[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

Lol.

Come to my home, close your eyes, pick a BMW and I will pick the Japanese brand that is comparable to that vehicle. We will go to the track and do 10 hard laps. I will leave the rest for you to see yourself. (A friend with a NISMO Z was very unpleasantly surprised when he ran out of brakes (stock) after about 8 laps. Typical.

Drive the average Japanese car at 120 mph then almost any 3-Series. No contest.

IDC about how the car performs in the lower 50% of it's performance window. That's not where I live. I care about the last 5%. I just drove my E63 for about 40 miles, arriving at home just before I grabbed my computer and typed this. It took about 5 miles to get everything to proper operating temperature and I lashed it thereafter. I kept it between 6K RPM and 8,250 RPM at every opportunity. The car wanted more. If I did that to say, the V8 Lexus RS, I'm certain that I would have a different outcome. Look at the brakes...they are a joke. A beautiful car but made in a nation with a national speed limit under 60 mph.

I've owned 2 Japanese cars: Honda Accord with the Vtec engine (fantastic engine) and an Acura Legend LS (again, fantastic engine). Both very quick but numb and lacking the joy that each of my German cars have had, save one(the 528i).

If I have to put my family in cars, and I do, I put them in German cars. We each have our choices and that is mine.

Wife and I ran a '89 BMW E30 325i and a '89 Acura Integra concurrently from March 1989 through March 1997. I did the maintenance and repair on both cars. The Acura broke far less often and was far less expensive to maintain. I ran both cars hard as shit too. The Acura could hang with the BMW, and considering it was half the price it was quite impressive. The Acura accumulated miles far more rapidly than the BMW and we ran it until 230,000. By the time the Acura reached 230K the BMW was at about 125K. I ran the E30 then to 256K by 2006. The BMW was by far the nicer car to drive obviously, but the Acura living at 8/10ths and 9/10s most of it life was quite stout and took less care and feeding than the E30. The E30 is considered in BMWs standards to be the tank of BMWs. The Z3 my wife bought to replace the E30 was far more problematic than the E30 and way far more problematic than the Integra ever was. The Z3 is by far the poorest constructed car I have owned.

Most people who buy cars drive them normally and the Japanese car will cost less to own, which is why it is a fair comparison to consider both when evaluating reliability between brands.

I never raced a Lambo or F-car with any of my cars so I can't comment on that. I did use to blow the doors off of P-cars all the time with my Red White and Blue 1990 CBR 1000. For some reason P-car folks just always wanted to race it for some reason I've, to this day, never understood.

Cheers