Do you think maintenance will be difficult/expensive on it? Are the prone to BMW-esqu failure where every part is super complex and 3-5k
Yes. yes I do. That said, the friends who desperately wanted me to buy an AMG ("one of us, one of us, one of us") have a commercial shop with lifts up in Lynden and they are itching to demonstrate its mechanical inferiority through maintenance. I also purchased the vehicle in no small part because it has experienced over $17k in maintenance in the past 18 months, during which time it has driven less than 100 miles (not including the 900 miles the dealership put on the dyno so they could fill its ECM with history for emissions testing). Said dealership actually charged the guy an hour labor to put on the tires, then billed him per tire weight. I also accidentally downloaded the shop manual to my phone while looking to see if it was available on the Internet. Finally, I don't drive much. I really don't. For work I ride a bike and when I'm not working, I basically drive to pick up my daughter or run errands. The 1500 miles I put on it last week will likely not be exceeded again through 2019. The car basically exists because I can't pick up my kid on a motorcycle. I'm exactly the guy to take on the care and feeding of a 15-year-old Porsche.
I would make one practical argument and one impractical one: 1) They weigh a fuckton. Which means that yeah - you can make them go just as fast and handle just as well but you have to try twice as hard. A p/w ratio in a 6000lb car comparable to a 3000lb car requires twice as much power. That means twice as much engine. Horsing it around a corner requires twice as much tire. These are solved problems, obviously - there's many a Bentley with no difficulty and an f'n Maserati Granturismo tips the scales at an astonishing 4300lbs - but a CLS55 at 4300 lbs is simply 1.5x the car of a Porsche convertible at 3000. The AMG has the advantage of spiriting you and your three buddies around in total comfort but really - fuck my three buddies. I need room for a companion and a toddler. 2) While neither of my two friends are members of the Armenian mafia, their cars most assuredly are. Anyone who has spent any time in Los Angeles has formed an indelible association between AMG and Brand Blvd. in Glendale. Which is not AMG's fault, which is wholly irrational, but there it is.