I'm not gonna argue that the Germans USED to make really good cars that were very high quality, because that isn't true. I will say that the German cars of today aren't nearly as reliable as Japanese cars.

 

That's a pretty bold thing to say. Do you have any hard data to back you statement? And what do you mean by quality? Most german cars are very well balanced and have some of the best intriors. German cars feel very solid compared to the compatitors as well (we're talking *<mid 90s). Here are a few links to prove my claim (I also know a few people that buy nothing but high - mileage German cars and swear by them):

'92 MB 300
http://www.edmunds.com/used/1992/mer...61&dcr_usein=u

'93 BMW 535i
http://www.edmunds.com/used/1993/bmw...u&modelid=3215


'90 VW Golf
http://www.edmunds.com/used/1990/vol..._consumer.html

'90 Audi 200
http://www.edmunds.com/used/1990/aud..._consumer.html

 

I don't really have any data, but people wouldn't buy 100K+ MB and BMWs unless they were at some point a high quality car. European cars have a reputation of bieng high class cars, i figure that they had to get that reputation somehow. Since thier recent cars aren't so good, i have to assume that thier older cars must of have been good cars, especially since i see a lot of the older cars rolling around.

 

LOL, I think I misunderstood you or something. I thought you said that it wasn't true that Germans used to make really good, quality cars. Well, there's nothing to argue then. It seems that we drew the same conclusion.

 

Something that I have always found amusing is that, aren't all of these cars built in America anyways?


But to argue the point of VW slacking in recent years, I think the VW GTi R32 would contest that statement

 

No most VWs are built in Mexico [&o].

How is R32 an eveidence of slacking. Aside from reliability issues - it's one sick car. It's arguably the best looking hatch around and that car has more then enough power - there are also numerous FI options available for that car

 

yeah, for 60,000 miles, at which point it would **** on itself just like the rest of them.


I have a lot of respect for the ergonomics, drivability, and power potential of volkswagens. But it's a car, IMO that you should only own if you have a couple reliable cars to get you where you need to go.

 

Not all of them. I personally know a few people with many more miels than that on their VWs. One of them has a mkiv GLI which still runs strong at 180k miles. The other has one with 100k miles - it's a 4dr GTI auto that runs mid 13s (he did have to replace a tranny once, because he tried to squeeze it into 12s)