# Why are German cars so high maintenance? (Different way of thinking about it)



## whersdadipstick (Aug 13, 2013)

I think that simply reliability is not one of BMW's primary concerns. They worry about perceived luxuries and performance more than the reliability. Its a mindset. I am sure that BMW could make a car every bit as reliable as a Toyota if they wanted to. I think they would rather maintain their current position in the market place. I'll bet BMW banks alot more coin per car sale than toyota does.

I myself wish they were more reliable, I would gladly loose alot of the features to gain reliability. I think that I'm going to be one of the few that would make that statement tho.


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## sea6speed (Jun 14, 2010)

Planned obsolescence. Read up on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence

It's a branding and marketing strategy. BMW purposely builds cars that are expensive to maintain in order to improve brand image and encourage people to purchase new cars.


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## 07 E63650i (Jan 7, 2013)

sea6speed said:


> Planned obsolescence. Read up on it.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence
> 
> It's a branding and marketing strategy. BMW purposely builds cars that are expensive to maintain in order to improve brand image and encourage people to purchase new cars.


+1000

Toyota is built upon the six sigma approach as BMW just encourages buyers to go after the latest models.

Sent from BimmerApp mobile app


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## usaret (Feb 8, 2012)

sea6speed said:


> Planned obsolescence. Read up on it.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence
> 
> It's a branding and marketing strategy. BMW purposely builds cars that are expensive to maintain in order to improve brand image and encourage people to purchase new cars.


There it is.

My dad said one should approach car ownership the same way one does a washing machine. Keep it until it has no more useful life in it. Then and only then should you get rid of it and buy another. Most people buy new cars because they want the latest and greatest. If they didn't there would be a very limited used car market.


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## usaret (Feb 8, 2012)

whersdadipstick said:


> I think that simply reliability is not one of BMW's primary concerns. They worry about perceived luxuries and performance more than the reliability. Its a mindset. I am sure that BMW could make a car every bit as reliable as a Toyota if they wanted to. I think they would rather maintain their current position in the market place. I'll bet BMW banks alot more coin per car sale than toyota does.
> 
> I myself wish they were more reliable, I would gladly loose alot of the features to gain reliability. I think that I'm going to be one of the few that would make that statement tho.


The more complex they get, the more there is to go wrong. I think that's one reason why the LCI E83 X3's fare so well. They are heavily based on the already hashed out E46 chassis but with the new N52 engine.

There is an old joke that goes.... "if it ain't broke it doesn't have enough features yet".


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