Some great feedback. I think the general advice here is that I need to figure out which group, if any, I want to please. Some good heads-up about the reliability issue though. If I am going to be paying $50K+ for a car, it better run well. I’ll check out Consumer Reports.
I see a couple of people mentioned the Volvo. That’s another make I have my eye on – maybe the C40 or C60. But Volvos don’t quite have the same cool factor to me, and also the first two cars I ever owned were secondhand Volvos (a 1976 245 wagon and a 1983 265 wagon) and were utter crap and always breaking down!
That’s initial quality, which only takes the first 90 days of the car’s life into consideration. Porsche does a lot worse in overall reliability studies.
Indeed. It is worth point out that the JD Survey is a Initial Quality Survey – meaning the first 90 days of ownership.
On the other hand, Consumer Reports survey collects long-term ownership … and BMW drops even lower in the ratings each successive year of ownership.
However, this is a moot point for many buyers because they deliberately get the BMW on a 3 or 4 year lease that keeps them within the warranty period.
To me, the safety net of a warranty period is not relevant because you still have to hassle with using another car while BMW is in the shop for warranty repair. It’s inconvenient whtether you borrow your spouse’s car or use the dealer’s loaner car.
When in Germany, I get BMWs from the rental agency and that’s ok because the rental agency deals with the cars’ maintenance and not me.
Hubby drives a BMW X3, and this is our experience as well (occasionally, he ‘allows’ me to drive it, too. ). We’ll be cruisin’ down the road, he’ll look down at the speedometer, and go “Holy hell, I don’t think we need to be doing 85!” and slow down. OTOH, on back-roads that are windy, he will go as fast as he can (providing there’s no one in front of us), just 'cuz it’s fun! My Chevy, though, sometimes I have to push it up to the 65MPH speed limit that’s common on highways around here.
Heh. Us, too. Hubby wants to upgrade from an X3 to an X5. At that point, I will ‘inherit’ the X3. I told him we should get an X5 in exactly the same color, park them next to each other, and tell people the X3 ‘molted’.
I love the Beemer. Don’t care about the ‘status’ thing. It has so many cool features. For instance, heated seats and heated steering wheel. These are things that, when we first bought the car, we thought “who the hell needs stuff like that?” Now we love it! Also, articulated headlights! When you take a turn, the headlights actually turn in the direction you turn, so as to better light the road you’re turning onto!
We bought ours used, but it was less than a year old, had fewer than 10,000 miles on it, and therefore still had a rockin’ warranty. Even since then, though, it hasn’t needed too much in the way of maintenance.
Yes, it requires a more expensive grade of gas. But since it’s a smallish car, the mileage is pretty good.
We would, and will, happily buy another BMW. Not for the status, no. Just because we’ve been so happy with this one.
Yep, that’s the bane of most luxury performance cars; they effortlessly move past the speed limits mandated by the existence of other lesser performing cars. They’re just starting to stretch their legs when others are beginning to risk a loss of control.
If Consumer Reports is the preferred source, the used luxury cars they recommend include Acura, BMW, Lexus, Porsche, Infinity, Audi, etc.
No manufacturer comes close to BMW’s track record for terrific handling without sacrificing ride comfort. If you don’t care how your car handles, get something else.
10 years ago, I had a CPO BMW 740i I leased through the start-up company a friend & I founded. It was a blast to drive, but I did have a number of mechanical & electrical issues, most of which were covered under warranty. You can’t beat the German cars for handling, IMHO.
If I have to pay for it myself, I’d never lease a car – strictly buying new or CPO for me. Having said that, I would not buy a CPO BMW, as the warranty almost always runs out before the loan does. Also, I can only afford the lowest end of the BMW range (probably a 1 or a stripped 3 series), as my price range stops at around $40,000.
Having said that, on Friday I put down a deposit on an Audi A3 TDI to be delivered in January. I got to test drive the Eurospec TDI yesterday, and it was a real blast – lots of torque off the line, enough that you don’t notice the diesel’s slower acceleration. The A3 handles quite well, and is about as much car as I really need. The efficiency (30 mpg in the city, 42 on the highway) will save me a lot on fuel, and time on longer trips (600 mile range as opposed to 400 for my current ride).
In college, I owned a real POS. Don’t get me wrong, it got good milage, the replacement parts were cheap, and it never really let me down. The brakes, engine, and tranny were all good. However, everything else on the car, body included, were literally close to falling off.
