Thank you all.
Even RRocket.
I was reflecting on the journey to this point and tried to search if I had any buyers remorse. I have none.
The other cars that I considered all had some fatal flaw that rendered them a poor choice. You might not agree with the flaw in question, but in my mind it makes sense even after the fact, which is good.
Some ramblings on the other candidates.
Mercedes C400It ended up not really being the mind blowing car I had foolishly expected. It is merely "very good". Unfortunately its also very expensive (I was looking at $63k+ MSRP) and there is something about the styling that is "off". The S-Class wears the language much better.
Mercedes E250 BluetecI really like this car, and I don't care that its slow. Problem though is that, other than the expense, is that I didn't feel as if I was "ready" for the E-Class. I didn't feel like I could "carry the image" properly at the age of 29, and it would very much send the wrong message professionally, especially right after a promotion.
So, some day perhaps. But not today.
Acura TLX SHAWDThe ACC on this car is really bad. Its very jerky and almost "binary" in it action. Also I hate touchscreens, but I could have gotten over that if the ACC was good. There is a lot of positives about it though.
Audi A3/S3 2.0TTechnically an exceedingly competent car. ACC works well. But the car itself looks runty, like a varsity athlete's chubby little brother. For the money involved, just wasn't seeing the value to me.
BMW 328/335Its a great car, its just too much money. I was building a 335 and I ended up around $64k with options. For that kind of price I am going to get a C400. BMW reliability also scares me more than Mercedes as does the relative douchiness of the dealers compared to the corporate MB Toronto store.
Infiniti Q50The car is fascinating and the Hybrid is an excellent powertrain, but the car just didn't speak to me. Not sure if its a sport sedan or a luxury sedan. Might be failing at both. Big discounts available. Nail in the coffin is that the ACC only holds the brakes at a full stop for 3 seconds before disengaging and allowing you to slowly creep into rear ending the car in front. Also, touchscreen.
Lexus IS350ACC turns off under 25km/h or 40km/h or something. So that was never going to work. Also that awful mouse thing. There's a great car underneath, but Lexus did an Acura and almost deliberately screwed
up.
So by process of elimination, the V60 wins. It beats out its S60 brother because its a wagon, and is therefore cooler.
