Originally Posted by NoDak

to jump on this thread with a tangent, and people wonder why remote starts for merc's, bmw, etc cost $1000 to install.

Originally Posted by 77Bronc

Did I read this correctly, $34K for a new SR5 4x4? Is this a typical price, if you don't mind, what was the sticker?

77

Originally Posted by drewm

I'll pipe in because I'm an engineer.

German cars have a ton of electrical issues because around the early 2000s many of them switched away from wiring harnesses and real wire to fiber optic communication to "save weight" yet German cars are heavier than ever. So because of that, all of them require complex firmware to do the most basic tasks, like turning on the wipers or signaling. And we all know from computers how reliable software is. Not to mention fiber optic transceivers aren't very reliable themselves, so you'll always have systems failing to talk to each other as the fiber optic transmitters and receivers start to fail.

German engines have also switched to mostly nikasil Nikasil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and alusil Alusil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia block designs which are prone to oil consumption, cylinder scarring and corrosion due to bad gas. No Japanese company has ever use these block designs and have stuck with the very reliable iron block, or aluminum block with iron sleeves, which is why they last significantly longer and have less failures and oil consumption.

German designs today are truly engineered to fail right after warranty, and with their overly complex design and tight engine packaging, cost significant amounts to repair. Their parts cost are insane too, an O2 sensor for a Mercedes cost $1200, but if you dig into it, you'll find that it's just a standard $100 Bosch O2 sensor with a special wiring harness. Cut the old harness off and wire it up to a new sensor and it works just fine.

Although the Germans weren't always that bad. The 80s and 90s German cars were much more reliable, as you'll still see older German diesel cars on the road, those monsters will last forever. They were built in the time before Germans figured out they could build overly complex cars and charge insane amounts of money for parts to fix them when they broke.

You can also see many of the Japanese manufacturers going this way too, building less reliable cars and making way more money selling parts later for broken ones. Japanese reliability peaked in the 90s to 2000s, and has started to go downhill, although they are still nowhere near as bad as "German Engineering"

My 2c

Originally Posted by Matt fe2o3

Well for sure after a week I can say the XREAS on my 06' Sport was a better performer than the stock suspension on the 15' SR5.

Will look to this enlightened board for upgrades down line.

Originally Posted by JayceeP

One of my colleagues bought a new BMW X1 (LAME) some time late last year. A couple of months ago she had a transmission failure that was fixed under warranty and she was told afterward that it would have cost $15,000 to fix otherwise. She traded it in the next day. That story QUICKLY wiped the "hey, maybe I should trade the 4R for a lightly used 5-series" bug from my mind. I am so sorry for my for my impure thoughts, please forgive me!