Thanks all for your valued opinion. Very much appreciated.
Having owned a few BMWs and toyotas, it is obvious to me you have not extensively driven a german sports sedan.
if you drive to get from point A to B and care more about cup holders than than driving pleasure then yes, korean and japanese cars are better.
There is a reason every major car maker in the world has a competitor to the 3 series, and still the 3 series sells more and is the priciest. its because most of the buyers test-drive a few of the other cars (including C-class and a4) and find the price premium worth added driving fun factor.
Well in my experience, I've driven both car manufacturers, the BMW Z4, Benz ML350 and Mercedes Benz SLK55 AMG, including a dark horse (Porsche Cayenne Turbo) not mentioned in the topic, but I'll mention it either way because it's a car not to be messed with.
My two favourites have to be Porsche Cayenne Turbo and the AMG.
Handling and performance has never been a problem with these two cars.
But i do notice the lower priced end of Mercedes-Benz are most likely to fall apart over time (Benz ML350). We had to get our timing belt replaced and the sunroof started acting up, but everything was fixed under warranty.
Also, buying a car based on the number of cup holders is total bullshit in my opinion. You have to buy a car based on it's power, performance and warranty.
Completely disagree, the times of German cars being clearly better to most/all others are long gone - it is mostly brand reputation at this point. These days Toyota has something superior across almost the entire product range, regardless of price - taking your example, the BMW 3 series cannot hold a candle to the Lexus IS.
Half of my family is German and neither they nor I would buy a German car over a Japanese one in most cases (except for the tax incentives in Germany, maybe).
Reliability? Price? Resale value? Fuel consumption? Brand recognition?. Safety features?
Love to see those sports cars on the south side getting it up to a rousing 80km/hr to be stopped by a bus or roadwork and crawling at 30km/hr while I pass them on my bike.
What a bunch of posers...
I'm sure they think they look good doing it though.
I knew that.
But generally, a while back (several years ago), there was a survey done with American consumers on what makes or breaks their decision. The major deal breaker?
The car had to include cup holders.
You're right. Other important points.
But resale value, not so much. We all know that once you purchase a car and drive it past the curb of the dealership, you've just lost $5000 USD of it's resale value out the window.
Last edited by Schrodinger; 04-12-2009 at 08:38 AM.
a) Not everyone buys new cars
b) There can be as much as 30% difference in loss of value between different car brands and models after 3 years. For those who are not driving Porsche's and Mercs, that is a significant difference.
Personally I don't care since I'll never, ever own a car again... I don't need to be a polluting poser...