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Thinking about buying a Volvo wagon. I keep reading/hearing horror stories about reliability. And I can't find any website that has owner reviews.
Other choices are BMW and Audi wagons.
Then someone told me: "You never keep a European car past the warranty period."
Is this true? I am not trying to be facetious, I am sincerely asking whether there is some memo I missed about never keeping a European car more than five years??? Then again I don't see many really old Euro cars on the road.....
I've owned all three, including varying years and models. In the end it's not about choosing the manufacturer that doesn't have issues, it's about choosing the issues you want to deal with.
You see more old bmws on the road in most areas but that probably has more to do with them being more popular cars and relatively easy to repair. The old volvos and audis tend to disappear almost completely by the time they're 12 years old. All of them are prone to becoming money pits after 5 years. At that point it's just a matter of whether the owners find them endearing enough to keep alive despite their flaws. That's another advantage of the bmws, they're still enjoyable to drive even when they age.
How old (or new) will it be when you buy it and how long are you planning to keep it? Such will greatly influence how much risk you are taking in potential costly repairs. If your buying new and not keeping it for 10+ years, you can always purchase additional warranty coverage to keep you covered from any costly surprises.
I will say with Volvo, there is some unknown in how their new line of Drive-E engines will hold up long term due to being new on the market.
I have thought about this same exact issue, and love German cars. At my work, there are many car enthusiasts. I have actually heard people say it's better to keep American cars on a longer-term basis than German cars. The main reason is........cost of long-term maintenance. American cars may not be more reliable than German cars, but it is for sure much cheaper to maintain.
I know many friends with older German cars approaching 200k miles. But I have not met anyone with a new German car (2010 or newer) who is actually planning to keep their car any longer.
You see more old bmws on the road in most areas but that probably has more to do with them being more popular cars and relatively easy to repair. The old volvos and audis tend to disappear almost completely by the time they're 12 years old. All of them are prone to becoming money pits after 5 years. At that point it's just a matter of whether the owners find them endearing enough to keep alive despite their flaws. That's another advantage of the bmws, they're still enjoyable to drive even when they age.
This is true. I never realized it until you posted this, but there really are no older Audis on the road.
In the NYC area where I live, the area is saturated with German luxury cars. You will see older BMWs and Mercedes here and there, but an older Audi is indeed a rare sight.
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