Consumer Reports issues "Good" and "Bad Bets" on used cars
03-12-05, 05:40 PM
#16
Lexus Fanatic
Originally Posted by gsfour
Why can't Germans make reliable cars? They've been in the car business a long time, right? People say, "German cars have the latest and greatest technology and hence more failures." I'm sorry, I don't buy that argument. If it doesn't work reliably, don't include the feature. Test and fix it for a later model before selling pre-alpha cars. Don't get me wrong...I like German cars for their performance and styling, but if they can't make it reliable...forget it.
AUTOMOBILE magazine did an article in their latest issue on exactly this subject......"Losing the Luster". It covers the general decline in German quality but focuses primarily on Mercedes.
Audis and VW's, however, have never been particularly reliable since the mid-70's when they converted from air-cooled RWD designs to water-cooled FWD's.
It's on the magazine's web site but may not be accessable yet:
http://automobilemag.com/toc/0504_toc/
03-12-05, 07:27 PM
#17
Lexus Champion
Originally Posted by Guy Legend
Not a single Japanese car on the bad list and not a single European car on the good list.....
~Josh
03-12-05, 09:08 PM
#18
Lexus Champion
Originally Posted by mmarshall
Audis and VW's, however, have never been particularly reliable since the mid-70's when they converted from air-cooled RWD designs to water-cooled FWD's.
03-14-05, 08:00 AM
#19
Lexus Fanatic
Originally Posted by nthach
i cannot list how many times I had to help my friend out with his VW Jetta VR6. But the older ones were fairly reliable. I also think the German parts suppliers had to cut down on quality, as they now have huge orders from Ford/GM/Hyundai.
TRUST ME........some of the worst VW and Audi products ever built were mid-late 70's Dashers, Rabbits, and Foxes....right after they decided to do away with the air-cooled rear-engine cars.
03-14-05, 03:54 PM
#21
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Originally Posted by gsfour
Why can't Germans make reliable cars? They've been in the car business a long time, right? People say, "German cars have the latest and greatest technology and hence more failures." I'm sorry, I don't buy that argument. If it doesn't work reliably, don't include the feature. Test and fix it for a later model before selling pre-alpha cars. Don't get me wrong...I like German cars for their performance and styling, but if they can't make it reliable...forget it.
Case in point, the new GS is just now coming out with technology that was in the older 5 series. Did the older 5-series break more? Yep, but some of those features were very, very nice.
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