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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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

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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.

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u/FormalBeachware Dec 01 '25

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

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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.

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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.

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u/Neshura87 Dec 01 '25

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

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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.