The fact that BMW and Mini are at the top of this list should make you ignore this data.
First off, the Mini is just a smaller BMW, second the BMWs are complicated and designed to be maintained a certain way because that is how german cars are designed. You don't accidentally go 10k over an oil change on a higher mileage BMW and expect nothing bad to happen, but that would probably be okay on a Honda/Toyota/some American cars.
But if you do maintain them in that certain way, they can be brilliantly reliable. Problem is, many people (especially in America) don't. And getting the proper fluids for them can be a pain in the ass in America, since BMW LL oil is basically impossible to get anywhere except dealerships and specialty websites.
I'm surprised Mercedes is so low in the list. They've traditionally been one of the more reliable German brands, that's why they're used as taxis in many countries.
Chrysler has had some of the least reliable for most of my entire lifetime and Mercedes shares a parent company and presumably a lot of parts with them.
Both of my WK2 Jeep grand Cherokee’s have been reliable and they share parts with the old MLs. The parts they share are pretty silly to consider reliability, control arms, 5-speed transmission (until 2014), and some other random parts with Mercedes stamped on it. Considering Chrysler transmissions were terrible I’m glad they used Benz then ZFs.
> I'm surprised Mercedes is so low in the list. They've traditionally been one of the more reliable German brands, that's why they're used as taxis in many countries.
Oh, my sweet summer child. I can tell you still have fond memories of the pre-2010 Mercedes era ...
2010 was when they started using motors from other (cheap) brands like Renault for a lot of models on big scale. Before that you could drive your Mercedes up to like 400,000 km and more and still get money for it or at least sell it to development countries to be used as a - mostly reliable - taxi for example. Been there, done that. Nowadays getting a newer model to 200,000 km before its "end" is the exception rather than the norm. And that's just their cost-down strategy on the motors ...
The Renault engines are used in the entry level cars like the A, CLA and B class. The kind of Mercedes used as taxis (E and S class) will not be impacted by that change.
It's less that I have fond memories and more that I know little about M-B other than general sentiment of other car enthusiasts. I'm a big BMW fan myself, and I'm perfectly fine with seeing BMW taking M-B's place as the "reliable" German brand, I just didn't know that was happening to this extent.
Of couse you shouldn't just ignore it. What you should do is think a bit deeper than "X > Y so X = better". Included in the data is the fact that a BMW needs the maintenance it does, to rank where it ranks here, as its average owner maintain it as they do. The maintenance schedule and how the BMWs included in the statistics were maintained is likely different than on a Toyota, but following the maintenance schedule or not is up to you to decide. However, those who do not follow the maintenance schedule are included here as well as are those who service their BMW more than required.
If you are not average, expect results that are not average. That goes both ways.
It is not only how they are maintained, but also how they are driven.
BMW's are sport enthusiast vehicles. They are probably used and abused and higher levels than typical Toyotas and Lexus. You won't see many Toyotas and Lexus in race tracks, however they are usually populated by all type of BMWs, specially M performance and full M models.
So I expect that under normal usage, BMWs are even more reliable that the ranking shows.
I the 2nd point maybe I didn't get across well is more that the initial three years does not tell as much or are very useful. In 2023 people are not buying new cars with the high interest rates we have now, taking that depreciation hit, only to sell three years later.
Also:
> If you are not average, expect results that are not average. That goes both ways.
I still have trouble believing BMW has 3x the reliability in the first three years than practically all the American manufacturers.
Well, it is a list of new cars, but yes, I agree it isn't that useful.
>I still have trouble believing BMW has 3x the reliability in the first three years than practically all the American manufacturers.
I do not know it 3 times is the correct number, but I do not doubt that it is a significant difference. I'd also argue that if we had the graphs, we would be able to see it getting worse after Tesla became a success.
>that's pretty much what the list is for.
I have no idea what the list if for. IMO it is a mess and maybe even clickbait.
Newer BMWs are some of the most reliable cars that you can buy. Minis and BMWs are essentially the same cars, just Minis are limited to the low segment, with less luxury features and smaller motors. That means that, as expected, the higher complexity of luxury segments and their big V8 or V12 engines have more chances of failing.
That’s completely not true at all. BMWs have come around in the past years. The 2000 e46 I had was as reliable as my 2002 4Runner. I replaced the same things at similar intervals, water pump, belt tensioner, wheel bearing, plugs, coils etc.
BMWs B58 engines is so nice Toyota put it in a Supra.
First off, the Mini is just a smaller BMW, second the BMWs are complicated and designed to be maintained a certain way because that is how german cars are designed. You don't accidentally go 10k over an oil change on a higher mileage BMW and expect nothing bad to happen, but that would probably be okay on a Honda/Toyota/some American cars.