[garcon]

Dissection time...

Originally Posted by topwelshman

BMW has certainly not lost its way.

Agreed - at least Bangle's cars are distinctive, and they still do everything as well as BMW's ever did.

The 7 series is the best selling car in its sector by miles...

Do you have figures for that? Is that global, Europe or UK? I thought the XJ was top selling large exec in the UK (rightly so too).

The 3 series outsells the mondeo...

And the new 3 series looks great. I still wouldn't buy one, but that's me... I have an anti-image thing, mainly cos of all the self centred shallow fashion victims that drive them in Cheshire...

Mercedes' quality is now VERY poor, they're over priced, boring & lardy to drive, an old man's car(unless we're talking AMG)

Now Mercedes have lost their way - in dealer service as much as quality... people still buy the badge, but when the dealer service at BMW and Lexus is infinitely better they'll defect in the end.

Saab are FWD, do not handle although they are well built but do not have the prestige or refinement.

I like the 9-5, but it really isn't even close to the 5 series in handling. And I fear for what GM are going to do to future Saabs - the 9-3 is ok, but the interior quality is noticeably poorer than the older 9-5.

Audi, I had an A4 quattro before, it's a good car but unrefined, not as well built as rumoured & the drive was very dull

Audi build quality is still the benchmark, but dealer service is nearly as bad as Merc, and Audis look poor value next to their VAG counterparts. Still fancy an RS6 though...

I'm a kind of anti-badge snob I suppose, so the very thing that attracts many buyers to Audi/BMW/Mercedes actually puts me off. My Subaru Legacy has all the quality, refinement and kit of any of them, with a throughly neutral image - suits me fine. Of the more established 'quality' brands, Jaguar are recovering well - the XJ is easily the best car in its class - and Lexus have the quality, reliability and service that Mercedes had twenty years ago.