I don't really see that much different in this makers mark grill from any of a number of store brand grills that have been produced over the years. It made from stainless, its got a nice look to it, it looks great on a spec sheet too. If you go by the specs and presentation, it is trying to compete with an S-620 or Genesis S-640.
Is it as good? Id venture a guess and say no. Will it be reliable in 3 years, who knows.
All grills that are in my budget have started using 430 stainless in place of 304 due to cost, maybe not everywhere on the grill but in a lot of spots. Not just grills, but a lot of production has moved overseas for a lot of components.
Realistically, I"m really not sure why you push so hard for a product like in the link. It seems to go against most your criticism of Weber. Its a Chinese made product that most likely won't deliver in the long term. Its a house brand that currently doesn't have a real reputation. Its a Kenmore grill but without the longstanding name and reputation, which didn't work in the grill space. The only wrinkle is the warranty, which is just a quirk of where it is sold.
Yes, I'd like the Weber to be cheaper than it is.
Has anyone actually done significant testing on the performance of these sorts of grills? Long term, 3 years or greater durability? actual taking apart a current Weber and comparing it to something like this part for part seeing what the difference look like? I don't have the know how to really judge the differences in construction outside of gut feelings. I feel that there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that these sorts of grills don't cook evenly, aren't reliable and fall apart in a few years.
I find most of the grill reviews on the web are fluff pieces that for the most part praise praise praise, maybe 1 small reservation, praise.
Di spite the criticism that the Weber grills are cheap Chinese crap, they seem to feel solid and have nice even heat, and most people are happy with them for a long time. I guess the redesigned Weber Genesis' are only 10 years old and then further redesigned sometime later. So the real long term durability of the N/S burner ones hasn't been proven.
Also, I tend to think some of us have a Weber defender bias as we've had ones that have delivered in the past, where you lean the other way. I do understand where you're coming from. Its hard to look at things completely objectively from either side.