Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
Euro cars are ALL ABOUT performance and luxury.......not reliability.
In the 1990s, BMW produced a lot of very basic models as daily beaters. Take the 316i, 320i, 518i and 520i as examples. All with small 4cyl or 6cyl power-plants that have certainly stood the test of time.
I feel the 90s was the pinnacle of BMW. Nowadays they're just Black Plastic [censored]® like everything else. Those older ones are relatively easy to repair, spares are plentiful and they'll certainly go the distance, in relative comfort too.
If you want to call my 1993 "unreliable," you better have a good excuse as to why a heater hose that lasted 24yrs before painting the roads green is unreliable
Now, there are some spectacular examples of unreliability in the European world. Some of the cheapest Mercedes in the 90s and 2000s were made in Mexico or East Europe, and were nasty little pieces of junk. There were others, too, but I haven't heard of them.
Australia's contribution to the "performance and luxury ..... not reliability" category was probably the Leyland P76. Actually, scratch the performance. Some bonehead from Leyland ruined the aerodynamics of the car.