German cars are famous for being overly engineered, with tiny failure tolerances. Older BMWs for instance are complete shitheaps compared with lower end brands

German cars are famous for being overly engineered, with tiny failure tolerances. Older BMWs for instance are complete shitheaps compared with lower end brands of similar age and use. Their systems are all very interdependent and any small failure, or even degredation of any part leads to a cascade if failure. Too much precision engineering and not enough robust engineering.