The good news just keeps a-comin'...

[Sugarloafer80]

Defender, IMHO, is an image vehicle now, but back in the day, they were not. Except for a handful, GWagon has always been image..Extensive European history education earlier in life pounded into my head to never fully trust them.......if European Union becomes inconvenient to them, watch what happens and ironically, as their automotive industry implodes, we may see some upheaval in not too distant future esp if the labor movement pushes out democratic regimes..........aside but highly correlated. I always felt Japan made a far more complete about face than Germany post war....cuse my aside but think about all the German slogans that continue to point straight at their historic ideology and how well they have brainwashed the consumer.

BMW--> "Ultimate"
Mercedes--> "The best or nothing"
Audi--> "perfect technology" which is truly laughable. Always notorious for quirky , expensive failures

Japan and especially Toyota have excelled at humble quality, reliability and durability...very different mindset.

Seems a good thread to throw this into. Amazing how South Korea has emerged over the past 20years. Then there is China, the prime source of the german auto industry's demise. It is funny how our views of the world differ based on our age.Also, I did not serve, but father was in Air Force........so you go a lot of those thoughts over the years. I tried to be apolitical but.......think of it more as philosophical.

 

[basicxj]

Having danced with German automobiles a few times in my driving life, I avoid them in my advanced age. They are great to drive when everything is functioning properly, I'll give them that. Their engineering philosophy is interesting to say the least, and once the warranty clock has run out it is a recipe for draining your bank account should you feel compelled to keep fixing what breaks.

Toyota tends not to be so "bleeding edge" in their engineering which can translate into reliability. The Land Cruiser is the first Toyota I've actually owned- I have worked on a few over the years, but this is the first one I have pulled the trigger on. In a year and a half, it has been a treat. While not as flashy as some of the German product, I'll take honest engineering all day long.