The other aspect is a lot of older luxury cars were also very well built, and older economy cars were some real bare-bones shitboxes. My father enjoyed driving

The other aspect is a lot of older luxury cars were also very well built, and older economy cars were some real bare-bones shitboxes. My father enjoyed driving his Mercedes, so I figured I ought to enjoy a German luxury car as well. I expected to pay a certain premium on parts, and obviously for premium fuel and synthetic oil, but that I'd get a much more solid feeling car in return. The problem is, the Mercedes he drove were from the 80s and 90s, so parts markup aside, they were basically Toyota reliable. The German car I bought was from the mid-2000s, and nowhere near as well built or reliable as a 90s Mercedes, even in present day. I'd even owned a 1986 Mercedes that was still reliable in 2010, I'd also owned a 1992 Mercedes that was also reliable, and continued to be so after I sold it to a friend who drove it for all of university (2010-2015). But it was the 7 year old one that basically fell apart despite me buying one with full dealership service history, then sinking endless money in making sure all the repairs were done properly with OEM parts, on top of my religious maintenance as I'd believed German cars were only problematic due to neglectful owners. So, it went about as poorly as you'd expect.