OLDER GERMAN CARS

[Joseph Peoples]

I have heard just about all the online techs comment on the repair expense of German autos. I have to agree. There is a reason they throw in free maintenance with a sale. My question is, years ago, German cars were known to be excellent long term automobiles. Possibly due to all the new features on newer cars. How far back would one have to go to get a reliable German car? I am seriously considering an older Mercedes E or S class. Possibly even an oil burner. Assuming I am going through it pretty thoroughly, at what point would I be able to feel reasonably safe? 60’s, 70’s??

Love the vids, BTW

Topic

[Mike]

I’ve had a 1992 Jetta for 14 years. I spent the first 5 modifying the hell out of it, and the last 9 years having a completely reliable summer car. I also have a 1989 BMW 325i which was a turnkey reliable daily driver for the last 6 years until a few months ago a preventable electrical problem that I neglected caused it to need a major repair.

Cars like these are almost difficult to get low quality parts for, and you can expect properly done repairs to last. If you are doing the work yourself, upkeep and repairs can be easily afforded compared to paying for repairs on any economy car. The main problem is the rust. If you are trying to daily drive an old car in the winter and make it last, it’s a hell of a battle.

Are you looking for one as a primary car or a fun car or what?

[Joseph Peoples]

It will not be my daily driver. More of a fun car, but I would like to drive it to work one day a week, and pretty much all weekends. I would also like the ability to take multiple back to back 4-5 hundred mile days

[Andrew Thompson]

The German cars were fantastic up until the late 90’s. I have a number of BMWs and they have all been good. It is a good idea to fix things as soon as they start giving problems. The majority of problems have not left me unable to drive the car.

[Mike]

Seeing that it’s a fun car you won’t have to rely on, go for broke. If you have $10k to spend, you can get a fine example of almost anything except maybe a 911 or E30 M3. In many cases though, rust is a problem. Up here in NY it’s a case of fly away from the salt belt to pay a little extra for no rust and drive it back versus buy local and have to invest in some level of body restoration. Being that you’re in Alabama, it’s a better situation as far as that goes.

Some exceptional cars I’ve driven over the years and would recommend for your needs are the 83 320i coupe, 89 325i coupe, 93 325i coupe, 99 540i 6 speed (the most expensive of all these to work on), 87 Jetta GLI 16v, 92 GTI 16v, 92 Corrado VR6, 96 GTI VR6, 1990 Mercedes 190E and pretty much any 85-92 Golf or Jetta with a VR6 swap or TDI swap. If you are a car modifier and willing to go out of your way a little, a good VR6 swap car can be found for sale any day of the week.

Being that you are leaning towards a Benz, possibly diesel, I have a feeling you’re not trying to drive fast for thrills. My recommendations are biased towards cars that are rewarding to drive aggressively and feel comfortable at 100mph, which is pretty much what every German car excels at. If you’re mostly after the comfort, refinement, and feeling of driving a car honed from the finest slabs of granite, you should avoid VW. I’m biased towards VW but reality is reality, they’re ideal if you want a light car and the performance qualities inherent to that. They make for the most forgiving winter car because of the lightweight/front wheel drive combo, but luckily you don’t need to worry about that.

A final thought at the moment: You should be prepared to work on this car yourself for the most part, and a Benz will require the most specialized knowledge and service of all the Germans. If you don’t work on the car, much of the joy of driving an old German car will not be fully realized.

[Vic Sorlie]

If you’re thinking about an older Benz, check out the excellent YouTube channel mercedessource. You’ll find just about anything you want to know about acquiring and keeping an older MB, gas or diesel. I’ve been into BMWs since late 90s, currently on my eighth car, a 2004 E46 330Ci ZHP that is the newest model year I’ve owned. The newer cars get a lot more electronic gizmos, resulting in even higher repair costs. I think BMWs are great cars, but if you want them to last you have to maintain them. BMW, Benz, Audi, Porsche, VW what have you are all designed for various levels of high performance, but to get that they need to be maintained with proper parts on or ahead of schedule. BMW’s “Free Scheduled Maintenance” is a marketing ploy to sell cars, and is main reason for huge depreciation on these cars. Most people dump them when they find out how much it costs when they start paying. A favorite of mine is the E39 5 Series, one of the best looking BMW sedans. I’d recommend a 2002-2003 530i with Sport Package, a stunner IMO. V8 engine available in same chassis (540i) offers more performance but is considerably more expensive to maintain/repair. Incidentally the cars following E46 3 Series and E39 5 Series went to run-flat tires, a major source of complaint by BMW owners.

[Ian Williams]

I’ve seem some bargains with German cars , they do seem like an attractive option sometimes , until they go in for a service .

[Vic Sorlie]

The same can be said for any car. In the end they’re hunks of metal with a motor: Machinery. Those of us who can work on their own cars get better understanding of how they work, lower cost of ownership and satisfaction. I think those are some points why Eric does this excellent work.

[Author]

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