Should I buy a Genesis to replace my Mercedes?

QUESTION

Good morning John,

I did the cardinal sin of purchasing the three-prong-head suppository cars (2 of them) in the last 2 years (C63s and now a CLA45s) – both of which are appalling in terms of build quality.

The CLA in particular is a rattle cage, and I’m done fighting MB head office in getting things fixed. They truly are a company / brand to avoid at all costs. I have learned the hard way.

I made Mercedes buy back the C63s (albeit at huge loss for in terms of depreciation), and I’m actually in the process of selling my recently purchased CLA (only 6 months old). What a piece of sh*t!

This is the main reason for me reaching out, and venturing away from European cars generally.

Given my experience with Mercedes and other European cars (mainly BMWs and Audis), I’ve come to a point where I’m just looking for something solid in terms of luxury, build quality and reliability.

My understanding is the Genesis brand is rated highly in the JD power statistical studies. I’m not sure how dependable the results are, but the general list appears to be agreeable in ranking.

What is your view on the GV80? Being a brand new SUV with no history, I suspect they will have some niggling issues to rectify in the coming months / years. Such as: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2020/09/419_290807.html

However, I also suspect their customer service and response would be vastly greater than Mercedes and other European brands given that they are a relatively new brand trying to make themselves known in the market.

If not the GV80, would you recommend anything else? Criteria being: Small to medium SUV, enough grunt to get out of trouble (doesn’t need to be a sporty SUV), loaded with the latest tech, budget up to 130k.

Hope you can help, and keep up the awesome videos!

Regards,

Steven

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ANSWER

Hey Steven,

Thanks for the kind words mate.

I’ve loved every AMG car I’ve ever driven (about 20 or 30 of them, I suppose) but thank Christ I got to give them back, no questions asked…
They really are terrible at customer care, and the CLA is indeed an emphatic POS.

Bottom line - the vibration thing is one of those in-service teething problems. They’ll implement a running fix and look after the ones currently in service. This is why I always advise people to wait six months if they can before buying any all-new car. (Mazda’s 2.2 diesel had terrible oil dilution problems when first introduced. First new Impreza I drove just died on me in traffic. I called the PR guy, who said ‘yeah - they’ve just released new firmware to cure that’. It rebooted and ran fine.)

Genesis will clone the Lexus approach and actually look after customers. This is an easy win for both brands - it’s actually amazing, after a round of Benz (or Audi) ownership in particular, to own your first Lexus or Genesis and discover they don’t actually treat you like shit when you darken their door with a problem.

I drove the GV80 briefly the other day, about 12-15km. It was the 3.5TT - went really well. (Not AMG ‘really well’ but good enough for the target market and the intent of the car.) Very comfortable. Wheel a bit chunky, Nice instruments. Very comfortable. Decent dynamics on shit roads - for a luxury SUV.

The only other luxury SUV I would buy would be a BMW X5 - pricey, however. I’d want to spend at least $130k on that, however. But I’d probably prefer a new Santa Fe Highlander and an i30 Fastback N, which would bring me in about $20k under budget.

So there’s that… Let me know how you go with the Genesis dudes - I’ve nudged them to reach out.

JC

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