Study Indicates A BMW Costs Over Double That Of A Lexus To Maintain For 10 Years

Did the study forget to deduct the first 4 years of Maintenance that is covered with the Warranty? Maybe they should look into that...

They probably didn't to be quite honest. I'm sure BMW inflates the figures in their free scheduled maintenance to make it seem like a better deal. Which is likely why they are so far above everyone else.

No surprise the least innovative brands should be the least expensive to maintain while the most innovative should be more expensive.

However BMW needs to get it together because Benz offers models more expensive and innovative in safety features alone that should cause maintenance and the fact that Benz still manages to undercut Bimmer here is a HUGE win for Benz.

As for Toyota and Lexus congrats but come on did you expect anything else from a company that waits for Benz to introduce develop and perfect technology that Toyota Lexus emulates 10 years later after it's been tried and proven

@Car4life1 Your premise is that BMWs cost more to maintain because they are innovative? What is the purpose of innovation done poorly? If BMW is such a great engineering company, why can't their innovations be durable and reliable? Moreover, why cut any car brand any slack at all for delivering vehicles that have durability/reliability problems that cause maintenance costs to go up?

Germans rank #1 as usual, everything else is garbage. Heritage!!!

In all seriousness though this is why I love my 2002 Camry. No unscheduled maintenance so far, lets poor people like me keep driving.

Your Camry is well engineered. That is why it is durable and reliable.

poor, ridiculous fanboy

And still people continue to purchase BMWs, MBs and so on at record levels. More proof that most customers don't really care about reliability. What I find funny is that people continue to bash on VW's reliability and they are doing way better than most (even though I think the survey is BS).

re "...proof that most [BMW & MB] customers don't really care about reliability..."

Nope. BMW & MB customers buy these expensive luxury cars because they can, and because they have qualities they like. Face it, someone who pays $80,000 for a new car isn't getting the car because they're gonna save money in the long run.

And you had just make my point clearer.

And you have just make my point clearer.

USNA1999: You obviously don't see a difference between reliability and cost of ownership. To help you understand, please try to follow along as best you can with the following example:

Car A (Purchase price $30,000):
In the first 4 years of ownership...
+ 2 x oil change (minor service) @ $75 = $150
+ 2 x major service @ $200 = $400
+ One mechanical failure @ $250
= Total maintenance and repair costs: $800 (with 1 repair)

Car B (Purchase price $120,000):
In the first 4 years of ownership...
+ 2 x oil change (minor service) @ $350 = $700
+ 2 x major service @ $700 = $1,400
= Total maintenance: $2,100 (with 0 repairs)

In this example, you can clearly see that Car-B is "more reliable" than Car-A, because it had no defects that needed repair. In spite of this, the purchase price is a lot higher, as are the routine maintenance costs.

So your statement that "most [luxury car] customers don't really care about reliability" is based on your flawed assumption that "maintenance" costs related to the NUMBER of defects (i.e., lack of reliability), rather than being much more related to (a) routine maintenance costs, and (b) the COST of repairs.

If you are interested in arguing about reliability, please consult stats pertaining to the number of reported defects in the first 4 years of ownership (or possibly longer). You'll need to be discriminating because companies like JD Power and their "initial quality surveys" consider any customer complaint (e.g., the infotainment system is confusing) to be a "defect". They are not tallying actual things broken that need repair.

When you look solely at defect numbers, you'll see that luxury car makers TEND TO (but are NOT guaranteed to) have lower defect numbers than "ordinary" cars. For example, Mercedes' defect numbers are lower than Nissans. So once again, your assertion that "most [luxury car] customers don't really care about reliability" is a hollow one.

_____________
For the record, I've owned 5 luxury vehicles during my lifetime. All were extremely reliable, as I expected and demanded. All had (and have) exorbitant routine maintenance costs, and hefty repair costs (though repairs are infrequent).

I've had several BMW cars and motorcycle. They aren't cheap to own, even when they're in great shape..

