I was contemplating moving to a German car after this one, or just staying with Acura or Lexus brands. I don't know much about BMW's, Audi's, or Benz's. I know they are great with performance and quality but do they last nearly as long as Japanese cars? My dad has an older Jag that he loves, but that's british and I never plan on getting a Jag. So how is the reliability and cost of maintinence compared to our cars?

 

BTW - I'm contemplating the same thing. I should have a bimmer
at the end of this year, but its good to always be informed.

 

Quality and BMW do not go hand in hand. I got rid of a 2003 330i SMG for my TL and could not be happier. The maint cost on a bimmer is cheap, since it is free for 4/50000. However after that you are screwed. 129 dollar oil changes. As far as reliability, there is none. Mine was in thr shop 9 times in 5 months. I drove the loaner more than my car. Do a search for BMW, you will find alot of the same sentiment..

Just my

 

BMW is good for leasing, they have high residual.

Just add gas and drive. It will break down, but warranty will take care of it and you will get a loaner (talking from experience).

Mercedes Benz, I really like them but this site has some horror stories about them.

Audi, they are very nice cars, but I heard people with S4s having the car in the shop for more than a month.

All brans has at least some lemons. I just do no accept the issue of having troubles with a $30k+ car.

 

German cars are so expensive to fix and maintain.

 

Then I shall stick to Acura.

 

Of the Germans, BMW probably has the best quality. THey have some problems, but Benz is haunted by electrical gremlins right now that they're working out, and audi was known to be unreliable but they're slowly getting better. There are 2 BMWs in my family, one with 80k on a 99 323is and 170k on a 1987 325 is and both are as reliable as my CL and my moms Maxima.

In general, German cars are not as reliable as the Japanese, but offer a much better driving experience.

And why in gods name would you pay 130 bucks for an oil change?? Go to a local gas station and pay $20. BMWs aren't that special when it comes to an oil change.

 

I had a BMW - 1980 320i - that never gave me a single problem in 3 years of owning it. I even went 25k miles on it without changing the oil.

 

It cost $151 for an oil change and tire rotation from my Acura dealer

I think Acura is preparing me for future BMW ownership

:IBtehmovetocartalk:

 

the japanese are most def more reliable and cheaper to maintain or fix

 

That's definitely arguable...

 

To be honest all brands, makes, and models will have issues. But in general, most cars are fine. I really think at times..the consumer asks for too much.

As for the comment on issues with a $30K car......I rather it on a $30K car than a $100K car!

 

I thought SMG was only available in the 3-series starting in the 2004 model year?

 

Friend of mine got the 1.8T GTI with 90k+ miles and no problems. There was a recall on the windows coming down by itself, but after they fixed that, it was fine. I do know that Euro cars will tend to have electrically problems. Another guy I know bought a brand new E320 and had to take the car back because the battery died 3 times in less than a year.

 

if you compare the toyta or honda brands to the bmw i would say it is.
they are more reliable throughou the life of the car. now i know it costs about 1000-1500 for a timing belt or so people say for the jap brands, and i could only imagine what it is for the bmw. thts only reg. maintanance.

 

Definitely agree on the Honda/TOyota brands, but I think once you get into the Lexus/Acura/Infiniti areas you start comparing apples to apples again.

 

bmw, audi, benz is all free for the first 3 years.



Im staying with german cars for life. They arent expensive to fix if you take care of them and know a independant shop to do the work for cheap.

 

WTF?

 

i have never had a german car, but mostly what i have heard, i only have 1st hand experience with the asian cars

 

ive had an audi A6 2.7T for almost a year and have not had a single problem, i love it, it is the best car ive ever owned. and by the way, maintainance is free for the first 50k miles...including oil changes....and its got a 100k certified warranty so i dont know how its supposedly so expensive to fix and maintain?

 

 

German cars cost more to own than most Japanese brands given similar cost cars. They do tend to have more warranty claims as well. I have bought 7 German cars new and never had one I considered a lemon. BMW has the best statistical reliablity except if you count Porsche CARS. The bottom line you pay more for the driving experience and the badge. The key for BMW and other Geran makes is to find a good indy shop for after warranty work, most decent sized metro areas have one or more shops.

