I’ve never had a relationship with a drop dead gorgeous 6 foot blonde named Candy either but I know just admiring her from afar she would be high maintenance. I love the euro cars but like Candy, I’ll enjoy them from a distance but I’ll never ask her for a dance!
The love/hate relationship with German cars
- Thread starter Carmudgeon
- Start date
Here’s my example of loving a German car but hating it’s issues:
I once owned a 2004 Audi A4 Quattro. For a little Sedan, it had great get up and go, a solid, sure footed feel, and rode like it was on rails. Never had a major problem with it but it nickel-and-dimed me to death with little things that went wrong. Simple things like coils, brittle electrical connectors, cracked windshield washer reservior, shattered plastic oil dipstick tube, ect. It was maintained (more like over maintained) to the “T” by me.
In 2015 while driving home from work, my wife was t-boned by a guy who ran a stop sign and the car was totaled. The car was built like a brick s**t house and I believe it saved her life. I still miss the performance of that little car especially in inclement weather.
I once owned a 2004 Audi A4 Quattro. For a little Sedan, it had great get up and go, a solid, sure footed feel, and rode like it was on rails. Never had a major problem with it but it nickel-and-dimed me to death with little things that went wrong. Simple things like coils, brittle electrical connectors, cracked windshield washer reservior, shattered plastic oil dipstick tube, ect. It was maintained (more like over maintained) to the “T” by me.
In 2015 while driving home from work, my wife was t-boned by a guy who ran a stop sign and the car was totaled. The car was built like a brick s**t house and I believe it saved her life. I still miss the performance of that little car especially in inclement weather.
I think this is essentially true. There's no other vehicle market where you can get relatively late model, low mileage used cars for pennies on the dollar.
The luxury (German) marques know their primary market is the wealthy who own or lease for a few years then just walk away from a vehicle and buy the latest model. They can afford to. Plus they want/need the cache to keep up with the neighborhood.
I'd love to own Audis if I could just do it in three-year increments.....
Funny, similar experience way back with my ex-wife. She was t-boned in an '87 4kq and I think it would have been much worse in a different vehicle.
Back then they were still built with the "crash bars" in the doors, basically a large diameter pipe running front to back for just this purpose.
I liked my Jetta but I feel like if I were to get another, I would need to figure out my budget for tools. Car cost, plus new laptop, plus diag tools, plus actual tools… then worrying about if I get into a pickle and can’t do the work myself? that last one is why I got rid of the Jetta.
Yep, and you would have to get one of these.Could be worse; could be British and the failure would be while driving and involve an unfused circuit
Attachments
The funny part is a lot of auto manufacturers are following BMW with their complexity, so while I agree German cars aren't always easy to work on, name me a modern car that is.
To me it seems like owning a modern enthusiast car is at least slightly easier because other enthusiasts have found work arounds or solutions to common problems, where other vehicles might be a "dealer only" type of fix. A module failed that controlled the locking rear differential on my father's 2013 Grand Cherokee, and the only shop that could program the replacement module in the surrounding area was the dealer.
To me it seems like owning a modern enthusiast car is at least slightly easier because other enthusiasts have found work arounds or solutions to common problems, where other vehicles might be a "dealer only" type of fix. A module failed that controlled the locking rear differential on my father's 2013 Grand Cherokee, and the only shop that could program the replacement module in the surrounding area was the dealer.
Why do you think they made it that way?
Overengineered?
Maybe.
But the hood linkage on both my Mercedes look like that, and a latch in the linkage can be released that allows them to open all the way to a vertical position, making engine accessibility, and engine removal, much easier.
No need to unbolt the hood when it can be opened to vertical.
So, they’re not over engineered, they’re thoughtful extra touches that make working on the car easier.
Don't Hondas have 2 hood prop rod hole locations?
The cynic might ask, why would they make that a priority to design in? Why would that have been seen as value added? surely it cost money to do.
Having owned mostly German cars which we never bought new, I can say I appreciate what to some may feel like "over-engineering." The trick is having the right tools, the courage to tackle repairs, and a good repair manual or internet forum populated by knowledgeable enthusiasts, and most every repair is doable in your own garage.
I think I want to own your particular car which is quite reliable!, but not one with common 4 figure repair bills that @mightymousetech sees everyday!
So?
They‘re nowhere near as effective as the Mercedes linkage.
When I say vertical, I mean straight up. 90 degrees.
No prop rod can accomplish that.
Something like that has got to be nice. Dinged my head a few times on the latch, haven't crashed a hood on my head. Yet...
Struts are nice but a fully vertical hood as got to be a nice feature.
It really is. It makes working on the car a breeze compared with regular hoods.
People, who are ignorant of the design intent, like to call things like Mercedes‘ complex hood linkage “over engineered” because they fail to understand why the complexity was added.
It was added for a reason. For a specific design goal. Ignorance of that goal leads to uninformed bashing.
Which describes most of the posts in this thread.
...and which ones specifically do you have experience with?
This is contrary to my ~30 years of owning BMW/VW/Audi & Porsche. Yes, we had one awful MB, but 'awful' was not much worse than two of our Grand Cherokees..
Similar story with my '03 A4 Quattro - got it as a lease transfer in '05 w/20k miles, and owned it until '16 w/133k miles. Upgraded to K04 turbo, but also changed to R8 coils, had the cracked dipstick tube, cracked coolant tank, and went through two (2) cracked coolant flanges, among other things. I was rear-ended at a stoplight in '09 by a Dodge Dakota pickup, and had $7k in repairs completed to return it to driveable condition. I'd put blizzaks on for the winter, and it was very stable driving on ice and snow-covered roads.
...and IIRC, the MB hinge systems are also part of the safety systems to have the hood 'tent' and be retained in a severe front hit. Back in the dark ages, some hoods became very effective guillotines.
