Quote:
Originally Posted by Kayani_1
As far as reliability goes it is hard to compare a basic appliance of a car to a more performance oriented luxury car in my honest opinion.
Luxury performance cars are more temperamental due to their advanced technology and greater stress on engine and transmission etc....compared to a run of mill basic economy class car.
The goal with economy cars is reliability and affordability. However, even with these economy cars if you get one that has too much luxury features you end up with lot more hassles.
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I have to disagree with this somewhat. I had a 300ZX twin turbo. It stickered for about $42K in 1991 dollars (which would probably equate to $70K or so in 2012 dollars). It was as high-tech of a sports car as you could get. DOHC, 24 valves, port FI, twin turbos, multi-link suspension, super-HICAS 4 wheel steering, blah blah blah. That car was 100% rock solid reliable for close to 100K miles before I sold it. Of those miles, 70K of it was spent heavily upgraded with larger turbos, injectors, intercoolers, ECU, etc. I beat the hell out of that car with doing loooong sustained high speed runs (late at night on deserted freeways - like on the I5 from LA to San Francisco). I remember driving it at sustained 100-160+ MPH speeds for hours on these long runs. I also did a bunch of really stupid street racing back then launching the car hard all the time and generally abusing the shit out of it.
That car had ZERO problems. Other than having to replace the clutch and multiple sets of tires, it was completely problem free. Now, I did do timing belt changes and replaced seals and gaskets when I did major service like the timing belts - but all of this was regular maintenance and/or preventive care. It never stranded me, or leaked, or broke down in close to 100K miles over 7 years.
Is a 2008 BMW more high tech than a 1991 300ZX TT? Yes. But, that Z was an excellent example of how sound, solid engineering could result in not only superior performance, style, and luxury (Z was a loaded GT car not a pure sports car) but also superior reliability. As for driving enjoyment, or "soul", well, the Z had it in spades. It had exceptional steering feel and the handling was awesome. It was every bit the equal of my 335is in these areas.
In short, I refuse to believe that BMW can't design a fantastically performing, luxurious AND reliable car at a fair (not cheap) price.