The Luxury Car Conundrum: Embracing Complexity and Impulse Buys

If I were to review any one of these devices, everyone would say, "Oh my god, that's so complicated. That's crazy. Why would you ever buy that car? All this stuff is gonna break." Well, here's the thing - over half of luxury cars are leased. Over half means Mercedes, Audi, BMW, and even Maserati, which has an astonishing seventy percent lease rate. People own them for three years. They want something new, modern, and cool that has cutting-edge technology in it and then they trade up for the next greatest thing.

That's the exchange program for the ultra-wealthy who can afford to buy a car like this one, which is an absurd amount of money - $155,000. The lease is probably quite expensive, but if the car lasts well and you don't really have to do anything maintenance-wise, you might not care what happens to it after the three-year lease period. Let's think about it from both the manufacturer's standpoint and the consumer's standpoint.

From the manufacturer's perspective, they've sold the car, so they're happy. They want to build for the new car buyer, who will enjoy the latest technology and innovations without worrying about the long-term reliability of the vehicle. In contrast, luxury car buyers often have a different mindset. They don't care about reliability; they just want what's cool and exciting. They make impulse emotional buys, eager to get their hands on the next big thing in automotive technology.

Manufacturers know this, and that's why they design cars with advanced features like seat massagers, scents that inject into the air, and even training plans for exercising while driving. These features might seem frivolous at first, but for someone who leases a car every three years, these gadgets can be the highlight of their driving experience. They don't have to worry about maintenance or repair costs because they'll just lease another car soon. It's not necessarily about financial prudence; it's about enjoying the thrill of new technology.

Toyota and Honda, on the other hand, cater to a different audience - people who want reliability that lasts for years, even decades. They want cars that will support them through their lives, from when they're young to when they retire. These companies understand that reliability is crucial for building trust with customers, and their products reflect this focus on durability.

In the luxury market, however, manufacturers have adapted to meet the demands of their high-end clientele. People like cool features and are willing to trade up every three years in exchange for the latest technology. They might not care about reliability or maintenance costs; all they want is something new and exciting to drive. It's a different mindset, one that values novelty over practicality.

The luxury car industry is built on this dynamic - manufacturers create cars with advanced features that appeal to the ultra-wealthy's desire for excitement and status. The question remains: do these features add value to the ownership experience? Some say no; others argue that they're essential for creating a unique driving experience. Regardless, it's clear that luxury car buyers prioritize style and technology over practical considerations.

The world of high-end automobiles is a complex one, full of contradictions and paradoxes. On one hand, manufacturers are building cars with cutting-edge features that cater to the desires of their wealthy clientele. On the other hand, some argue that these cars are designed more for show than for substance, prioritizing style over reliability. The truth lies somewhere in between - luxury car buyers do want cool features and technology, but they also need cars that will last.