Vandy

 

This whole time i thought it was 36k miles free maintenance, but that was BMW.

Shit i didnt know audi is 50k miles

 

That was the good old days before bean counters took over these great car companies.

 

MB as well

 

BMW and Audi are both 4/50, Merc stopped the program last year, you pay as you go with them now.

Vandy

 

Independent of performance, I always go by Consumer Reports when looking at used cars. While BMW and MB arent shown in strong numbers in the 'below avg reliability' category, they have NO presence in CR's Good Bets list.

My stepfather's brother traded in his relatively new E39 530i for a Nissan Murano because of all the shoptime he'd experienced with his Bimmer.

I personally wouldnt have any problem getting a BMW but that only because I'm not a daily driver. (This is probably why I have NO problems with my garage queen 02 Maxima....it's only a weekend cruiser. ) IMHO, if it's to be a daily driver, then I'd definitely rethink getting a BMW or MB and lean towards a Lexus/Acura/Infiniti.

 

BMW as well

 

bmw is 3/36 at least my 330ci was.

 

Mercedes didnt just "drop" the service....any car that was made during the MY05 wouldnt have it but all previous cars that have the service it still applies.

In the long run (out of warranty), Japanese cars are much cheaper to own than German cars. If you keep a car till the warranty goes then boot it, go German. If you want to keep a car for 200,000 miles that still runs great, then go Japan. I have owned 2 cars that went out of their warranty and will never do that again. Too much money to fix the damn things if something goes wrong.

 

My parents friend owns an auto repair shop and he swears by MB and Nissan. He doesent even go near BMW

 

Hmm I guess I will be sticking with Jap's then because I am cheap and I always buy used cars and probably always will. Plus I like keeping my cars till the run into the ground so I guess once my current car hits 100k I will chuck it and get a newer RL to run into the ground.

 

Yeah, I was the same way... I had my last car (94 Tbird, purchased used in 95) for almost 9 years. 136K miles and the tranny started to go, so I unloaded it while it still ran.

My CLS 6spd is the first new car I've owned (and at 38, I've owned a few cars).

I'm think that I might want to get back into used next time around, but then I keep hearing that there might be another acura coupe coming out...

 

Been a while since it was new then, BMW has been 4/50 for a couple of years. My M3 is 4/50.

Vandy

 

I didn't mean to imply the cut people with older cars off, they dropped the service on new cars as you said.

Vandy

 

Agreed, while their descriptions of driving and handing are pretty laughable, their tables on reliability and quality control are well worth looking at. To that end, you can see how, not only the model you are interested in, but the entire manufacturer performs.

To that end, I wish I had looked at CR before leasing my VW product.............. which promptly cropped up with $$$ electrical problems after 50,000.

 

That explains why one sees a SHIT LOAD of 3~4 year-old BMWs for sale...

 

If my 99TL were going downhill, I would be selling it right now to get a 04 TL. However, it still runs so good as if I got it off the show room. No squeaks or rattles of any kind (except for when the temp hits –30 degree). When they built my car, I think the CEO of Honda must have been watching over it. Next car for me is definitely a Japanese car. Mostly likely another Acura.

 

Just substitute 99TL/04TL/Honda/Acura with 02Maxima/05G35X/Nissan/Infiniti and I totally echo your post Madcat. Bottomline, I cant imagine not buying a Japanese car. (I occassionally look with pride at the '100% Made in Japan' sticker that came with my Maxima. )

Now if I had plenty of $$$$$ to burn, then all bets are off. But so long as I have to work for a buck, I need value; value that only Japanese-built cars seem to provide.

 

i like acuras, but they're not as impressive as bmw or mb....not just the brand...i mean there are some things i find on the car, that i say "wow, that's really stupid"...but, don't get me wrong, they're nice cars and mine has had no mechanical problems or anything...comfortable, no stupid azz sqeaks and rattles like american cars, and i'd recommend it....but in 3 or 4 yrs, i'll make the switch to a bmw or mb....

only thing with bmw is they're freakin expensive....any notice how damn expensive the 645ci is?....they're like mid 80s loaded....on the flip side, a CLK55 is 1 second fast to 60mph, and is around 15k less than a 6 series....those cars are way too overpriced...only thing that pisses me off....plus reliabilty problems, if they occur...