Are German Cars actually the Best in the World, as I've Been Led to Believe?

[Rachelspiks]

A Volkswagen

In terms of quality and performance. Now, I've always only ever driven Japanese cars (I have a Nissan), and they're incredibly reliable.

[MuddyMole]

Well, there's not that much competition these days, with the amount of conglomeration going on - how many countries even still have an auto industry? Skoda and SEAT are both owned by VW, and use VW platforms (eg. VW Polo, SEAT Ibiza and Skoda Fabia are all basically the same car) - so I'd say they're more German than they are Czech/Spanish.

Mercedes and BMW are obviously very good, but they're priced accordingly.
VAG group cars (the ones that people actually buy, not the Veyron/Chiron etc) are mediocre at best - if you buy the Skoda or SEAT version you more or less get what you pay for; if you buy the same car with an Audi or VW badge, you're getting ripped off.

Japan are awkward, because they make some fantastic cars - most Hondas and Subarus, and the sportier Mitsubishis, Nissans and Toyotas - but the vast majority are more like automotive white goods.

You could argue that British cars are the best, since the only British manufacturers not to have been bought out by foreign interests are McLaren, Morgan, Caterham - all of which make great cars.
Similarly, Sweden only have Volvo and Koenigsegg (RIP Saab :'( ).
Holden went under, so Australia are out of the running, sadly.
The Netherlands make some cool niche cars too, apparently: https://www. drivingyourdream. com/articles/20-current-car-brands-from-holland
(I remember that Donkervoort used to hold the Nurburgring lap record)

[Anonymous]

I have a 2008 Mercedes-Benz GL320
and a 2010 Ford Focus.

So far, my Mercedes is the one sitting in my driveway with constant airmatic suspension problems. It's expensive to fix, and it fails frequently.

Meanwhile my Ford has NEVER given me any issues that would prevent me from driving it.

Which leads me to believe that the simpler the car, the more reliable it is.
The more sophisticated the car, the more of a headache it will be.

[snowgirl123]

I don't know much about cars sorry but I think Japanese are better unless they are Mercedes or Bentley

[DeeDeeDeVour]

German cars are well-designed & well-engineering marvels.

[LaFerrari]

Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, BMW, Volkswagen, Gumpert are quite powerful when it comes to performance, Now it depends on reliability on the high performance cars, you're going to be paying 10x the amount you would than lets say a Chevy or Ford, and even with the lesser expensive cars, The parts will likely cost more for repairs, especially if you go to the brands dealership.

I would say Mercedes tops everyone else when it comes to affordability for the best luxury, Rather than paying $500,000 for a Rolls Royce Phantom, you can buy S-Class Maybach S650 for $200,000, see where I'm going?

Even for those car brands lesser expensive vehicles, they are reliable for the most part, the super performance cars are reliable if you maintain them, but if you're an idiot with it... it won't last very long, and depending on your wealth you may end up broke trying to keep up with it.

I find that BMW, Mercedes and Porsche are a bit more sophisticated, which also attracts people that act "sophisticated or above everyone else", Polls have shown over the years that German cars are more likely the lead causes of tailgating and often road rage.

But really it depends on the experiences of the consumer (:, people like to bloat about having the best cars in the world... same with any products.

[horsenrhinounicorn]

German cars in general are more costly for parts. There are not the best in the world, they are often the most sophisticated.


You can go to England and get a Rolls Royce made for a Queen starting at $311900



BMW and Mercedes have excellent performance suspension and high performance engines. If you can afford it its an enjoyable car, but costs a lot more to keep on the road.


Porsche and Audi get even more expensive to maintain, many of them are fun for driving and on the track.


Toyota and Honda have the best track record for reliability.


Lexus and Acura are luxury subdivisions of Toyota and Honda.


Nissan has a lot of good years and several bad years.


Ford has an OK track record for trucks with V8 engines and manual transmissions.

[exitseven]

I know somebody with a Mercedes. It is in the shop all the time and the always charge plenty to just do an oil change.
I always buy American Made. I get well over 200K miles on the three that I have been driving since the 80s. My wife's Ford Country Squire was 15 years old before we sold it.

[Rachelspiks]

Well, I can't buy American made, because they don't sell them here.

[exitseven]

That is sad Do they even have roads in Antarctica?

[wankiam]

as an auto engineer for the last 40 years i can tell you german engineering is the best and this extends to their car makers too... if you like jap stuff then stick with it because they are a close second but just once i suggest you test drive a mercedes benz

[ChrisMaster69]

I’ve owned German cars for last 15 years, BMW, VW, Porsche, Audi

The main reasons have been performance, engine build, and drive ability.

Try getting a car over 300bhp or more that is not German in the UK.

I currently have two very good and very capable performance cars.

Are they the best in the world, no they are not.

Do they produce the best overall performance cars are a reasonable price, yes they do.

[DryGermanGuy]

From a luxury standpoint German cars are the best you can buy, albeit with a matching price and maintenance cost.
From a quality standpoint, Japanese cars are a bit better, especially given their lower TCO.
If you want the best from both worlds, buy the luxury sub brands from Japanese car makers, i. e. Lexus from Toyota, or Infiniti from Nissan.

[imjustadude]

Cars suck. They rust, fall apart and need expensive fuel. Get a male and a female horse and you will have something to ride for the rest of your life for the cost of hay. How many cars can repair them themselves and give birth to their replacements? *drops mic*

[DJB72]

Personally I prefer Swedish. I've had a couple of Volvos and I'd buy another any time. BMW parts are too expensive - especially on the X3 and X5.

