ACoF

I think it's far more fair to instead consider the fact that 90% of the population have absolutely no clue what a car costs unless an actual sticker price is in the window. Take all the people dealerships make tons of money off of by raising the price stratospherically above sticker. Most won't ever know how much they overpaid by. Most won't really cross shop dealers, not as hard as your average informed enthusiast would.

Asking people how much they'd pay for a luxury car doesn't really make sense unless you contrast with other brands. The average person really doesn't know. Someone in the video said in the 35k range. They're comparing it with a toyota camry, though they don't know it. Insideline needs to knock this crap out, now.

Hell, for comparison, show people an M5 from a year ago and ask em what they'd pay for it. Bet you'd never hear anywhere close to $100k. Truth is, nobody really knows the value of the commodities they purchase, without a price tag attached.

GinoGT

Realize that you've brought up no bad points about the car, only that most people are retards that are overly concerned with the brand name. I take this as high praise for the car.

dombey

no I haven't driven any of those cars. Not my bag.
But they called it out in the article... something about "driving dynamics and interior refinement aside, it's great" or something.

I think it is a myth that any one company can offer a car that is, for all intents and purposes, the same as the class leaders at a significant discount for a sustainable period. You may see some hot pricing to gain market share early or build a reputation, or you might see the nissan GTR strategy (ie reasonable price, but you pay a markup and you pay through the nose for service...FREQUENT service). This one sounds even more temporary given the "experimental" service side of things. But at the end of the day, the BMW/Benz/Audi prices and the hyundai prices will get a lot closer together, or the hyundais won't ever get to the level of their german counterparts. Things are getting more and more mechanized and located in low cost manufacturing locations; I just don't think it is possible to cut 30% off the cost of a car anymore simply by being Korean vs. German. If Hyundai finds some crazy manufacturing technique or chassis design that is superior and costs a fraction of the industry standard, it will be copied immediately. If customers start flocking to hyundai because of their superior value, you'll see better value out of the germans...it's simple economic stuff.
Hyundai seems to be very much in the "brand building" stage and almost all of the reviews sound the same...ie "it's almost as good and it is way cheaper". Like I've said before, that's awesome.... I just don't find it that exciting...sort of like I've seen it before (with the japanese).
I agree the new v8 and the 8 speed will help; but I don't expect it to make the car identical to an s-class.

MDXLuvr

All that video shows is that Socal is filled with metrosexual dudes who have absolutely no effen clue about cars!!

Obviously that is not really true but that video is plain stupid. One guy says - Its not a beemer, not a MB but its worth $20-30K.