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In Reply to: RE: The German car makers are the first to go public... posted by ghost of olddude55 on September 14, 2021 at 13:51:38
Worst car I've EVER owned my entire life!
Follow Ups:
Let me guess, you bought it used & didn't a proper inspection before you bought it ?
With a at the time "generous" 2 year / 24,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty. Guess when things went wrong? Just after the warranty period, surprise, surprise... AFA used cars go, I would NEVER in a million years buy ANY used car that was not "certified".....
What year ?
NT
...other than the warranty provided--which you can purchase to cover any used vehicle that you choose to buy.
"Certified" gives you a documented checklist of inspections/service and some sort of extended warranty, but any "legitimate" dealer will perform these type of inspections and any necessary service prior to offering ANY used car for sale, and extended warranties are available for purchase, separately.
CPO is primarily just a "value-added" selling point.
"So I talk to the night, I head for the light, try and hold it on the road. Thank God for the man who put
the white lines on the highway"--a very dear friend for decades Michael Stanley (Gee)--RIP
nt
there really aren't any German cars anymore. Or American cars, Japanese cars, Korean cars, etc. Car makers are global companies with no national allegiances other than those required by law where the corporate HQs are located.
Cars are built all over the world on universal platforms that can be scaled up and down as needed. Machines do nearly all of the critical work, so it doesn't matter where the car was built.
GM, for example, not only builds more cars outside the US but it also sells more cars in the US that are built elsewhere than it sells US-built cars.
And they are ALL cutting production. GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda.
The German CEO quoted in my OP is the only one to admit that they intend to undersell demand and raise prices for the foreseeable future. But they're all going to do it.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
In the case of the German manufacturers that are headquartered in Germany (ie VAG, Daimler and BMW) which means that at least ALL their profits are taxed in Germany.
Including any profits made by production in China for the Chinese market or any made in USA and sold there.
The same goes for any individual with a main residence in Germany.
Meanwhile the vast majority of their cars sold in the European market are made in Europe. But all Mercedes GLEs and GLSs are made in the US but all C class for example cars are made in Germany.
That is despite Germany having some of the highest corporation taxes in the world. Which probably why the German tax revenue was $1.3 trillion while the US tax revenue was only $2.3 trillion despite having 4x the population (2019 numbers) and Germany has to all intents and purposes no national debt.
(They do have a national debt but others owe Germany substantially more than Germany owes to others, $3.1 trillion more)
I had a 5-speed standard transmission Jetta GLI as my first new car out of college. Ran the wheels off of it, even towed with it.
Only problem was a AC valve went bad under warranty, nothing else.
The Pirelli tires wore fast, sucked in snow and were replaced with Michelins.
Haven't tried any of their recent offerings.
My Audi is the third German car I've owned. The first was a 1976 German built Mercury Capri that was killed by an old man turning left in front of me when I was 16. The second was a 2000 MBZ C280 that had 220K miles on it when it was totaled last February by an old woman, you guessed it, turning left in front of me. The MBZ was great, a very solid car. The Audi is all that and quicker, faster, handles far better, and is much more comfortable. It is a dream to drive. And I got an absolute bargain on it last year when I bought it as a CPO with 11,000 miles on it.
So, whatever it is that you prefer, great. I'll stick with the Germans.
Without going into details here's my summary:German = hella fun 'til they require hella costly repairs around the time the warranty expires!
Japanese = bland and boring but lasts forever on regular oil changes.
We've owned many BMW and a couple VW, and many Toyota and Honda in our family including relatives. Some include:
BMW X5, BMW X3, BMW 330i, BMW 335i, BMW 135i, 83 VW GTi, 2003 VW GTi, older Jetta.
Toyota Corolla, a couple Camry's, a couple 4Runners, a Tacoma truck, Tundra truck. Lexus IS250. Honda CR-V 2007, CR-V 2013, Honda Passport.
Throw in a couple old Datsuns including the 240z and 510, but I wouldn't consider any recent Nissans. And my older Chevy Luv pickup made by Isuzu.
Bottom line:
German = Fun
Japanese = Reliable
Edits: 09/15/21
Aside from the 240Z, it looks like you only purchased boring utility vehicles from Japanese auto makers.
The Japanese make some pretty fun sports cars.
Our experience as well. Our Mercedes was great, but always expensive to maintain and repair. It took us far too long to find a great independent that didn't charge a fortune, then Carol totaled the car. Still, not great "fun" but a nice driving car.
Our Acura, nothing but oil changes and tire rotations. We even can get it serviced at the Honda dealer across the street from my wife's office. I think we've taken it to Acura once for a warranty issue, but that's it. It is boring though. Got the job done of hauling around the girls in their monster sized car seats.
The Audi, remains to be seen. At least I've got a great independent mechanic to start with, and 3 more years on the warranty.
I would love to try Audi someday, something like the Q5 or SQ5 or A4/S4. I like their Google Maps display in the cockpit but we're talking newer models with the pricey options ;-(
I got very lucky with my A4. It's pretty loaded (no rear heated seats, much to my daughter's dismay). It's great. I love the Q's, if we didn't already have an SUV I would've gotten one. I understand the SQ5 is on the way out in favor of the e-tron. Better performance or so the sales guy said.
Anecdote, my independent MBZ mechanic bought an S4. Said lots of guys in the shop were switching to Audi. Name of the shop: Mercedes Exclusively.
are quite different in feel and drive from their Japanese brethren.
I'm pretty much a BMW guy as far as German cars go. But... in general German cars are tops for me.
If I were looking for a new car (kinda into the SUV thing right now), and I could swing it; BMW would be it.
VW, yeah, never owned one, don't plan to, so I get his point there.
We desperately wanted the Audi Q5 when it first came out, it was such a solid, great driving vehicle, unfortunately it was just too small. We had 2 babies in VERY LARGE car seats and they just wouldn't fit.
We found a pretty adequate substitute (not driving style mind you) in our Acura RDX. 2013 was the fIrst year of the "new style, non turbo" model and I was skeptical, but it's been trouble free and has nearly 150,000 miles on it. Doesn't drive nearly as well as the Audi, but it fit the car seats. Only other vehicles I could find that would (no mini van for my wife) were the VW Jetta and Passat. Almost pulled the trigger on the Passat, but the dealer turned into a complete a$$ so I walked.
Incidentally we only bought the MBZ because the car I really wanted at the time, the BMW 5, was unobtanium. Only car we could find in stock that was close was the C280. That worked out pretty well for 20 years.
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