As someone who's about to take this twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8-powered behemoth out for a spin, I'm excited to see what it can do. Will its advanced features impress me? Can it live up to the hype surrounding this particular model? Only time (and this review) will tell.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHello everyone and welcome we are sitting inside of our Mercedes S560 cabriolet,and this thing is just atechnological marvel I mean the amount of technologythe amount of features packed into this car is pretty mind-blowing and this kind of brings me to the discussion that I want to havewhich is about reliability and expensive cars and wild unique features in cars because one of the most common comments that I get on myvideos that are explaining you know unique interesting pieces of technology, and how they work isit's super complicated. Why would you ever want that it's going to fail? It's unreliablethat's that's a nightmare for reliability and the point I kind of want to make with this video isthat you know whether or not a car is reliable, uhh these expensive carsdon't need to be reliable and I'm not saying that this car isn't reliable or that, I dislike this carI think this s 560 is incredibleit's an awesome vehicle, and you know the engineers very well could have made all of the technologythat's packed into this last a very long amount of time, so I don't want to give that impressionbut I'm saying that they don't need to necessarily make it last a longamount of time purely based on who the consumer is so firstI want to talk about some of the cool things in this car and I'm going to start with climate controland you're thinking why is he going to talk about climate control? How could climate control ever be interesting, but just hear me outthey've done some pretty cool stuff with thisso there are not only exteriorbut internal temperature sensors for the climate control system to make adjustments it automatically knows whether the top of thiscabriolet is open or closed and will adjust the climate control system accordingly there are solarsensors multiple solar sensors which are looking for radiation,and it will adjust the climate control based on that radiationthere's an air quality sensor for the climate control systemwhich is detecting you know is there harmful gases that are coming in and it will make adjustments accordinglyit's kind of activated charcoal filter, and also has fragrance that it can injecton top of this there's a dewpoint sensor for the front windshieldso it's monitoring that the front windshield won't fog up in total. There are 12 sensors and18 actuators just for the climate control system in this carI mean, it's incredibly complex, and that's just the climate control systemyou've got all kinds of crazy features look at the size of these two screens. I can push this button hereand suddenly I've got a night-vision camerain my center display right there very cool and actually a good frame rate on thatnight-vision camera you've of course got adaptive cruise controlbut it goes beyond that you can turn the system on and it will do the steering for youeven on a road like this it'll it'll use not only radarbut also GPSin order for to navigate you on the road and do the steering for you you of course have to hold your hands on thesteering wheelbut it will adjust your speed your braking on your cornering for you in the event of a rear collisionthis will actually flash a light saying that you know it sees that a cars coming up on it too fastit'll flash the brake lights at the person behind you to help notify themit'll also lock your seatbelt to hold you in place and it'll lock up the brake, so you don't go shooting out and it minimizeswhiplash in doing this you know you don't run into the car in front of you or pop out into an intersectionwhatever it may be it'll hold you in place and minimize the amount of whiplashthat you're going to get if this car rolls overthere's essentially explosives for the rear anti-roll bar which will pop upso that if you do flip over you're not hitting your head the car will bear that loadthere's all kinds of insane technology in this vehicle. They have theseenergizing comfort modes which are pretty wild and it's a selection that changes based on what mood you wantso would you want to be refreshed and it'll turn on you know the cooled seats?it'll it'll play some refreshing seaside music. It'll adjust the climate control accordinglyit'll adjust the lighting in here, which you can't see quite as well right now since it's daytime, but at night timeit'll adjust the lightingfor you you can change tovitality toinvigorate you as it says. It'll change the music you've gotenjoyment, it'll give you a seat massage, so these seats have built-inmassage elements within them to massage you as you're driving around. It'll change the music so you enjoy yourself. It's got well-beingso all kinds of different absurd selections just in you know just using the climate controltaking advantage of the interior lighting the massage chairsThis car is truly just packed with insane amounts of Technologyand I find it awesome like I think it's really cool, and that leads me to the pointokay, if I were to review any one of these deviceseveryone would say oh my god. That's so complicated. That's crazy. Why would you ever buy that car all that stuff's gonna break?well, here's the thing over half of luxury cars are leased over halfso whether it's Mercedes Audi BMW if you got a car like Maserati,that's even above seventy percent of the cars are leased and so people own them for three years. They want something. That's modernthat's coolthat has this sweettechnology in it and then they want to trade up for the next greatest thing just like you do with your cell phone exceptit's the exchange program for the ultra-wealthy that can afford you know this car astested that we're in right now is one $155,000, which is an absurd amount of moneyand I'm sure the lease is quite expensivebut if the car lasts wonderfullyand you don't really have to do anything maintenance wise you know you bring into the dealer once a year twice a yearwhatever it may be if the car lasts under that lease program for the three years that you have itdo you really care about what happens to it afterwards, so let's think about it from the manufacturer standpoint wellthey sold the car so they're happy and then from the consumer standpoint the you know the first person who's actually buying this the newcar buyer they don't care that in ten years. Maybe some of this stuff will break and againi'm not saying that this stuff is going to breakbut there's certainly a mentality that things that are overly complicated do tend to fail just because of the sheer number ofcomplex items that are within this vehicleso I think the point to be made is that you know manufacturers are building for the new car buyerthey're not necessarily building for the used car buyer and for companies like Toyota and Honda that of course want thatreputation of reliability that you can buy this car you can use it for your lifetime you can you know run it 10 15 20years, and it's going to support you and then you pass it down to your kidsthey want that reputation because that helps with their new car buyers, but in the luxury marketpeople like to exchange cars they want the latest and greatest they make these impulse emotional buysand they want what's cool and of course in 10 years. You know the next S-Classis going to be way cooler than the current S-classit's going to have all kinds of crazy technologyand so as a result you know people are going to be trading up so I think the thing just to keep in mindyou know what I'm saying ok this technology is like super bizarre very cool. Here's how it worksit's just that for some buyersthey want cool tech, and it's not about reliability not everything has to be about reliabilityand I am with you 100% and that I think you know things should be designed to last and that's a great thing to havebut for people that just exchange these every three yearshonestly thinking about you know are my seat massager still going to work in 10 years time with this energizing comfortthat's not as important it even has like a training plan where I guess you can exercise while you're in the carand they'll walk you through exercises so that on your way to work you can I guess you know pump some ironthe equivalent of whatever that is for an executive driving an s-classperhaps just squeezing the steering wheel I don't know what it isbut it's got a training plan in there to do exercises as you're drivingit's got ways to you know try to keep you awake. It's got that scent to inject for youvery cool very complicatedand perhaps reliable, perhaps not who knows I think it's sweet though, and and I understand why cars like thisexist people like cool features. They're not investing in it. They're not worrying about the depreciation. They're leasing itthey're enjoying the new technology because perhaps they have too much moneyand don't know what to do with all of it, and they want to have something exciting to drive whatever it may be who caresi'm not I'm not trying to judge that decisionit's not a financially smart decisionbut you know it may be an emotional decision that improves their happiness and so so be itoh my whole point with this is is that expensive carsdon't need to be reliable purely based on who's buying them and very often the casesthey're just leasing it and owning it for three years.So thank you all for watching if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below,and now I'm going to see what thistwin-turbo 4.0 liter v8. Is capable of.\n"