Since I was a poor, starving college student, I could not risk a ticket, or afford extra gas just to go fast. So, the speed limit it was for me, if not a smidge less on occasion.
With that POS, at least I FELT like I was FLYING like a bat outa hell down the highway when I was only doing 55…
I love BMWs. I also hate them, as I hate all German cars. Allow me to explain.
German engineering is one of those things that has always struck me as employing-- and requiring-- incredible precision with low tolerances for misuse/abuse. In short, when something German works, it works better than anything you will ever own. But when they break-- and yes, they WILL break-- they go down hard, requiring a LOT of money and effort to fix.
There’s a reason why BMW and Porsche owners share the same joke: you don’t own the cars, the cars own you. When even an oil change costs a fortune, you know there’s something crazy about the vehicle you’re driving.
FYI, the worst offender here IMO is Volkswagen. Again, really nice cars on the lot. Get them dirty, drive them on a bumpy road, look at them funny, and you’ll hate your VW more than you hate Hitler (bad analogy? ;-). I had a 1998 Golf that I loved, yet hated; my GF has a 2003 Beetle that she once loved, now wants to set on fire. My brother had an M3 that I borrowed every chance I could, ditto my buddy’s Z3. Both were garage queens.
I’ll never buy another German car. But God, do I love driving them fast when they work.
BTW, a great analogy that works for all of this is WWII German tanks-- everyone rightly praises the Soviet T-34 as one of the best tanks of World War II, but when a Panther or Tiger worked, they were fantastic machines. Alas, “when they worked” was the operative clause.
I own a 2004 custom Porsche Boxster with a removable hard top and other modifications; the last model year before Porsche destro…I mean upgraded the interior. However, I don’t know if I’d consider myself a Porsche driver as I only drive it recreationally, and then only if I’m going someplace special. For example, I won’t drive it to work, or a shopping center or supermarket. I do at least ninety percent of my driving in my 1999 Toyota Solara, which still runs well, by the way, with over 228,000 miles on it.
I’ve owned my Porsche for 5 years now and it still looks brand spanking new. Of course it also has less than ten thousand miles, and I definitely pamper it. With my driving patterns, I don’t know if I can speak to the Boxster’s (or Porsche’s) reliability, but I haven’t had an ounce of trouble with the vehicle. If anything, it seems to drive better as the years go by.
I do, however, have some new concern since reading this thread, what ownership of my Boxster means about the size of my penis. Is my penis size X because I desired a Porsche, or was its size the primary determinant of my fervor? Also, is the size of one’s penis inversely proportional to the level of influence it has on any given Porsche purchase? Although I don’t recall taking my penis into account when considering the buy, I now wonder about that presumption. After all, I wanted my Porsche really, really, really badly. Perhaps I should be thankful I’m packing anything at all.
Personally, I would never own a BMW, but that’s me. I do have a negative perception of the brand that has less to do with its quality, or lack thereof, than the anecdotally perceived pretention, imagined or real, of BMW vehicle owners or lessees. Every BMW driver I’ve ever known has been a royal dick, so I’m admittedly biased.
Why don’t you just be like one of those people in the Yahoo! chat rooms (remember those?) and send me a picture, then I’ll tell you. Hijack: So the dude and I were watching one of those pervert Dateline specials, when he goes, “Kiddie fucking aside, who just sends people pictures of their genitalia?” Me: “:dubious:* You’ve never been in a chatroom, have you?” He confesses sure, many years ago, and is still baffled. Me: “Okay, you’ve never been a female in a chatroom, have you?”
VW owners have normal sized penises. Everyone knows a Porsche is just a dressed up VW. Therefore, one must infer you have a nominally sized penis, just dressed up. Whether that be a nice ribbon, a tuxedo, or chrome accents is known only to you.
Oh yeah, I remember Yahoo Groups, formerly known as eGroups. Yep, I was an avid participant. I, however, never saw any peenie pictures but, as you mentioned, I never frequented a female chatroom.
). We’ll be cruisin’ down the road, he’ll look down at the speedometer, and go “Holy hell, I don’t think we need to be doing 85!” and slow down. OTOH, on back-roads that are windy, he will go as fast as he can (providing there’s no one in front of us), just 'cuz it’s fun! My Chevy, though, sometimes I have to push it up to the 65MPH speed limit that’s common on highways around here.