Hahahaha German quality and reliability is a giant sales status gimmick myth.

 

I havent used a key for a car door in maybe over a decade.

 

LOL the same thing happen to a friend's mercedes 2 weeks ago
The battery was dead and he tried to unlock the door with the key..
A 10 years old mercedes but still...

 

German cars aren't designed (for the most part) with a focus on what most people think of as "reliability." That is, "there's no need to fix this, it just works...and works...and works."

I think the German engineers' concept of reliability is, "you need to do all this exacting maintenance, and because we are trying cutting-edge here, it might break. But it can always be fixed, so breaking is not all that important."

I think there's also a kind of authority structure in the German car companies. The authority ignores real-world feedback. For YEARS Audi / VW used a completely B.S. mechanism for sunroofs. They ALL failed. They refused to change the design for maybe 15 years! The only concession they offered to the customers who were constantly complaining was the inclusion of a hand crank so you could try to close the sunroof when the damn thing was so bound up that the motor couldn't move it. Typically, the hand crank would then totally break the mechanism, such that that roof panel got all scratched up.... I'm sure that somewhere at Audi some engineer/boss saw this b.s. sunroof mechanism as an elegant solution, beautiful design, no need to change it, the customers are idiots.... The engineers view is that "my design SHOULD work! The problem has to be elsewhere!"

In their defense, I have to point out that in the past 2 years or so reliability of some Audi and VW models has improved in the Consumer Reports ratings. And some variants of the BMW 3-series have been pretty reliable for years now. So there's been improvement.

German cars also often suffer from over-complication. Things are designed in such a way that only special factory tools can be used to fix them; and sometimes when this technology-heavy stuff breaks down no one anywhere is able to fix it.....

Here's an example: my Nephew has an Audi A8, it has some kind of self-levelling suspension. If you jack up the car to change a tire, pick it up with a tow truck, or put it up on a lift, you have to "tell" the car's brain that you are doing this. Otherwise the car doesn't understand why the wheels aren't on the ground and goes into some kind of fault mode. It took a $2500 trip to the Audi dealer to reset that...... of course my nephew SHOULD have reviewed the multi-DVD "Owner Training" before attempting to operate this vehicle.....

 

LOL some time ago, i saw an interesting situation at a local service:
They were replacing the wheels on a Mercedes AMG. The car had the active suspension
For some reason, they started the engine while the car was suspended. After 15 seconds, the rear left shock absorber EXPLODED
The service guy had to pay for a new one from his pocket...and wasn't cheap...

 

Oh that's hilarious.

 

That's just a good security feature. You can't get into the car, even with the key.

 

To be fair, German cars have many good qualities. Longevity / reliability / low cost of ownership just isn't among them.

For example, Audis drive really nice and usually have very good interiors; BMWs have good performance and used to feel really great to drive, not sure how they are these days; Mercedes have lots of technology, and usually have great interiors. VWs are usually fun to drive.

So, if you're going to rent a car for a few days.....

 

Who uses a key to open their car?

 

At the time I was buying I was looking for a car which met the following criteria:

a) RWD
b) MT
c) 4 doors

German cars were out of budget and long term reliability was questionable. No rice either. At the time, the G was one of the few cars that had most things checked off. Even today (assuming a 6mt sedan was still available), I can't think of too many cars that would qualify.

In the future, I keep coming back to a camaro ss or a ats-v.

 

I want a 4 door that was relatively quick and no German either do fwd either. Budget was a little over 20k

its basically came down to:
charger RT 2012
Subaru WRX 2012
G37 sedan 2013

Now now most wrxs are manual trans which living in the Seattle area stop and go is annoying. they seem smaller, 2.0 L even though it's boosted is kinda hard to get excited about still a 13 second car though, it just seems like a fanboy swag*** mobile for someone who has tats, vapes and hates their parents.

charger as I understand has bad handling and even worse gas mileage

both of these have much cheaper interiors compared to the G

 

The track rat in me says get the new SS with the 1LE package and don't look back. Awesome car!

 

^^Doubt I'll ever see a track, so the regular 2ss with all the creature comforts is suitable Really, if the damn thing had easier trunk ingress and a few more cubic feet. I remember renting a 2010 MY while on assignment some years back. Between the coworker and my self, we could only fit one full size suitcase in the trunk, forcefully.

I was just reviewing some extended warranty paperwork today. I'm covered through 9/2023! So sometime by 2022 I need to get rid of the G

I do miss the low end torque of my 4th gen z28. Speaking of the 1le, one of the car magazine's had a small review on it. Said it ate the m4 for lunch.

 

keyless entry was probably a $2300 option.