I've never had a problem with reliability on the Volvos I've had. My cousin loved Saab as well. Great cars

[DCooper]

It's completely a matter of individul taste. Personally my favorites have always been vintage American stuff. But I can appreciate the impressive stuff lots of people have done with small displacement japanese 4 bangers. I could see dealing with the maintenance nightmares for the sound of an italian v12. But the german cars, for the most part, have always struck me as overcomplicated for no real benefit.

[worldscolide]

Not even close. There is a reason Ford is the only company that has a car that was nicknamed the ferarri killer.. Trust me on this, I would rather have an American car with 100k miles on it than a European car, the difference in cost to upkeep is astronomical. My friend just went in for a tune up on a BMW.. it cost him 10 grand, because to do the tune up, you have to remove the engine. Hell no, just because it's foreign dies not mean it's better.

[Rachelspiks]

Okay, but if I bought an American car that would be "foreign" too.

[Barry88]

I really like American cars, but their fuel consumption is enormous. In my country, with emission based taxes, buying an American car is incredibly expensive. Apart from that, they're not popular in Europe due to the huge fuel consumption (fuel prices in most European countries are much higher than in the USA), the size (many Europeans prefer smaller cars, many towns are older with narrow roads) and the unavailability of manual transmission and diesel engines. There are quite a number of reasons why American cars are hardly exported to countries outside North America.

[worldscolide]

Gotcha I will take my tesla model s elsewhere then lol.. Zero emissions.

[DCooper]

Haha my 69 camaro with the 396 big block gets less than 10mpg. Do I care though? Nope !

[DCooper]

Ford is alao the only company with a car nicknamed the crowd smasher :p

[genericname85]

no. "made in germany" is dead. the only country that still produces quality shit is japan. and who knows for how long they can still compete with that on a market that is completely built around planned obsolescence.

[genericname85]

the german automotive industry is dying right now anyway, cause merkel has decided we're not gonna build any more combustion engines and china doesn't send us the needed parts for our EV industry to thrive. meanwhile merkel also decided to kill the electrical energy production industry as well. so yeah. germany is dying to ideological goals right now.

[DryGermanGuy]

And if you look close enough, Merkel is roaming the streets at night, deflating all the car tyres. Are you trying to be the drama queen of Germany? We will always have a successful car industry, people all around the world want to buy our cars. And that will continue with electric cars. See here: www.spiegel.de/.../porsche-elektro-taycan-ueberholt-den-klassiker-911-a-1852728e-9a6d-4971-9e47-dafd6e0d19b2

[genericname85]

@DryGermanGuy no but killing the combustion engine and electricity production in Germany at once by introducing co2 tax and by having a strict anti combustion engine policy despite the possibility of having co2 neutral fuel... Like what would she have to do so you say that she thew a wrench in the works of the German industry... I guess you're living under a rock. Asian companies and Tesla are currently laughing at the German industry cause they have at least 10 years of r&d in electric vehicles plus actually working supply chains. Go take a look and see how many cars VW built this year. They are literally dying. Cause they can't even continue to develop their new EVs thanks to dead supply chains.

[genericname85]

@DryGermanGuy also the news article you quoted is so facepalm for the argument you're Making. Of course an electronic Porsche will be quicker. That's in the nature of electric motors... You should rather look at sales and production numbers. Cause that will show you what's happening in the industry.

[DryGermanGuy]

Yeah, I am sure, a company selling ~10.000.000 cars per year is literally dying. Suuuure. They had the Diesel motor scandal (their won making) and - as all manufacturers - CoVid. And as they had decreased sales with other crises (2000, 2008), they will have increased sales the following years. Your concentration on short-term drama makes no sense. I say it again: The German car industry will always be successful.

[DryGermanGuy]

Errrmmmm... Neither the article nor me wrote anything about "quicker cars". Seriously, what the hell? The article states that the electric version of the Taycan is *selling* like crazy, overtaking the sales of the petrol 911. Overtaking, as in greater sales numbers, not racing. And I remember well the naysayers/experts that gave the opinion, Porsche could/should not build electric cars. Well, they can, successfully.

[Barry88]

German cars are good, but I would say that quality wise, Japanese cars are better. Also, Japanese carmakers are further when it comes to development of EV's.

[jamesgoldman]

German and Japanese are both good

I know when Toyota started to export Lexuses to the UK they were commonly referred to as the Japanese Mercedes

[EssenceOfLight]

Not anymore. Those cars are designed to be service nightmare and planned obsolescence is a thing in German cars. Probably the less reliable second hand cars.

[Starman5]

German cars are among the top 5 cars in the world. Maybe not the best but very good quality. and other brands are also very nice and high quality of course. we own an Opel brand car. We are very pleased.

[sattii2607]

I would say German and Japanese set high standards for their cars in their own way and the Koreans are catching up close to the Japanese.
Coming to uber performance and luxury it's the Germans hands down

[DCooper]

Kia and Hyundi have made a lot of progress over the last decade. Pretty impressive

[sattii2607]

Absolutely, I drive a New age Verna and it's fab

[Anonymous]

They're fine if you have enough money to pay for all the repairs and maintenance.

[noohair]

I have driven Toyota's and they all lasted a long time.

[Anonymous]

Japanese cars are the best and most reliable. Toyota in particular.

[Super-Sam]

Yes
German cars are best

[Rachelspiks]

Yes, I thought so. :)