Quote:
Originally Posted by nikitopo
What's that list? An outline of the catalog features? 
Having driven different BMWs in the past, I wouldn't say they are a better build. They have maintenance issues and the build quality is not as it used to be. For example, I could find in many respects my Subaru Forester a more well build car comparing to a high spec'd BMW X1 with even plastic parts falling down. A nice look and feel is one thing, but a good build quality is another thing.
Also Japanese paint doesn’t tend to be thinner (other than Mazda who use their SkyaActiv paint system). Japanese paint tends to be softer which leads to the false thinking that it is not thick enough, but it isn’t a set rule.
It is true that you will find in German cars thicker glass and stuff that give them a more solid, less squeaky and less tinny/cheap feel. Same about the torsional stiffness, but all these with the expense of weight! In fact, I am quite surprised how the torsional stiffness of 86 went up in the revision model without adding much weight, which is the correct way of doing it. |
I went through the sales brochure, the website list of features, the comparison list and the owner’s manual.
It is well built like an Acura or Lexus is more well built than a Honda or Lexus, respectively. Reliability is a different thing. In theory, premium and luxury vehicles have more parts making more power with more weight, so their rate of failure is likely to be higher given the same standards. Sometimes this is the case, but sometimes it is not the case. Regardless, I was referring to the things that increase the cost of the parts.
The paint on my Q5 is much better and thicker than the Subaru by a long shot. The Acura NSX has a special $6k paint option, which obviously is a special vehicle, but most premium brands give more paint options and higher, premium paint options. Just having more features and more options of a model raises the base cost of vehicles before adding those options.
Most technologies trickle down from premium vehicles, which includes better metallurgy and structural integrity techniques.