sc4922

Over the years, I've bought several cars like this, and I always read everything I can before I buy. Cars at this price point are high-end toys to a large extent, but I think many buyers still want to know whether others have experienced any major issues with the cars.

I bought the first BWM seven series with iDrive, and I'd read enough to know that many people absolutely hated iDrive. So I asked the dealer to let me drive a demo car for a day to see if I could live with it. I didn't have a problem with using it, but at least I knew what I was getting into.

Devh

CR for what it's worth is not a reliable source and neither is JD Power and associates.
They can often give you misleading information and ratings. CR only comes into the picture if you follow past trends. Online reviews from owners of these automobiles is not very reliable as well especially if they have a lemon.
The best way to reach a sensible conclusion is to hear everything but trust nothing. Look at long term trends from each manufacture because they don't radically change over night. I often see some manufactures put out their latest and greatest and many of the publications will overhype and blur the lines between quality and reliability. My best source of information believe it or not is from actual owners that have endured these brands for the long run.

SW17LS

My point is nobody buys an MB S Class because of its CR rating. So the idea that people bought them because of a "faulty" high rating and then were "duped" when that rating was dropped is a little far fetched.

Pamperme

CR has the data on hand to do a much better job at informing the public about reliability histories and trends. But as of now, their conclusions on 'predicted reliability' and 'model year reliability' remain misleading. They don't go far enough in telling the true reliability TRAJECTORY of a model's reliability history.

Pamperme

It doesn't matter why people buy them with regards the reliability discussion taking place here . The point here is that if their reliability is going to be measured, CR needs to do a better job at doing that. Whether or not it's reliability rating affects your purchase decision is neither here nor there.

SW17LS

Thats the problem with predicting the future. No matter how much data you have about the past...sometimes you're just wrong. Ask a meteorologist.

Devh

Exactly. It takes at least two or three life cycles before a company either improves their line up or completely fails.
The GM debacle is nothing new and it's not a big deal except for being a major recall. Their cars have been crappy for years.
Take a look at Fords advance towards trying to sell the public that they can compete in the Camry and Honda segment. They cant until these giants start to come off their strides.

Pamperme

It's not about 'predicting' the future. It's about revealing the reliability history each make and model has accumulated for itself. It's holding them accountable for their products EVEN AS THEY AGE.

SW17LS

How do they not do that? You can look back and see a models reliability history.

When you're shopping for a new car, and its a new model without much historic data...then you are asking them to predict the future.

sc4922

After owning six 7 Series BMWs and a Mercedes S Class, I just bought my first Lexus, a new 2014 LS 460 L. I'm close to retirement and may need to keep this car for several years. (I want to postpone having to dip into my retirement savings to buy a new car for as long as is possible.) So reliability was pretty much at the top of my list in terms of what I was looking for in a new car.

I didn't buy the Lexus based solely upon the CR rating, but there certainly is enough general information on CR, JD Power and other sites to know that, long term, an LS is likely to be much more reliable than a Mercedes S550, an Audi A8, a BWM 750 or a Jaguar XJ.

For people like me, the reliability histories on CR, JD Power, etc. do make a difference in buying decisions, although I'm sure there are also many buyers who don't look at this stuff at all.

Devh

The problem with that is the public does not care as much as they use to. Manufactures understand this so they place their investment in misleading advertising. There is so much malinvestment in technology that is unreliable so they can market cars to the next guy who is impulsive for it.
After all they are now giving car loans to anyone with a heart beat.
If you ever wondered why the LS460 is not as reliable as it's predecessor it's because it has to be competitive with the poor choices of it's competitors.

SW17LS

And you chose to buy an LS. I didn't say people don't buy the LS because of CR's recommendation. The LS is in many ways a pragmatic purchase, an S Class is not. You bought those S Classes all those years despite CR's data. When you finally got to a point in your life where you cared about the sorts of things CR predicts...then you had reached a point in your life where the benefits of an S Class or 7 Series over an LS weren't important to you anymore.

sc4922

The BMWs and S Classes were all on relatively short term leases, so reliability wasn't as much of a factor. And on that score, I was lucky with the cars I bought until my last BMW, a 2011 750Li--the runflat tires were a disaster. And even with short term leases, I never ever considered buying a Jag, which has a very checkered reliability history. (Several years ago, a friend of mine bought a new Jag XJS only to see it burn to a crisp in the parking lot of a New Orleans hotel.)