Japan vs Germany cars, which are better?

[justin whitaker]

I love Alfa for all the wrong reasons. I do not think they make reliable cars though. I would probably buy one but would never recommend one to anybody.

I would buy Alfa, but I would never recommend them. Well earned reputation as problem children.

But...oh the lines. The performance. The fun of never knowing if it will start.

[blazercist]

I'm going with Japan on this one. The cars are more reliable, less expensive and rival the Germans for performance.

My favorite quote concerning Japanese vs. German cars comes from Consumer Reports. Consumerreports.org is a for pay site, so I found a paraphrased version on wikicars.


However, I might consider buying one of VW's diesel cars, as they are the only company to offer a diesel car in the United States.

About diesel, you are wrong... There are a few trucks made by American manufacturers that take diesel. Also you can order Mercedes in diesel if you have some extra money because some of the models are shipped from Germany anyway such as the S-Class. There are also some Audi's IIRC that are diesel in the US.

[blazercist]

I would check into the VW diesel before you buy. I knew someone that had one and he was shocked at his first oil change (it was $500). He promptly go rid of the car. That may have changed since it was several years ago, but I would at least find out before I got one.

My little brother has a diesel VW Passat, there is no reason on Earth for an oil change to cost $500, your friend got duped. Its the same oil the same amount of oil and the same procedure to change it. The only difference between a diesel engine and a standard gasoline engine is the method by which the fuel is combusted.

[y@w]

I recently bought a new (well, new to me) Toyota.. The car I really wanted was the Volkswagen Passat. Unfortunately, ratings on the car were actually horrible as far as reliability in the years I could afford. I really wanted the car for looks/comfort, but it didn't look like the best investment. (Although, buying a car is one of the worst investments you could ever make.. short of getting you to work ) I ended up with a Toyota and really like it. It definitely doesn't have the power that the VW's I drove had, but I'm very pleased with it so far and reliability ratings are great.

So in short, I would have to say that the comfort, luxury, and performance definitely favored the German cars, but reliability seems to favor the Japanese. That seems to be true at least in my very limited experience thus far

[Paul41]

My little brother has a diesel VW Passat, there is no reason on Earth for an oil change to cost $500, your friend got duped. Its the same oil the same amount of oil and the same procedure to change it. The only difference between a diesel engine and a standard gasoline engine is the method by which the fuel is combusted.

I agree. This was the VW dealer that did it, and they told him that if he got it done any where else it would void the warranty. I asked them about that when I bought my VW (mine is gas, and it was a different dealer) and they said that only applied to the diesel. So two separate dealers said the same thing. Still sounds wrong to me though.

[Thelasko]

Reliability wise the consumer reports lean towards Japanese cars, but I think these numbers are somewhat fictitious and based on lining the magazine's pockets rather than reality.

Consumer Reports has been sued several times over such allegations. They have yet to pay any damages. Usually the case is over the choice of words Consumer Reports chooses for it's reviews. If they actually accused Consumer Reports of making things up the case would go like this.

Company: They make this stuff up!

Consumer Reports: Here's our data (followed by massive amounts of data being hauled into the court room reminiscent of Miracle on 34th Street.)

Judge: case dismissed!

The reason you think BMW is so great may be because you have never owned a Lexus.

[Icehuck]

I'm going with Japan on this one. The cars are more reliable, less expensive and rival the Germans for performance.

Name one Japanese car below $45,000 that will rival a BMW 3 Series in terms of performance. There is a reason why BMW is the standard for what a driving enthusiasts car should be.

[Depressed Man]

Aren't they both manufactured in the US now? So it's more the standards the company's enforce on the workers.

[blazercist]

Consumer Reports has been sued several times over such allegations. They have yet to pay any damages. Usually the case is over the choice of words Consumer Reports chooses for it's reviews. If they actually accused Consumer Reports of making things up the case would go like this.



The reason you think BMW is so great may be because you have never owned a Lexus.

Wrong, I've test driven Lexus'; many, in fact. My grandpa has an Infiniti M35x, My friend has a Lexus GS, My father's friend has a LX450 and another friend has a GX. I've test driven the GS, IS, and LS at dealerships. I simply find the handling to be inferior, actually I feel that the BMW has the best handling I've ever tried save for some rather expensive sports cars. The suspension to me is much better on BMW's, Lexus' sedans have very "boaty" feeling handling and suspension to me and the sportier models are too rough, much more so than the BMW 3 series.

I find that BMW's have a fair balance between the two, also I feel like the transmission, particularly the first two gears transition much smoother on BMW than Lexus mainly because the BMW is heavier. BMW's have a much smoother ride in my opinion.


I don't mean to be argumentative, its MY OPINION which I am entitled to. You have your opinion, do not make statements like "you have never owned a Lexus" if you don't know, having driven one is enough to form a valid opinion. My next door neighbour is a leasing agent, I can test drive any car I want by knocking on his door.


As far as the Consumer Reports issue is concerned, I'm not surprised that they have lots of data to back up their claims, the validity of that data is questionable. The judge doesn't get in the car with a stopwatch to verify that it goes 0-60MPH in X seconds. The outcome of a lawsuit does not determine the truth. There are many convicts who have been released from prison because it was later determined that their convictions were wrong. And this was in criminal cases where the standard is beyond a reasonable doubt and not a civil case like you are suggesting where only a preponderance of the evidence is the standard. Please don't argue with me about law suits I'm typing this from Law School.

[cb951303]

quoting myself from another thread. it also reflects my idea about the ops question.

I did a 2 months of internship in a Reanult factory (the best one among all renault factories according to sales numbers). First day, they showed us the production volume of other companies. GM (general motors) is the biggest but also the only one losing money. The second one was Toyota. When I asked engineers about the quality of Toyotas, they all agreed that Toyota is at least 50 years ahead of its time's production technology. You can't get any more objective than that. Reanult engineers praising Toyota...so I don't know about Hondas but I know that Toyotas are good

another person replying me from the same thread

I did an internship at a Ford factory. Every production supervisor had a copy of this book on his desk.