but a car that does 0-60 in 3.5 or whatever is hardly a shame. At least BMW put that M name on cars that they have put impressive numbers into (even if below a real M car). An AMG-badged car that is still in the 4.5 range is pathetic. You pay for a badge and no actual performance in the whole AMG E43/E53 trash.

Just my 0.02......it all depends on what you want in a car. However, I should not have to accept a downgrade in tech with an Audi or MB at this price point. Like MB for example.....5 seconds for the map to show up? I thought the lightning fast quickness of the BMW maps, etc. were an industry standard. I guess not. Rather, it just tells you how far ahead BMW is here.

I don't know....I've owned a lot of nice cars in my years (Mercedes, Porsche, BMW, Audi, and Lexus back when they were hot in the early 2000's) and I keep coming back to BMW. I'm 39 and BMW's cars just seem aimed towards the "younger" professional demographic. Unless you have a 63 AMG (and thus willing to pay 30% more for a car that is simply on par with M cars), the Benzes aren't. They are for old people.