A colleague mentioned that one of his superiors at work was in the market for a small-size luxury sedan. As expected, he was considering the usual suspects: the Mercedes C Class and the BMW 3 Series and it seemed he was angling towards the C Class. I convinced my colleague to let me speak to Mr. X. An appointment was made and I was invited to his home the following weekend. When I arrived, I observed a 2010 Mercedes E Class parked adjacent to the front door and just as I rung the bell, a woman (whom I later found to be Mr. X’s wife) drive up in a Mercedes M Class. At that point, I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy task. To be fair, Mr. X was under the impression that I had come to advise him on which of the two cars he should buy. He had no idea what I had in store for him.
A C Class with class
After regaling me with his car history over the past decade (all of which were BMWs and Mercs), I inquired about what features he desired and what the projected use case of this car would be. As envisaged, he listed features such as reasonable interior space, high fuel economy, ease of maintenance, multimedia capabilities, reasonable safety features and suitability for everyday use.
I took a swig from my glass and said Mr X, I think you should get a Corolla”. A Toyota Corolla?, he asked with his facial expression changing. Anyone watching from afar would have assumed that perhaps I had made some inappropriate comment about his wife.
He then tells me that perhaps I was mistaken about why he invited me over. I answered that a Corolla had all the features he had just listed. He then proceeded to ask me about various features of the Corolla. After pondering for a few moments, he concluded that he didn’t want a Corolla mostly because it wasn’t associated with elegance. Agreed, said I. Truth be told, I didn’t intend for him to go for it. I was simply priming him for my real suggestion.
After a few moments, he asked wryly, Any other suggestions? Not that he was interested. He was simply being sarcastic. Before I could answer, he followed up with another question on what I had against the C Class. And I simply told him that the current W204 C Class was not a true Mercedes. He was shocked. This is getting interesting, he said in the same wry tone. Care to elaborate on your indictment? (his words). And I told him that though the lovely and gorgeous exterior was betrayed by its dismal cockpit. I then showed him juxtaposed photos of interior of the C Class and E Class. He began to soften at the sight of the two very different worlds before him.
It was time to conclude this onslaught. I told him that if he didn’t want a Corolla, he could always go for a Lexus IS. And I told him, the Lexus IS is everything the Corolla is in a more upscale package. I then showed him photos of the IS next to those of the C Class. At this point, I could see that I was getting through to him. He said he would like to sleep on it and thanked me for my visit.
Long story short, he bought the Lexus IS a little over a week later. I got a call one fine Friday evening; it was Mr. X thanking me for my recommendation. As he put it, he was mightily impressed. Even his wife was very happy with it. He then suggested that we should get together to discuss viable alternatives to Mrs. X's SUV. Rest assured, neither a RAV 4 nor a CRV are on my list.
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