I had a Volkswagen years ago when I was younger. It burned fuel like a truck, rattled itself loose and all the parts and maintenance was Rolls Royce expensive.
I ditched it for a Toyota which gave me over 10 years of trouble-free miles and did not rattle apart.
Now I have a Toyota and a new Mustang 5.0. Both of them are reliable, well built cars and very inexpensive to maintain and buy parts for.

But anybody I know with a VW, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, ooh man.
They burn oil, they require very expensive maintenance, they have little part failures like power windows, etc. that wouldn't happen on a Kia.
If Ford or Chevy can build a performance V8 with incredible power and reliability, why does BMW build something that can't hold itself together for 80,000 miles without extreme maintenance costs or trips to the mechanic?

This is just sort of expected. As soon as the warranty's up, sell the car or expect to pay huge repair bills.

Don't get me wrong, Ford, GM, Toyota, Mazda, whoever bring out real shit cars every so often, but they don't expect you to fork over four-figure repair bills to keep the car humming along at low mileage.

Part of the price issue is you've got the dollar to Euro exchange, shipping, tariff and taxes, the other is those brands are higher end brands - ergo higher prices for parts.

As to quality or problems, the ones I've had only had a few issues, the Porsche developed a rear main seal leak at 7500 miles, lucky it was a warranty claim. Oil changes were outrageous at the dealer, 10 qts of oil and a filter was close to $300.

Guess they figure if you can buy one, you can pay to maintain one. Go see what it costs to do the annual maintenance on a Bugatti Veyron... or Ferrari LaFerrari..

It almost seems like the car of a certain origin is similar to the attitude of its women. Italian, temperamental. German, exacting. Canadian, evil. Seems to fit most car makes for some reason.

Stereotypes aside, all women need care, feeding, and maintenance now and again. So does your car.

H&K-Guy

You why the Brits don't make computers?

Can't figure out how to make them leak oil.

Because they are. Duh.

German vehicles seem to require more maintenance because the ones that we get in the US are largely built for performance. They're also built to deliver much more specific output. For example your 5.0 liter V8 mustang puts out about the same torque and horsepower as the 3.0 liter I6 that powered my 2015 BMW M3. A 4.0 liter Ferrari V8 puts out close to 600 horsepower in its current iteration, almost 40% more than an American 5.0 V8, or in the interest of fairness a 6.2 liter GM V8. The smaller size allows those engines to fit in smaller, lighter cars that allows them to accelerate as fast or faster, top out faster, turn harder, brake and steer better. All of that higher specific output requires more maintenance. Plus parts are more expensive to a certain extent because people will pay the higher price to drive those vehicles.

Me personally, I'll stick with American trucks because they do the best job doing what I need to do - tow heavy. However, for a fun car or something that I want to enjoy I'm done with American cars and Japanese cars too for the most part. European cars have nicer interiors, better performance per pound and quite frankly feel like higher quality. The crappy, cheap plastics in American cars, and even the latest Hondas that my wife and I have owned simply don't feel as good or make one feel like they're surrounded in quality like European cars do. I don't mind paying more to own and maintain a European car because to me, the experience is worth more. It's not that the cars are any less reliable if they are properly maintained, it's just that it costs a lot more money to maintain the more sophisticated vehicles. At least that's been my experience.

Canadian women and cars are evil?

I learn something new every day on SigForum.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
Canadian women and cars are evil?

I learn something new every day on SigForum.

Well, it was funny when I wrote it, I swear.

H&K-Guy

I've wondered the same thing. I understand high performance cars needing more maintenance but a Volkswagen shouldn't, nor should a common Fiat commuter car. But regular European cars don't come close to a Kia in reliability and build quality. Europe should have this figured out by now.

I had to deal with this when I sold cars to put myself through the last couple years of college. I concluded that Europeans put a high value on performance, mainly handling and high-speed stability, which were inconsequential to the American market. They had the Autobahn and the Alps, we had speed-limited Interstates and city streets laid out in grids. If we couldn't use the performance, we wanted to be bored to death with reliability, and the US manufacturers responded to this.

