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Do you think BMW quality is necessarily better than VW quality?
Or is this just brand loyalty/nameplate and status thing and to justify a much pricier product.
According to Consumer Reports in reliability (which to me determines a quality vehicle) VW is indeed better than BMW. However, in my personal experience it is simply not the case, but again I am a single data point.
I don't see reliability and quality as being the same thing.
I can buy an extremely intricate, took-3-months-to-build-by-hand watch, which I would consider high quality in both materials and workmanship, but I guarantee it would be outlived by a $10 walmart digital watch that a robot made in china in 12 seconds out of silicone and copper....
Maybe I should clarify. If you've got a timepiece constructed of quality materials and manufactured with quality standards it will significantly outlive a $10 piece of crap. Hence the existence of watches and other time pieces that are over one hundred years old.
In the same vein, a quality piece of material manufactured with great tolerances that simply does not work reliably is NOT a quality product.
Reliability IMO is a large part of determining the "quality" of a product. Otherwise a piece of sack cloth w/ a Hermes label on it would suffice for a product.
If you think a quality product is in label only that is your opinion, and your money. Your entitled to it, and to spend how ever you see fit.
And for the record I own one of the vehicles brands listed as well as another German brand and still agree with the findings.
Audi and BMW are comparable brands, but comparing a VW to a BMW does not make much sense in North America. BMW only serves the entry level/near luxury market to luxury market, whereas VW is focused more on a mass-market consumer under the VW brand, and the same target market under the Audi nameplate as BMW. Anecdotally, I have had fewer problems with BMWs than Audis, though current Audis do have an edge in design over a comparable BMW product. VW is more a competitor for Ford than BMW.
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I would certainly be less inclined to own a VW out of warranty than a BMW, but the biggest difference in my opinion is that the BMW's a simply better products.
They handle better, feel better, at least for me, they're more comfortable (though VW has stepped up their game) and I think they're more refined. Does that warrant the price difference? Maybe not, but it would for me.
And considering I could get a 6 year warranty and maintenance package on a BMW, I'd feel more comfortable buying that.
BMW I think will have superior components and engineering. They put much more money into designing a BMW than a VW. Reliability and quality are a different issue IMO. The VW could very well be better.
I have two VW's
-2004 Passat
-2009 Jetta
Neither car has cost me anything except maintenance which is expensive IMO. $80.00 for a basic oil change.
I worked at a place about 10 years ago that was owned and run by two brothers. They both purchased BMW vehicles. They were always complaining stating it was always in the shop for some reason, both of them. One of them got rid of his after a year of dealership BS. The other still kept his and was still having trouble when I left.
Do you think BMW quality is necessarily better than VW quality?
Or is this just brand loyalty/nameplate and status thing and to justify a much pricier product.
This would be a more apt question if the comparison where Volkswagen and Audi, which often share engines and platforms and in a few cases are only a small step above outright badge-engineering. In the North American market anyway, BMW and VW are different animals in terms of performance, materials, fit and finish, and just plain overall attention to detail. My mom has a 3 series and until recently I had a top-of-the-line Jetta of the same vintage. Crawling from one to the other, the difference was immediately palpable before even turning the key.
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