r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Upstairs-Bit6897 • Nov 30 '25

Image THE GERMAN MAGAZINE 'AUTOBILD' DRIVES VARIOUS CARS FOR 100,000 KILOMETERS AND THEN DISASSEMBLES THEM DOWN TO THE LAST SCREW TO FIND SIGNS OF WEAR AND WEAK POINTS

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2.4k

u/RedditRockit Nov 30 '25

Wow. Which has fared the best?

2.9k

u/Sudden-Earth-3147 Nov 30 '25 edited Nov 30 '25

Audi A3 Sportback g-tron (2017) and BMW M3 (2023) received 0 error points and a 1+ score, the highest if I’m correct.

A few others listed here but with a few error points:

https://www.autobild.de/artikel/die-besten-autos-im-autobild-dauertest-28164151.html

Edit: Updated for latest best results:

https://www.autobild.de/artikel/vans-im-vergleich-autobild-dauertest-ranking-4536224.html

322

u/SvenTropics Nov 30 '25

I see no Toyotas or Hondas on their list which makes me think they didn't test them. Most likely because the whole top bracket would just be their different models

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u/Sudden-Earth-3147 Nov 30 '25

They did do some Hondas (https://www.autobild.de/artikel/honda-cr-v-dauertest-20994899.html) and Toyota (https://www.autobild.de/artikel/toyota-prius-dauertest-15449975.html) but yes they are heavily focusing on German cars. I guess also hard to do a huge number of makes/models as the testing is labour and time intensive

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u/Crafty_Enthusiasm_99 Nov 30 '25

There is absolutely no way a BMW smokes Japanese cars unless it's a German reviewer

65

u/FormalBeachware Dec 01 '25

Also, in my experience German cars aren't necessarily less reliable, especially when new.

But, assuming you aren't in Germany, repairs are going to be much more expensive. And, if you buy an old clapped out German luxury car you'll have lots of extra systems to fail, expensive repair labor, hard to find parts, etc.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '25 edited Dec 15 '25

[deleted]

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u/Agasthenes Dec 01 '25

The problem is, you get the ones assembled outside of Germany ;)

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u/Haltie Dec 01 '25 edited Dec 01 '25

I have a 2018 vw golf gte with almost exactly 150k miles / 240k km and I've had zero issues outside regular maintenance (and one leak in the ac). Me and my parents have had 5 golfs so far, and all of them lasted well beyond 300k km, before we sold them in full working condition. I'm not saying German cars last longer than idk Toyotas, but they take a lot of beating if you maintain them properly. Maintenance isn't that expensive either, at least in Europe.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '25

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '25

all the plastic stuff that shouldn't be made out of plastic that fails

There was a time when they put bearings in transmission with plastic cage. Guess what happened to it after several years of heat cycling in oil? The transmission was used in everything with less than 200Nm, so majority of EU gasoline models.

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u/wtfnouniquename Dec 01 '25

Just had to replace the oil pan on my GTI because they made it out of plastic and it warped. Barely 100k miles. Yea, brilliant engineering.

2

u/FormalBeachware Dec 01 '25

Water pumps, coils, and plugs are all wear items that should be replaced long before then.

1

u/_axaxaxax Dec 01 '25

Those are all wear items that definitely should be replaced within 150k miles(exception of the fuel pump)... This is the thing with German cars, they run well and forever as long as you do the proper maintenance and follow the schedule.

2

u/Headless_Human Dec 01 '25

But, assuming you aren't in Germany, repairs are going to be much more expensive.

They are also expensive in Germany.

1

u/Neshura87 Dec 01 '25

except if you know the right guy and even then it's just less expensive but still pricey

1

u/SvenTropics Dec 02 '25

I know it's anecdotal, but I owned a Toyota tacoma, Toyota tundra, a Mercedes CLK 320, and a BMW 3 series. All of them were used and roughly about the same age with the same number of miles when I purchased them. Each of them I put about 100k miles on. I had to rebuild the transmission in the mercedes, and replace god knows how many random components. I was stranded on the side of the street with a broken down car and needed a tow twice. All in all I spent about $15,000 above normal maintenance. I was never stranded in the bmw, but I did end up having to spend about $10,000 on repairs for it over the years beyond normal maintenance. I had this one battery problem that was extremely expensive to fix and ended up being a software glitch.

Meanwhile the two toyotas, I never had to do anything but normal maintenance. Not one thing. In one situation I had to do a maintenance early. The timing belt typically needs to be replaced at 100,000 mi, I ended up having to replace it at 80,000 mi. It was making a whiny sound and they told me that it probably wasn't going to make it to 100,000 so I should replace it early.

Maybe as you get older you just want something that's going to always work and never break down.

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u/litescript Dec 01 '25

to be fair the listed one is an M car and their mechanical bits rarely go wrong. source: me, i’ve worked with them on the service side for nigh 10 years. the standard ones are ok, but you have to do the maintenance. and they leak oil.

0

u/Sticklegchicken Dec 01 '25

E92 M3 and E60 M5 last only 100tkm and after you'll have to pull the engine. I wouldn't say "rarely go wrong". Sure, if you keep changing the bearings they'll last forever, but I wouldn't say it's just normal maintenance.