Until the last ten years or so, I valued European-style performance and was willing to put up with European unreliability and maintenance costs. I owned MG's, a Fiat, a VW, couple Volvo's and a couple Mercedes Benz's. Every one of them left me stranded by the side of the road at least once. I switched to American cars, lately two Jeeps and a Chevy Cruze.

The Asians, when they decided to enter the US market, correctly analyzed our requirements and aimed for reliability and durability, and did it so well that they have dominated for years, now. I've driven a couple high-end Asian cars in the last few years, and they don't drive anywhere near as nicely as my European cars did, but next time, I'll probably buy one.

I've owned 12 BMW's dating back to 1980, and immediate family have owned another 7. With one exception they have been reliable and inexpensive to own so long as I stay away from the dealer and I stick to the 5 series and smaller with the simpler 4 and 6 cylinder engines. I have avoided the V-8's and larger, direct injection and forced air induction and have been satisfied. I walked away from several great "deals" because research proved they were the wrong engines. BMW may love technology, but it doesn't necessarily love them back.

I guess my experience has been different. I did melt a piston in my VW bug when I was in college, but that was racing with a Camaro and a 5 liter in the San Marcus pass. I got by the Camaro, and came out of each corner on the Mustangs tail. Of course once it got straight he left me in the dirt 'till the next corner. The reason I melted the piston was because I didn't realize the cooling fan was driven by the alternator and if I wanted to wind it up that tight I needed to change the alternator pulley to slow the cooling fan down so it wouldn't cavitate. It cost me $46 and change for a complete jug to replace it and I was back on the road quickly. Mrs. slosig is on her third BMW without any maintenance issues. You'll get no argument from me on Toyotas being bulletproof though - I'm on my fourth Toyota pickup.

quote:

Originally posted by H&K-Guy:

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
Canadian women and cars are evil?

I learn something new every day on SigForum.

Well, it was funny when I wrote it, I swear.

H&K-Guy

What Canadian company builds cars?

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:
What Canadian company builds cars?

This one still around?

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:

quote:

Originally posted by H&K-Guy:

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
Canadian women and cars are evil?

I learn something new every day on SigForum.

Well, it was funny when I wrote it, I swear.

H&K-Guy

What Canadian company builds cars?

You're just now getting the humor? Wow. Tough crowd tonight.

Maybe you guys should spend some more time in the cat thread and loosen up a little bit.

H&K-Guy

BMW's tend to be complicated, and they are designed with performance in mind. When a product has so many bells and whistles, reliability suffers.

Hondas and Toyotas are reliably boring, but are less complicated and that is part of the reason for their reliability.

In my HS days, a friend of mine and I went together and bought a used....... Sunbeam.
The only car I have ever owned that hated me. And it tried to kill me once in a cornfield.
All its electrical components were made by a company named Lucas. Which was British for junk.

I was amazed to see Lucas crap under the hood of a Ferrari Daytona!

A friend restored an early XK-E, using American electrical stuff, primarily GM. Of course, he changed the system to Negative Ground. He swore, and I have every reason to believe him, that he had the only XK-E in Chicago Region SCCA that could make it to Elkhart Lake and back without something shorting out or catching fire.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
In my HS days, a friend of mine and I went together and bought a used....... Sunbeam.
The only car I have ever owned that hated me. And it tried to kill me once in a cornfield.
All its electrical components were made by a company named Lucas. Which was British for junk.

Lucas = The Prince of Darkness.

When the world was young, I owned a Triumph TR 4A and had to deal with various electrical issues. Even so, it was a really fun car to drive!

My only other significant experience with a European. At is my older daily driver a BMW 5 series with a straight 6. An absolutely phenomenally reliable car.

Silent

My three Audis: nearly perfect and error free, and my favorite vehicles to date.

My two Fords: enormous pieces of shit, and one was a money pit, as was my Dodge.

My Toyota and Honda: amazingly reliable and resilient, but way more plain / less plush.

My carburated Harleys: never leaked a drop of oil nor given me problems.

My Yamaha and Honda motos: way more finicky than the Harleys but I still love them.

tl:dr

It varies.