So BMWs arent good?

rafhelp

Where I live I see lots and i mean lots of BMWs, Merceded amongts other brand of cars.

I always thought this was because these are the best makes of cars, in terms of reliability

But I just read that BMWs and Mercs are like near the bottom of the list of best car makes, (see the full list here)

This kinda surprised me.  

Maybe its just a culture thing, where people see owning a BMW as being cool or makes them look good.

At the top of that list is Lexus, and tbh im not that surprised at that as I always thought of Lexus as a good make (albeit expensive)

So now Ive been thrown off buying a BMW.

John_

People don’t buy only on reliability; I had an M3 last year, and it was an absolutely wonderful car. 

CasualBagger

rafhelp said:

Where I live I see lots and i mean lots of BMWs, Merceded amongts other brand of cars.

I always thought this was because these are the best makes of cars, in terms of reliability

But I just read that BMWs and Mercs are like near the bottom of the list of best car makes, (see the full list here)

This kinda surprised me.  

Maybe its just a culture thing, where people see owning a BMW as being cool or makes them look good.

At the top of that list is Lexus, and tbh im not that surprised at that as I always thought of Lexus as a good make (albeit expensive)

So now Ive been thrown off buying a BMW.

I have heard BMW use a lot of plastic components in the engine bay which would normally be metal. This improves performance for sure, but destroys reliability. 

BMWs and Mercs are toys. They aren't effective and reliable movers of people. It totally depends what you are looking for in a car whether you value the brands or not. 

Lexus is a totally different story. They are essentially Toyotas with leather seats and all the luxury toys. They share the fundamental bulletproof reliability of Toyotas. If you want a reliable luxury car then buy a Lexus. 

rafhelp

but they come with a price...

tbh most bmws in terms of styling are nothing special at all, i seen cars costing half the price that have mush more desirable hit-tech interiors.

I dont like the out dated bmw steering wheel design and stereo + panels.

I know there are several bmw models that are hot in terms of design where the interior is sporty and modern but these ones cost a lot more and the road tax is quite steep.

Mercdriver

desirable and good aren't necessarily the same thing.

prowla

I've had more BMWs than other brands and have had less issues with them than other brands.

bigadaj

Mercdriver said:

desirable and good aren't necessarily the same thing.

doesn't just apply to cars.

The_Rainmaker

If you look at the chart there is only 5% between top and bottom.  

At the end of the day there is very little between modern cars apart from our own prejudices, which we all have.

AdrianC

How is it measuring "Best"? Well, let's ignore the clickbait spamgasm of that site, and just click on the link to their source...
https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/news/172392/the-best-car-brands-in-the-uk-driver-power-2020
...which then takes us back to...
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/best-cars/driver-power/95238/best-cars-to-own-driver-power-results

So it's all based on a self-selection of readers of one particular magazine, "liking" the particular car they happen to own. Nothing more scientific than that. Then CarBuyer mung the individual model results into general brands. I don't see any numbers other than the %age... But the "number one" model sold just 9,700 cars across the entire continent last year.

noclaf

If having a BMW or Merc is important to you either for the badge or simply because you enjoy driving the car then so be it, each to their own and do what you want to do. They are no better or worse than many other car brands out there. Only differentiator might be that if something goes wrong you may need to prepare yourself for bigger bills as it comes with the badge.
I also tend not to place too much emphasis on the car reviews from the likes of Autocar, Whatcar etc I'm sure they need to keep certain brands happy to avoid any issues getting future test cars so don't think they can truly offer a balanced view on cars. 

fred246

I remember going to Germany listening to a load of Germans saying that their cars were  unreliable rubbish. I was wondering why the UK public seem to think the opposite is true.