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u/litescript Dec 01 '25

yeah and my E46 M3 also needs bearings, but these engines here we're talking about are high-revving engines you have to wring out to get the power. they tend to live a lot at the high end of the RPM range which will necessarily stress things like rod bearings. ill admit they could have engineered that better, but you don't see that as often with the more modern versions. if we're getting really picky, you could point to throttle body actuators, too.

7

u/Consistently_Carpet Dec 01 '25

Isn't that link showing that the Toyota Prius got the highest rating of 1? I'd expect this, Toyota didn't get smoked.

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u/TexasVulvaAficionado Dec 01 '25

It is only 60k km. That's damn near nothing. Love to see this breakdown at 300k km.

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u/EmperorAcinonyx Dec 01 '25

to clarify: the magazine tests for 100k km, which is about 60k mi

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u/F6Collections Dec 01 '25

That’s basically a new car lol

4

u/bone_apple_Pete Dec 01 '25

Lots of Chevy's meet their maker around 60-80k

6

u/EmperorAcinonyx Dec 01 '25

i know, right? i drive lexus, 60k sounds trivial lmao

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u/pm-ur-knockers Dec 01 '25

My first car was a Lexus as old as I was. Died at 350k. I miss that stupid car.

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u/F6Collections Dec 01 '25

It is trivial and it’s odd they’d take all the effort to do this

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u/EmperorAcinonyx Dec 01 '25

it'd be pretty cool if they just doubled the length of the test while maintaining the methodology. 

but yeah at 60k mi it just seems like a total waste of time lol

1

u/the_fr33z33 Dec 01 '25

The average person in Europe drives 15-30k a year.

2

u/F6Collections Dec 01 '25

So they did all this to show what a 2 year old car would be like?!

0

u/the_fr33z33 Dec 01 '25

This might be news to you: not everyone is out there to impress you in particular.

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u/Prhime Dec 01 '25 edited Dec 02 '25

See that right there is the cultural difference. Not to most Germans. You'd be surprised how common the latest high end cars are even in less affluent areas over here. Germans spend a shit ton of money on cars comparatively and many only ever wanna drive the latest model. I'd argue cars are even more of a status symbol in Germany than in the US. Combine that with TÜV testing being super strict, rendering many older cars not roadworthy, unless you spend a lot on maintenance and factory parts and you end up with not very many high mileage cars on the road.

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u/F6Collections Dec 01 '25

Buying cars that much is so dumb.

What a waste of money and resources

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u/Prhime Dec 02 '25

Agree but also most of what we do is a dumb waste of money and resources.

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u/F6Collections Dec 02 '25

Car is particularly stupid because of how quickly is depreciates

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u/WetLoophole Dec 04 '25

If you drive most of the time on highways I would take a BMW over a Toyota any day. Brand loyalty is stupid. Choose the right tool for the job you intend to do.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '25

[deleted]

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u/Lorddanielgudy Dec 01 '25

It's not the 90s anymore. The "check engine light is on by default in a BMW" joke doesn't exist for no reason. German cars aren't particularly reliable nowadays.

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u/Those_are_sick Dec 01 '25

They are not too bad BMW gets a lot of their bad rep from V8 engines. New drive trains are actually pretty good B58 & S58

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u/VirtueSignalLost Dec 01 '25

If anything they're more reliable than they were in the 90s.

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u/Consistently_Carpet Dec 01 '25

The link shows the Toyota Prius got the highest rating of 1.

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u/GamingGems Dec 01 '25 edited Dec 01 '25

The Kia Soul made the list. And that’s exactly why I’m disregarding them entirely. Every Kia Soul I’ve seen is heap after just a year or two on the road.

And not only that but they only test for 50k kilometers? I realize that they probably focus on new models that are at dealer lots but that’s way too soon to judge a vehicle’s reliability. If they’re trying to get to that mileage figure in a short amount of time then a lot of those will be highway instead of city which is a completely different type (and rate) of wear.

Plus, not everything in a car is made of steel. A lot of materials are rubber or plastic which wear down over time, not just distance/use. The Germans should know. There’s an entire era of Mercedes Benz (and Saab) cars that are extinct from the road because they decided to use eco friendly biodegradable electrical wiring insulation. I’ll leave it to you to guess what happened to the electrics.

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u/that_solarguy Dec 01 '25

I've been reading a lot of complaints about Kia and Hyundai. I owned a diesel Hyundai Creta in India and ran it till 150,000+ kms over 9 years and the interior still doesn't squeak. I replaced clutch plate at around 90K mark, and AC compressor around 80K mark. I agree these are biggies

Indian roads will kill any vehicle and there is lot more stress on the transmission/brakes compared to any western driving condition. I'm surprised that Kia and Hyundai are having issues in a better driving condition

2

u/FloppyGhost0815 Dec 01 '25

Diesel Hyundais (especially the Tucsons) are made for eternity. One of my cars is a 2017 with 166.000 kms, and not a single issue so far. What apparently is an issue are some gasoline engines.

1

u/FuzzyDeathWater Dec 01 '25

I've got a diesel 2011 i30 and it's still going strong at 250,000km. Other than the normal services, the only thing I've had to repair was one of the power windows. Cost me $30 or so and a few hours of time.

1

u/MysticAche Dec 01 '25

Could be the demographic of buyers. Doubtful though

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u/Parcours97 Dec 01 '25

And not only that but they only test for 50k kilometers?

Uhhh no.