For years I have been concerned about a question about the big names in German cars (BMW, Mercedes, Audi). In my hometown, almost everyone drives a vehicle of these brands, some older, some new. I explain this with "national pride". But what about in the USA? Do vehicles from these manufacturers have any appeal for Americans? And if so, why? Hardly anyone in Germany buys American cars: too big, too high fuel consumption, etc. So what reasons, if any, are there for Americans to drive German cars? I drive a 17-year-old BMW X3, we also have a 21-year-old Mercedes in the garage, but hardly anyone drives a Cadillac... that concerns me. I'm really looking forward to your answers.

I've only owned two American cars and they were my first two. Since then I've owned all Hondas until now, my first Toyota. I've always been fond of German engineering and liked some of what VW and BMW had to offer, but they've been prohibitively expensive here and also have a reputation of unreliability that makes you not want to own one that it outside of warranty. In my history of motorcycle riding, I've also always rode Japanese bikes up until a few years ago. As most of the Japanese manufacturers had gotten kinda boring with their big sport bikes, I finally took the dive and bought an Aprilia. They're still nowhere near Honda when it comes to reliability but they've come a LONG way from their initial reputation of being grenades waiting to explode at any moment. If BMW still made a z4 in hard-top I would consider it... I have an s2000 with an after-market hardtop I'm considering parting ways with, but outside of the Miata RF nothing screams to me

In recent years the German manufacturers went large on developing large SUVs to sell in the US and Chinese markets where they sell more than in Europe and people are prepared to pay shedloads more money than traditional-sized cars. They come quite far down the list of bestsellers according to this https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2023-us-suv-sales-figures-by-model/

For what it's worth, my latest is a Mustang EV Mach-E GT. Got a charger installed in my garage to avoid any charging issues.

Best car in my life...

BMW, Mercedes, Audi, are all luxury car brands here, status symbols, and amazing cars.

Prior, I had a Volvo S-60 that I drove into the ground and a couple of Lexus SUVs that we loved.

Prior to them, Ford Taurus, Escort and a Monte Carlo held together with duct tape.

It's a status symbol. I'm compensating

Oh, Volvo built great cars in the 90's. Could be an option

I always thought that German Cars were sold with a big Discount in the U.S.

The thing that keeps me from driving a BMW is how horrible the engine failure rate is. As much as I would love a 2005 M3 GTR, the reputation of the mechanical issues kept me from it when it was more in reach. Now with my health shit I can't drive a stick anymore anyways. I have problems getting my left foot to do what I want it to.

my latest is a Prius Prime. It's a plug in hybrid so I get the best of both worlds. They give us free charging at work, so the money I'm saving on gas is like 3/4 of what my car payment is

I think it is a problem just with the "m"-models, because they have too much power with too small engines. In Europe, a 3 liter is a "big engine" and my X3 has about 255000 kilometers still running quite well with a 3.0 diesel, normal version (218 HP), but another guy from my town has the "SD", which has the same engine with 280 HP and some months ago the engine died. I am very confused about the fact that those cars did not have the quality I know normally from BMW. I owned my third BMW since 2010, and no engine had make problems still running at 300000 kilometers at the first two...

In Berlin every Taxi, UBER, Bolt... is a Toyota Hybrid

There was a fatal accident in the UK back in 22 when the N57 engine in a motorway police officer's BMW failed at speed while he was responding to an emergency, causing the car to swerve off the motorway, overturn, and catch fire, and the officer lost his life. As I remember the investigation eventually discovered that police car engines spend far longer idling than engines in civilian cars (because they power all the police equipment so are left running almost all the time an officer is in the car), and this was causing stresses beyond what had been designed for. Apparently there were a whole series of engine faults and failures on that fleet of police cars but it wasn't till the fatal incident that it was properly investigated and the cause found. There are articles on the BBC website and I think I saw a TV news report on the investigation.

It's crazy how much $ you save.

https://youtu.be/KrCtrzR9ZxU

My father is now driving a Maybach S480 4matic produced in 2022, before that, it was an Audi A8 that accompanied us for 6 years.I like German car brands very much, but I am in Hong Kong, China. It costs more to buy an imported German car here, at least 20% more expensive than Germany.but this can't stop us from liking German cars, they are always so exquisite. I love Porsche 911 soooo much, it will always shine so brightly, a art that combines performance and beauty, from 964 to 992,it has always been like this. and I have placed an order for a 911 Carrera s, which will arrive in April,I can't wait to meet it

2 Volkswagens. An 2005 Beetle and a 2012 Beetle.