Who's the Cadillac of Hi-End Audio?

If I had to guess what was the most reliable automobile made, I would guess either Toyota or Honda.

This based what I have read and heard over several years, plus my personal experience of having owned one Toyota and six Honda's.

I have also owned seven Volkswagen's, including the new Beetle with water cooled engine. Volkswagen, Toyota and Honda are VERY different in style, personality and finish. All are excellent in their own way, but I do have a special spot in my heart for German cars.

When I bought my first Honda in 1978, American Automobiles were not very well made and fuel inefficient at a time when we had gas shortages. Buying a Honda also made sense because of EXTREME value. A new Civic with AM-FM radio, air conditioning, and sport wheels could be purchased for $3800.00 new off the showroom floor.

This low price setting trend continued until about 1986, until they begin to get overly popular, causing the price to rise to within a few thousand dollars of the Volvo 740 Turbo wagon (and the Volvo had sunroof, drop forged allow wheels and leather).

Later, after Volvo evolved to 100% front wheel drive, dropped their no fault / no cost, bumper to bumper warranty and was gobbled up by Ford, the unique personality and low prices vanished completely.

Right now, American SUV's and trucks from both GM and Ford have rebates, incentives and zero percent interest, making them the best deal in decades. My new GMC retailed for over 40K, and I am driving it for $326.00 a month with no money due at the end of 36 month lease.

Considering I cannot spend a dime on repair during the time I drive it, that is not bad overall operating expense.

Surprisingly, the slow economy has also hit extreme luxury cars. A ultra high end 745 BMW was just leased by of my friends at $750.00 a month on two year basis.

He paid ZERO down, not even tax. He gets a free BMW X5 as a loan car when he gets his oil changed, and if he's busy, the dealership will pick his car up and drive him where he needs to go.

Granted it's a LOT of money, and WAY over my budget, but for the guy that can afford that kind of luxury, that is an incredible way to drive a $75,000.00 automobile and not have to be responsible for it long term.

As I said before, this is all about what you want, need and can afford. I would have a stable of automobiles including a BMW 6 series coupe and the new Aston Martin DB 9 if I had Bill Gates money :^).

I stand by my original comments which labeled Japanese cars as a whole unexciting - I also cited their high build and design quality (and by association reliability). My main objection to the Japanese cars is that in driving them I feel like the design philosophy was prescribed by a focus group rather than an engineer. By this I mean the Japanese cars try to offend nobody (with the exception of a few sporting models such as the RX-8). Drive a German car such as a BMW, Audi, or Mercedes and the car feels like it was carved out of a single piece of metal and has an angular purpose.

Excitement in my view has little to do with cost or even quality of design (although I do cite the quality of Japanese design and build). I've driven an Acura RL and Lexus LS430 and ES300 and been bored to death while the comparitavely crude Miata is a blast by comparison. I believe that for similar reasons we are instructed to let our friends demo the music they like on our systems and not a technically perfect audiophile disc.

I do agree with the generalization that German cars are more expensive to operate than Japanese cars. I chalk this up to higher performance requirements and more intense operating conditions. This quite simply requires a more intensive upkeep program regardless of how the owner drives. Anyone familiar with aviation can attest to this.

Having said all this - I (a college engineering student) currently drive a 1995 Civic owned by my uncle since new. I got this car on the basis that it was supposed to be reliable and cheap to operate. So far this has held true.

My previous car was both more reliable, cheaper to operate, and performed better... it was a 1987 Audi 4000S - bought new by my dad for his business travel.

A number of people have mentioned how certain cars offer a certain excitement when driven. Is this driving excitement analogous to what some audiophiles call musicality? There may not be a logical connection, but the language people are using is so similar.

For what it's worth, I drive an 1998 Audi A8 and my previous ride was a 1993 Lexus SC300. They're very different cars and each has its strong points, but one thing is an absolute fact. The Lexus dealer network is far superior to Audi's and this definitely effects the total ownership experience.

Amen to that Onhwy61! I used to own a 2001 Audi A6 Avant and was always amazed at how I was treated. Granted, this wasn't an ultra-premium car, but at 2 clicks less than $50K, I sure expected better treatment than the VW owners. NOPE. Same goes for Porsche. I couldn't imagine spending $100K+ on an exotic sports car (911 Turbo) and being treated the same as those bringing their New Beetle in for an oil leak.

Even for warranty repairs, they would not give me a loaner vehicle. When I complained, the best I could get was a ride to Enterprise to pick up my $25 POS rental.

At Lexus, even the entry-level ES-300 (Toyota Camry) owners get treated like royalty.

That being said, I still think that the analogy regarding Japanese cars is mostly true. There are, however, some pretty exciting Japanese cars. Most of them come from Nissan and Mazda who are far less conservative than Toyota and Honda. My 1996 Nissan Maxima was (from a reliability standpoint) far and away the best car I've ever owned. Sadly, it was killed in an automobile accident last Thursday. (MOMENT OF SILENCE) My old '90 Mazda Miata was an absolute BLAST to drive and was dead reliable as well.

Even still, I'd take a fine German sport sedan over a "comparable" japanese model any day of the week. Did somebody say BMW M5??

Anarchy, Italian cars are better made than Japanese cars? I rest my case as to the pathetic level of your knowledge of things automotive. I think that I have made my point that in cars like in audio, a lot of folks here would rather believe stories, lies and vicious innuendo than consider more objective data. I guess JD Power et al are wasting their time and, oh, obviously, so is John Atkinson. Anarchy you are precious. Love people unswayed by evidence. I see you are dumping your Sony speakers. Why? Bad Japanese components?