[blschaefer1]

There have been numerous comments lately in other threads regarding build quality and reliability of Porsche relative to BMW and the other German brands. I thought it might be interesting to start a new thread on this topic.

Over the course of the last 15 years, I've owned five BMW's, two Porsche's, and now two Audi's. All have been well built and trouble free, though my 2014 Cayman S did spend quite a bit more time in the shop than all other cars combined. I may have had a bad example, but that is my experience. My current Audi's have been flawless and have excellent interiors, materials, fit and finish. In terms of general build quality, I might place Porsche and Audi slightly higher than BMW, but the difference is trivial and certainly not enough for me to choose one over the other. I have no first hand experience with M-B.

There is conflicting information in the media on this topic also. JD Power has Porsche ranked #2 (behind Kia!) in their most recent initial quality survey. Consumer Reports on the other hand has Porsche ranked 13th in their Predicted Reliability score, behind Audi (#4) and BMW (#5) and one spot ahead of M-B. There is a UK-based company similar to CR that tracks this too, and places Porsche near the bottom, BMW, Audi and M-B in the middle and the Asian stuff on top; one of their metrics being repair time and cost.

My personal opinion is that Porsche owners tend to fall more into the 'enthusiast' category and fall victim to Porsche's marketing prowess and convince themselves their products are vasty superior to others in an effort to justify the price premium in their heads. I put myself in this category when I owned Porsche's. I think this artificially influences JD Power ratings. There are proportionally fewer 'enthusiasts' of the other German brands and therefore they are more objective about the ownership experience.

Thoughts on this topic?

PS, I currently do not have any BMW's in the garage but still enjoy spending time here, and consider my former F82 M4 as one of all time favorite cars, right up there with the 991.1 C2S. We currently have both an Audi S3 for the wife (fun little all rounder) and an S6 as a daily for me. Decided to go a bit more towards the lux end of the spectrum with the S6 this time around. Amazing V8 but there are days I really miss the F82.