In other shocking news, water is wet!

There are so many factors to consider when you talk about maintenance. One important one is what types of models are each brand selling and what is the cost of maintenance, accordingly? I'm sure BMW's M and Mercedes' AMG cars skew the numbers, as well as a higher rate of selling the higher-tiered cars (5/7 and E/S). At the same time, total miles driven and driving behavior in those 10 years of ownership plays a major role as well. I can't tell you how many times I've been caught behind Grandma driving her Lexus ES 10 miles below the speed limit and taking 3 hours to make a right turn.

Awe, look at the pissed poor hater.

A great many if not most new BMW owners lease their cars and couldn't give a damn about 10 year cost of ownership figures. Human beings on average spend 80% of lifetime healthcare costs in the last two years of their lives. If you go to the actual study you'll see to no one's surprise that annual maintenance rises dramatically in the later years for cars as well. Kudos to Lexus but no surprises here otherwise if your a luxury car buyer.

This is common knowledge.

A) Where's Lincoln?
B) Jap reliability and laissez-faire ownership have been well stablished before so no news here

"Jap" = you're a racist

Toyota/Lexus have been using the GR V6 engine since 2002. Some changes, but basically the same components. Smart. Tried and true. Lower parts and repair costs. A local Toyota dealerships advertises the" repair Lexus for less."

Looking at the problem specifics, BMW's suffer from some of the most basic of component failures; window regulators and idler pulleys, or do these fall under the very sophisticated and latest technologies. Service departments must love to see them coming in.

A really OLD list still has Pontiac and Mercury on it.

HUGE win for Mercedes? Pullease..... in all the yrs I've been on this blog you've never said one thing bad about MB, everything you say is so predictable, and I've had multiple MB products. The partisanship you express, every time, towards them really nullifies anything you say. The only win in this for Mercedes is at least the customer experience is superb while your car is in the shop. I cant say that for Cadillac or BMW. Am I the only one to notice Porsche is not on this list..?

Yeah you should probably find something more productive to do with your time then following my comments...sad...

Makes sense. BMW and Benz leases are through the roof! Where's Porsche?

Amazing that Land Rover is in this position.

Double the fun is going to cost more.

What did Clarkson say? "you could get a Honda Accord and drive it for a million trouble-free miles, all of them boring."

This is absolutely great news for Audi and it shows that the brand can offer some of the most advanced technology and connectivity features out of any car company today and yet it still costs significantly less (30% to be precise) to maintain than a BMW and slightly less than a Mercedes-Benz over 10 years.

With an Audi you get equal or better technology than in a BMW or Mercedes-Benz and you save money. Audi's sales success in the United States shows that people are gravitating to the brand.

As we all know, Audi is the most reliable luxury brand for 2016:

http://www.autonews.com/article/20160223/RETAIL/160229960/audi-supplants-lexus-in-consumer-reports-2016-report-card-on

Once the aggressive and differentiated 2017 Audi A8, which will be jam packed with the latest technology and safety features, is launched, it will be a huge threat to BMW and Mercedes-Benz because that same design philosophy will filter through the Audi lineup down to the A7 and A6.

BMW's are much more expensive to maintain than their competitors because of their use of run-flat tires. Over 10 years the average owner will change 2, maybe 3 sets of tires at double the cost of normal tires. They will probably also change an expensive set of tire pressure in that same time. BMW's move to run-flats was a big mistake.

Actually it's because they are poorly engineered pieces of garbage.

MDarringer: You have no heart..bimmerfans are going to erase you...and also you are so delicate to speak like a lever to open an egg....sadly I recognize that you are clever...lol. All electronics, I think, is the main reason for the high maintenance cost of German, (any car maker that is not Japanese) needs to learn from them or outsource all their gizmos.

I simply think there is no excuse for manufacturers not to deliver a quality product at any price point, but especially at an expensive price point like BMW inhabits.