A Lexus may be more reliable overall, but they practically induce yawning even at 80 MPH. Never liked the styling. I didn’t care for BMWs when I was younger, I think mostly it was the front grille that put me off, but they are true driver’s cars, and I would probably buy one if I could rationalize spending the money.
One of the advantages of living in central Maine. No BMW dealerships,no decision. What’s a BMW ?
At least asemaster finds them to be profitable. When I was working on cars for a living, I did not find them to be profitable because the people who drove them had no money left to repair or maintain them after making their car and insurance payments, which I refer to as “living beyond your means”. Beemers are a lot of fun to drive, though, but not worth owning one to me since I find my Ford and GM vehicles to be easy and cheap to repair and maintain, and they do not need a whole lot of either to keep them going and make them last. The prices of parts I recall is enough to keep me from wanting to own one. The ones I most frequently worked on were 5 and 7 series from the late '90s to early '00s.
I worked with an engineer who loved his 80s BMW 5 Series. However when the time came to trade after 8 years, he switched to a Lexus, and never looked back. The Lexus cost more to service than a Toyota, but much less than the BMW. And all the major components on the Lexus outlasted those on the BMW.
In other words, whether you like BMWs (and many do) or not, the Life Cycle Ownership Cost of a Lexus is much less, because the Lexus can be economically repaired till it reaches 400,000 miles (See Consumer Reports), while the BMW will be a moneypit after 250,000 miles.
Another engineer colleague had a 3 Series and sold it just before the warranty was up. He priced all the replacement items that he would need for the next 5 years and decided that money would buy a new compact pickup truck.
Wasn’t it @OK4450 that told the story of a BMW mechanic that had to gut a brand new BMW and put it back together?
“…the Life Cycle Ownership Cost of a Lexus is much less, because the Lexus can be economically repaired till it reaches 400,000 miles (See Consumer Reports), while the BMW will be a moneypit after 250,000 miles.”
Most people won’t keep their car 250,000 miles. Is there a yardstick for those that keep their cars less than 150,000 to 200,000 miles?
It just isn’t lifecycle costs. Toyota/Lexus/Honda/Acura are more reliable from year 1 than BMW/MB/Audi. Only highly-rated European brand is Porsche.
http://www.autooninfo.net/ReliabilityGPAsOfLines-2010Complete.aspx
@jtsanders ; Yes, if you keep your car “only” 250,000 miles, the Lexus will have much higher resale value than the BMW. In other words, for instance, a Neon or Chevy Aveo (if they reach that point) with 250,00 miles on it basically has scrap value, while a well maintained Corolla or Honda Civic will still command a good price.
As @texases says the day to day reliability of a Lexus is also much better, resulting in lower operating costs during those first 250,000 miles.
I do admit that a BMW is more fun to drive on dry pavement. And dedicated BMW owners wear rose colored glasses and don’t often keep track of detailed expenses.
@texases: That’s interesting information, but it is a rehash of Consumer Reports data. It doesn’t tell you the difference in cost for repairing the cars. Cars have gotten so much better across the board that there is little cost difference between all except the worst on the list. There could be a few hundred dollars difference between a Subaru and Chevy for repairs, but the increased maintenance cost for the Subaru will be 5 to 10 times more than the repair differential. I would never use CR alone.
I wonder how long it’d take ME to rack up 150~200k miles
@bscar “I wonder how long it’d take ME to rack up 150~200k miles”
Well with a hundred mile commute, and evening and weekend use, at about 40,000 miles a year, you’d be there in about four years. Then you might as well keep on using it because its worth zip.
at my current usage, I don’t think it’ll have 40k miles on it when I go to trade it in.
I’ve had it over 2 years now and I still have less than 9k miles on my car.