Are European cars not long term reliable?

[415_s2k]

When I drive through the 'hood neighborhoods in Oakland, I see SC300/400's lifted on 24's and sporting neon metallic paintjobs.... I see 10-year o

[415_s2k]

When I drive through the 'hood neighborhoods in Oakland, I see SC300/400's lifted on 24's and sporting neon metallic paintjobs.... I see 10-year old 745i's on 22's with a young dude blasting his tunes and sitting with the seatback lowered as far as it'll go... something tells me that the people who are buying these cars may not be overwhelmingly interested or financially capable of maintaining cars that cost 50-80k brand new.

If you seize the engine on your 120k mile 2003 745i that you bought from some sleazy lot that also sells Persian carpets and pawns jewelry for a steal price of $20k, you are out almost half the cost of your car for a used engine to replace it, and you'll be well-over half if you go to the dealer and have a new or BMW-recon'ed engine installed by a BMW tech. If any of the major parts go, you'll pay 10x what you would if you were driving a 10-year old domestic sedan.

[Merc63]

Originally Posted by jtur88

One thing that struck me is that there is only one popularly priced car on the US roads that is a European make. There is a 17K VW, and the only other European makes that are priced below the 24K Volvo are Mini and Fiat, which don't exactly have the competition shaking in their boots.

But it does raise the tantalizing question of why European makers of mid-priced cars are not marketing them in the USA.

They all used to market here. Citroen, Peugeot, Fiat, Renault all had sales divisions here. BUT, they never considered teh US market important enough to set up a thorough parts distribution network, which meant that when the cars broke (and any car can break) it took quite a bit of time to get the parts, and they were costly out of warranty. If you car breaks and it's hard to get parts for, or takes a long time to get fixed, then it tends to set up a negative image in the minds of buyers.

One by one, the manufacturers pulled out of the US as it got too expensive to set up parts distribution AND get the cars certified to ever tighter crash and emissions standards here for cars that really had very little profit margin to begin with.

The Japanese in the early '60s started settting up major parts distribution warehouses and efficient networks even before making a big push to sell cars here. That made all the difference in the world. They really weren't any more reliable or cheap than the American or Europeans at the time, but if they broke, they got fixed quickly and inexpensively, and parts were easy to get, which made customers quite happy. And the Japanese put their effort into building for and selling in what to them was their largest market.

[Eastern Roamer]

I can tell you this - there is a thread here titled "Any bimmer owners with over 100K miles?" and there are no replies. I take that as a no.

[TheViking85]

Take a gander at Autotrader for BMWs with more than 100k miles, you'll find more than enough to satisfy your need, as it doesn't seem to take much proof to convince you, Eastern Roamer.

[outafocus]

As bad as Detroit cars are, when it comes to reliability, the Detroit brands REALLY outshine the Europeans. Of course, Japanese makes are the MOST reliable. Even Mercedes Benz have bad frequency of repair records. European make parts are also outrageously expensive.

[las vegas drunk]

Originally Posted by Eastern Roamer

I can tell you this - there is a thread here titled "Any bimmer owners with over 100K miles?" and there are no replies. I take that as a no.

I was going to reply to it, but he said NEWER than 2002 or so. I bought a 1985 BMW 325e with 200,000 miles on it by the original owner. It was extremely reliable and durable to say the least.

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by outafocus

As bad as Detroit cars are, when it comes to reliability, the Detroit brands REALLY outshine the Europeans. Of course, Japanese makes are the MOST reliable. Even Mercedes Benz have bad frequency of repair records. European make parts are also outrageously expensive.

On what do you base your claim of Detroit cars being "as bad as they are?"

[Merc63]

Originally Posted by Eastern Roamer

I can tell you this - there is a thread here titled "Any bimmer owners with over 100K miles?" and there are no replies. I take that as a no.

Didn't see that thread. My stepson's 2002 325i has 240k on it. My own 740iL is older than the thread apparently specifies, but has 180k on it and is a daily driver.

So maybe you just don't know as much as you think you do.

[High_Plains_Retired]

The argument over who builds the best vehicles will rave on forever. Although it was many years ago in the 1980s, in South America I noticed that my Chilean coworkers thought I was wealthy when they learned I owned a Mazda 626. European cars were cheap as dirt and driven by many. Japanese cars sat only in front of the houses of the rich. I was also told that no one bought American cars because they break too often and the repairs were expensive. That was indeed a lesson in life and perspectives but quite possibly outdated.