05 April 2011

Luxury Cars Are So Unreliable


When you part with your money to buy an expensive car, you expect it to be reliable. That monetary outlay should translate to it staying on the road. Well, whether buying a BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover or - as in the picture - a Lamborghini, expect plenty of repairs. Almost certainly the faults will be to do with the 'high tech' elements of these cars. I assume many buyers put up with these annoying gremlins because in many cases, they bought them as a status symbol anyway. They are also very pleasant to drive when they are running.

I bought a basic new car five years ago. It is very roomy, cheap to run and I think quite a nice shape. I asked the salesman as I bought it how reliable they are. He said, with unflinching confidence, that they would only see me for routine services. He added this model just does not break down. Now in its sixth year, nothing has gone wrong with it. I sometimes think of buying something else, but I'm so happy with it. I have such confidence in its longer term reliability too.

Which makes me wonder about premium cars. I paid less for my car that many premium cars depreciate in a year. Mine doesn't break down, they too often do. I'm happy, some of these luxury car owners want to take to their car with a hammer. Motoring journalists usually praise all the electronic accoutrements (bells and whistles) as if they are 'must have' items on this class of car. Maybe these motoring scribes need to meet the stranded and frustrated motorists to seek their opinion.

My Solution: Forget premium brands that are too technically advanced to be reliable. Buy a simple, reliable car. No snob value, but who cares. Then maybe, premium car makers will make sure their technical wizardry is sorted before foisting them on a gullible public.