Cars We Drive!

[HRoi]

It’s weird because MB practically penned the blueprint for the “modern gran coupe” with the CLS. And I generally like the lines of their current lineup, particularly the C63 coupe. So it’s surprising how ungainly the GT63 came out.

I guess anyone can have a bad day. They get somewhat of a pass given the kind of abominations coming out of the design studios of their friends in Munich...

 

[clee1982]

Yup the original CLS definitely nailed it, then the last gen 6 series was probably the prettiest recent BMW...

 

[TheFoo]

Surprised you guys like the original CLS. Understand it was supposed to be a more style-oriented, coupe-like sedan, but always thought it looked terribly awkward. From all angles, it appears to be drooping or melting. Also, the CLS proves it’s quite possible for a car to look too low and long.

I actually prefer the AMG GT sedan. Still has some awkward angles, but it looks at least as good as the current Panamera.

If you want swoopy, sporty sedans, nobody does it better than Aston Martin. The Rapide was gorgeous and the super-limited Lagonda even more so. The latter is easily one of the most attractive four-door cars ever made. Of course, one must suffer for style. Neither car has the interior space (or performance or technology or engineering or reliability) you get from competitors.

 

[Dino944]

I was never a Panamera fan, but the current model looks better than the original.

I've also never liked the CLS. I always thought that it looked like the design team had a deadline to meet, there was a bowl of fruit on a table, and they were inspired by the shape of a banana!

The original prototype...before they turned the banana over.

The partner of a nearby law firm has an AMG GT63, and I just don't love the design. I'd rather have a more traditionally styled 4 door MB such as the E63 others have already mentioned.

 

[Thrift Vader]

Yeah, this isn't bad.

But i like this better.

 

[TheFoo]

Not sure if I mentioned it here, but I’ve been working on a complicated front seat project for my GT3.

I had my car built from the factory with the single-piece carbon fiber buckets:

These are absolutely amazing seats. A lot of people seem to find them too upright, but my wife and I think they are extremely comfortable and supportive even after multi-hour drives. Plus, I think they are gorgeous.

However, in addition to having very little adjustability to speak of, these seats don’t fold. This was okay when I only had to carry my daughter in the back, as she is old enough to squeeze behind the front seats herself and climb up into her car seat. However, that doesn’t work for my four-month-old son! We need more room to maneuver him into place.

The solution? I chose the option of installing OEM folding carbon fiber buckets.

These were seats you could option on the GT3 outside the U.S. However, because they lack height adjustability and airbag sensors, they were not available to North American buyers.

I don’t think they look as good as my original seats, but I much prefer to stay OEM and they are attractive enough.

Easy right? Not even close.

First of all, the seats can only be sourced from Porsche—and only by a non-U.S. Porsche dealer. No biggie. I ordered from a German vendor at a decent price.

But Porsche will only sell these seats with black stitching and black leather pad inserts! My interior has platinum silver stitching and alcantara / houndstooth inserts throughout. The only ways to fix this are to: (1) completely re-upholster the seats or (2) find a little old lady in California with tiny fingers willing to spend two weeks manually picking out all the stitches and re-stitching each stitch by hand into the pre-existing holes without leaving any trace of alteration. Naturally, I went the second route. Though I didn’t have to literally find the old lady. I just connected with one of the many Porsche aftermarket specialists out there. She works for them.

I think they did a fantastic job:

Keep in mind, the factory does not stitch by hand! They use machines. Also, they stitch the individual leather pieces before they are upholstered onto the seats. The person in California who did the work on my seats had to do everything by hand, with the leather already glued on! It would have actually been cheaper to completely re-upholster—but then I’d lose the OEM leather.

Now the re-stitched seats are in transit from California to the shop in New York that works on my car. They will paint the plastic harness pass-throughs in Miami Blue.

Simultaneously, a guy in England is making replacement seats inserts using OEM houndstooth material that matches what I originally ordered from the factory. No, this fabric is not easy to get a hold of.

When the the seats are completed, the physical installation will be simple.

However! Remember, there are no airbag sensors. U.S. GT3s are coded differently and also don’t have a switch to manually turn off the passenger airbag. So, unless you re-code properly, you’ll have perpetual error lights. The solution is to re-code so that the passenger airbag is always on—which means no kids in the front. But that’s why I’m doing all this in the first place and why it all makes sense. Right? Right??

When the kids are both older, I’m going to install complete rear seats and seat belts. Eventually, when I don’t need to carry them around anymore, I’ll put the original single-piece buckets back in the car. And then it will be like I hadn’t gone through any of this in the first place.

 

[bawlin]

The person in California who did the work on my seats had to do everything by hand, with the leather already glued on!

Rstrada?

I think you'll like the 997 GT2 buckets. I find them to be much more comfortable than the 918 buckets.

 

[TheFoo]

Rstrada?

I think you'll like the 997 GT2 buckets. I find them to be much more comfortable than the 918 buckets.

Exclusive Option.

Yeah, a lot of people like the folding buckets better. We’ll see.

 

[clee1982]

OCD has its price..., you're in the burbs now right, just spend 30k buy a Toyota..

 

[TheFoo]

OCD has its price..., you're in the burbs now right, just spend 30k buy a Toyota..

Nope—still living in Manhattan.

 

[clee1982]

Sorry then for some reason thought you moved to CT...

 

[Thrift Vader]

You haven't experienced comfort until you sit in a late 90's ls400.

super fast sofa.

 

[clee1982]

I was in late early 2000 LS430 (NA market only get big engine to start with, XF30?), got a very MB W140 feel to it (and MB had already moved to W220). I don't recall it being "fast" though...

 

[Texasmade]

Surprised you guys like the original CLS. Understand it was supposed to be a more style-oriented, coupe-like sedan, but always thought it looked terribly awkward. From all angles, it appears to be drooping or melting. Also, the CLS proves it’s quite possible for a car to look too low and long.

I actually prefer the AMG GT sedan. Still has some awkward angles, but it looks at least as good as the current Panamera.

If you want swoopy, sporty sedans, nobody does it better than Aston Martin. The Rapide was gorgeous and the super-limited Lagonda even more so. The latter is easily one of the most attractive four-door cars ever made. Of course, one must suffer for style. Neither car has the interior space (or performance or technology or engineering or reliability) you get from competitors.

I've never been a fan of the looks for the GT63, Panamera, or CLS but if I had to choose between those for looks, I'd go with new Panamera, CLS, GT63, old Panamera. None of those look as good as the E63 AMG sedan or wagon though.

 

[Thrift Vader]

GSF.