I beg to differ. While at one time German built cars were the standard. In terms of build quality it isn't even close, the Japanese past the Germans years ago. And belive it or not so have American built cars. Mercedes once the model of German quality has dropped off the charts. Their build quality is rated on the same level as Opel. Lexus is the Gold Standard, with both Jaguar & Cadillac having past all German makes in terms of quality. Joe
No it's called JD Powers. Yes, the Germans still build good cars. However they tend to overengineer their cars and not in a good way. On top of that their cars tend to be in a word........ Ugly! Look at any current BMW 5 or 7 series. And the new S Klasse Benz only looks good standing next to a Maybach. Joe
well, of course we are all entitled to our opinions. Myself, i prefer to form an opinion based on my direct personal experience, rather than picking one up from some 'j.d. powers' list. i am not sure how you would rate lexus - the frankenstein of cars, in my humble opinion- higher than the german cars they are so desperately trying to copy and compete with. I have driven ALL german brands and some lexus... to ME, there is no comparison. the germans are still way up there where the others are aspiring to be. it is true some of the recent mb and bmw are sometimes not up to their usual standards; i hate to say this, but the quality of their cars built HERE is not as good as their German counterparts ... sorry, again, my humble personal opinion, based on direct experience, from cars i either owned or drove ...i may be wrong. I will not even get started about american cars; they may have made some progress compared to the abysmal lows they reached in the past, but still they are nowhere near where they should be. it is obviously hard, if not impossible, to define what quality is, we all have different opinions; it comes from perception, value for money, expectations, individual taste, etc., etc. ... we could be arguing for days to no avail. The topic of this thread was lamborghini/audi, and, as far as i am concerned, it is the best thing that could ever happen to them. Good luck and may they keep making wonderful vehicles for us to enjoy!
Well that is your opinion wrong or right. Now if you have any facts about German cars being such great cars show me, give me numbers, give me statistics and give me legit resources to were you find all your information.
Frankly you can have your BORING reliable German and Asian appliances. Give me the crappy Italian Exotic quality for FUN
Now, if you bothered READING my posts, you would have noticed that i clearly state that these are simply personal opinions derived from direct personal experience. That's it. No more, no less. I don't need to look at numbers or statistics if I need to form an OPINION on what I drive. If you'd rather do that, that is your choice, I am not arguing.
i never used that word to describe 'italian quality' ... and mind you, I am italian, i know about crappy quality! i am not sure how anyone would define german cars as 'boring'; i can only assume you never drove any of those fine automobiles ... I have, plenty of them. And, I also happen to own currently a fine example of 'crappy italian exotic'. I never said they are no good; I simply said, and you obviously will not make me change my mind (and neither am i trying to change yours), that being bought (saved?) by audi was the best thing that ever happened to lamborghini, so we can all still enjoy new cars from that brand!
I think Audi/Lambo is a very good combination. Audi being Germans are known for its reliability, FSI engine, Quattro and quality interior and safety standards, while Lambo being italians are known for their stylish designs. I believe what VW Group want is to build a supersports car that is reliable for all weather day to day driving. (I honestly doubt Italians are capable to doing that better than the germans) I honestly doubt Audi group will sell away Lambo because that will leave the VW Group without any supersport cars division to rival Ferrari. VW's Bugatti division is not a profit centre (They are losing 4m for every Veyron on the road), but more like PR centre to showcase VW's technology. As for audi using lambo engine, they can only do that after Lambo get a power boost and the R8 that Audi is rolling out, is not a Ferrari and Lambo challenger, and it is targeting at the lucrative mid range porsche market.
Well if you think about it every supercar company has lost its "exotic feel" now you see them droping in racing engines and turbos, superchargers and such insead of unsing the good old V-12 engine. Not only that but look at the designs of cars today they are crap compared with the older designs. They have a face looking grill and all the models look almost the same as the flagship. All the lambos and ferrari of today look the dam same you look back in the 80's with the countach and testarossa they didnt share that much of the design with there counter parts the jalpa and 308 heck no they looked totaly diffrent. The 355 looked nothing the like the flagship fcar of the 90s(F50). So if you ask me i personaly believe the hole dam thing is loosing its "Exotic touch" with more cars like the Saleen S7 and the Zonda coming out using highly modifed engines. The only two supercar companys that has keep it oldschool is lamborghini and ferrari everybody else has moved on to using racing engines and turbos.
Regarding JD Power stats to judge cars or car makers. I think their figures are all wrong, based only on customers complains, not really quality of cars. If you buy a $80K Mercedes, of course you will insist on having the slightest defect on your vehicle corrected and hassle your dealer like mad until it's fixed. But if you buy a $10k Mazda for example, and it develops a fault, you presume that 'they are all like that' and wait for the next service to see IF it can be fixed. Value of cars and makes reputation increase the customer's expectation. Anyway, nobody seems to take any notice of these 'scientific' classification. Some of the most popular cars are the ones that are at the bottom of JD Power ranking. Japanese cars are maybe the most reliable (so they say), but I would prefer to drive a BMW or a Merc anytime rather than a Honda, a Toyota or a Suzuki!! Cars are like women; the most reliable are maybe not the ones you want to be seen with!!
