[JAWS]

With all of the BMW folks hanging around on this board, I thought this would be an interesting topic. While we all know how reliable Lexus, including IS300, autos are, this has to be taken into account during the buying process. I have a few friends who decided on 325/330, A4, C-class, and within the first year of ownership all had either mechanical or biuld quality issues that cost them down time with their cars. I also had problems with an E36 328, as well as an Audi 90 that i previously owned. I know that everytime my friends with BMWs have problems they are fighting over loaner cars. On the Bimmer.org board you read quite a few complaints about biuld quality issues regarding the new E46 design. It is interesting that the Car Companies that offer free maintanence programs (BMW, Mercedes, Saab, VW/Audi) are the car manufacturers that have service issues (including parts availability). The dealers around here like to say that BMW and Benz are 200,000 mile cars. What, is it drive with pleasure for 100k and drive another 100k back and forth to the dealer for repairs? You guys can call my IS "ricey" and whatever, but, just like Acura & Infiniti, I will get many more miles of trouble-free enjoyment from my Lexus than owners of the other make cars.

Just a thought!!

 

[brad]

There's an 89 LS 400 with over 300,000 miles that gets serviced at Westside Lexus in Houston. Not bad. It had a paintjob a couple years ago and nothing other than belts, pads, and regular maintenance.

 

[BaHaMaMAMA]

My brother's GS300 still runs very smoothly and haven't got any problem since he bought his car 6 six years ago.

 

[mrclam]

BMW and MB engines can run 200km iles without a rebuild. reliability and maintenance are two different things in my mind. you HAVE to maintain the german vehicles..if you don't problem after problem is gonna screw you over, but if you take good care of it and keep up maintenance, they will treat you well in return. i dont' know about their upper models but thus far i have had no problems with the M and my dad's 190 is at about 150k, we do about 1-2k of maintenance a year on it, which is gonna add up to the car's worth very soon but it hasn't really just stopped on hte middle of the road or anythin

 

[Aye-yes300]

Pretty good point JAWS. Whenever I am unfortunate enough to talk to a BMW owner, I always hear horror stories about problems that they have with their cars. You can put the same kind of "maintenance" in a Pinto and it will go 200,000 miles... but it doesn't make it a quality car.

 

[IS300GTE]

i think this about sums it up for all, BMW is on the list also, closer to the middle.

 

[mrclam]

the reason i think that maintenance is harsh on bmw and mercedes is because they use cheap parts that need to be replaced often. i would not go as far as to say that they are not quality cars, because they are, but its just the maintenance that's a pain =)

Originally posted by Aye-yes300:
Pretty good point JAWS. Whenever I am unfortunate enough to talk to a BMW owner, I always hear horror stories about problems that they have with their cars. You can put the same kind of "maintenance" in a Pinto and it will go 200,000 miles... but it doesn't make it a quality car.

 

[Aye-yes300]

Originally posted by mrclam:
the reason i think that maintenance is harsh on bmw and mercedes is because they use cheap parts that need to be replaced often. i would not go as far as to say that they are not quality cars, because they are, but its just the maintenance that's a pain =)

Oh, I've never doubted the quality of a Mercedes...

 

[yamaot]

Caught me by surprise that Jaguar is way up there.......how accurate is this chart anyways?