I traded in my S2000 for a 2007 Audi A4 2.0T Cabriolet with 33k miles in August 2010, certified pre-owned (luckily). I was spoiled by the S2k...aside from burning a quart every 3k miles from driving hard in vtech, only had a coil pack go bad after 3 years, 45k miles.

The A4 burned so much oil to the point that the dealer had to replace the piston rings earlier this year. This came after months of going back and forth with the service department about the issue...needless to say, it was extremely frustrating. They kept telling me that "all turbos burn oil." I kept yelling "my Supra twin turbo does not burn ANY oil, and my S2000 didn't burn this much oil despite driving in vtech frequently."

My A4 spent almost 4 weeks at the dealership. During this time, my loaner car was a 2010 A4 2.0T. While I had the loaner car, the LOW OIL light came on also. I cannot make this stuff up!

Several weeks ago, my A4's battery went bad and I was forced to drive my Supra to work through one of the worst storms the Chicagoland area has seen in recent years.

I've had enough. After less than a year of ownership, 12k miles of driving, and 5 (or more) trips to the dealership, I am taking the A4 to Carmax this Thursday and they are handing me a check for it. I am taking a significant loss on it ($7k), but luckily the car is paid off and that check will go to my pocket. Yes, the A4 is certified for 2 more years, but like most people....I don't have time for this bull.... I don't want to wait and see what else will go wrong with this car in the next two years. I don't have time to be at the service department every couple months, and I refuse to represent and drive a brand that I despise.

I bought the A4 thinking that since it was my newest car, thus it would be my most reliable car. Boy was I mistaken. I'll never own an Audi ever again.

I don't have much experience with new BMWs (I only owned an old E30). BMWs have been a mixed bag from what I hear from my colleagues. One guy says his 2009 328i has been excellent, but we have a mutual friend that also owns a newer 3-series and she says that the car shut off on her randomly a couple times while driving. Scary!

As for Mercedes, I don't have any personal experience with them yet (my wife wants to trade in her RX400h for a GLK350 next year), but one of my good friends owned a previous gen ML350....and during a road trip, the suv CAUGHT FIRE and burned to the ground! No one was hurt, thankfully.

 

So far had the 335i for about 2 years:

It hasn't been perfect but I LOVE the car
To me, it has been worth the couple trips to the dealer.

Would i own it past the warranty? HELL NO!

 

My argument for Japanese cars?

My '07 Yaris S sedan has 111,000 miles on it. Repairs? Zero.

Runs and feels exactly as it did on day one.

 

For MB, stick with models before 1999 and after models redesigned after 2007. And avoid the ML. That model single handedly brought the reputation of MB down. The problems are epic. The reliability between the w220 S class and the new w221 is huge. I haven't had a single problem with my s550. My father's s500 sat in the dealership for 3 months total during his first year of ownership!

 

I once had to drive an ML when I worked at a dealer. It was about 8 years old or so. It literally felt like it was built by the Chinese 15 years ago. I mean the thing barely held itself together. I couldn't believe it.

 

This is all anecdotal, but my MBs (E63 and S550) have been fine, so has my wife's X5 and her prior 335i. My friend's 535 (and prior 525) has had problems all the time, he calls me once a month asking me "is this normal?" It's a 2010 and it ended up having a bad fuel pump which I thought they rectified by now.

The bottom line though, never buy a German car in its first (or sometimes second) year of production, there always seems to be gremlins they have to figure out. That's why I've been timing my leases so I get the car after it's been around for a couple years at least. Ya, the service is covered but I don't like the down-time and the hassle.

 

My E90 is a first year model - one of the first, an '06 got it August 2005 and for the past 6 years it has been wonderful outside of runflat tire issues (the newer models seem to be a bit better). It's on Hankooks now and love em!

The E46 I had prior was good as well. My buddy's new 535i seems to be good, probably too early to tell. And i've had other friends with Audis' and VW's that didn't seem worse than you would expect.

This is all situational but do i think German cars in general are more reliable than Lexus or Japanese makes? No

How much longer will I keep my BMW i can't say but unless something big is gonna happen, i can't say at this point that i am seriously worried at all and it is out now of warranty.

Nothing to do with reliability, I am looking at maybe a Lexus or a G37 coupe for my next ride along with something Japanese made for a winter beater if I don't keep the bimmer

 

great post

 

Hahaha heck yeah, I have a co-worker that used to have a prior gen ML - 2004 i think and man that thing always seemed to be ready to fall apart and always in the shop.

I do like how the new model looks though but wouldnt drop $$ on one.

A C63 however

New Merc's seem to be quite better than previous.

 

the ML and the CL, both of them were time bombs

 

Nope, BMW still hasn't gotten their crap together on those twin turbo I6s.

 

I totally agree my old 02 CL was a time bomb. My last 2 Mercedes (06 CLS500 & 07 CL550) have been very reliable. As long as I get the service done, everything is lovely.

 

I don't know about yall, but when I buy a car I pay cash and then I keep that car until basically the repairs cost more than the value of the car. The value of a car unfortunatly will always decrease so you are loosing money on your cars every day. It does suck that no matter what you do, you will almost always loose money when it comes to cars. Houses I would say are the more important value. They can actually make money or at least keep a decent value. I figure I can own a really nice car after I have made tons of money and am retired. For now my new 02 ES300 will do

 

I think it's really hit or miss with a lot of these cars. Not sure you could ever buy one certain model, year, make, etc. and have an entirely reliable car or a complete lemon. That said, I know many BMW owners and many of them have had no issues whatsoever (335s, 330s, M5s, M3s, etc). My parents have an Audi that had one issue with a window regulator, however, other than that, it has been a great car. The only people I personally know that have lemoned a car were both MBZs.

I think "reliable" is a little subjective too to a lot of people, it all depends on an individual's tolerance level. Some people think if their door makes a rattle the car is a POS. Then there are those that deal with replacing parts (even frequently) but accept that as part of vehicle ownership and as long as their car doesn't leave them stranded they don't mind.

 

at the car show I was sitting in a Sonata and two of the guys were all smiles saying how they couldn't wait to dump their 5 series BMWs, they were sick of fixing them, I was amazed they would make the switch.

Porsche is the best German brand. I have a friend who has a 540 and BMW canceled his extended warranty because he kept taking it in, I didn't even think that was legal but they found a loophole. Another friend had a MB 500SL and the air suspension went out at one wheel, it would have cost him 10g's to fix, instead he lowered it and sold the POS.