Consider these pros and cons before buying a German car – Jalopnik

BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen all build vehicles in the United States, and the same brands (plus Audi) build cars for the U.S. in Mexico. At the same time, BMW owns British brands such as Mini and Rolls-Royce, while Volkswagen Group counts Lamborghini and Bentley among its non-German brands. In short, the concept of a German vehicle is not as simple as it used to be.

But if we distinguish only the brands that were originally born in Germany – regardless of where they now build their vehicles – there is a fair amount of factual data to draw some basic conclusions. First, our criteria limit the choice to Audi (founded in Zwickau in 1909), BMW (Munich, 1916), Mercedes-Benz (Stuttgart, 1926), Porsche (Stuttgart, 1931) and Volkswagen (Berlin, 1937). We also realize that some of your favorite German cars come from the likes of Borgward, Hoffmann and Wiesmann, with the latter trying to make an EV comeback, but we’ll stick with brands that have cars in production today.

As an example of what we’re talking about, one downside of German cars is that they tend to be more expensive than regular cars – if only because four of those names are luxury brands that command higher MSRPs. Moreover, many of the pros and cons of German cars are interrelated. Their luxurious nature means that even if you pay more for their cars, you often get more.

Cherry-picking data from across the internet provides ample evidence of how much German cars can cost compared to the competition. AutoEdgeFor example, analyzed average car transaction prices in 2025 and found that Porsche had an average transaction price of $121,678, putting it in the top 10 most expensive brands. That same year, Cox Automobile – which broke down the figures by automaker group, not by brand – reported an average transaction price for BMW Group at $69,924. For the Mercedes-Benz Group, the average transaction price was $75,700.

As for Audi, Cox has subsumed this brand’s pricing under the Volkswagen Group, and it did not appear in the CarEdge rankings. But the Volkswagen brand itself did, coming in ninth with the lowest average transaction price in the survey at $39,570. Less expensive brands included Subaru, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Honda and even Buick. Audi undoubtedly had a higher average transaction price; Today, only a handful of Audi models cost less than $50,000.

It is noted that the average transaction price in the industry is currently just under $50,000. Given the higher costs of these brands, we can safely mention their relative expensiveness as a disadvantage of buying a new German car. If you’re worried about that, you might want to buy a used luxury car instead.

The financial disadvantages of German cars can extend to how expensive it is to keep them on the road. Just look at the 2025 Consumer Reports (CR) study on which brands have the highest maintenance costs over time. Sure, Land Rover was right at the bottom, but Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW claimed the next four spots, with Porsche owners typically paying $17,900 in maintenance and repair costs over a ten-year period. The others grouped between $11,000 and $12,630. The cost for Volkswagen owners for the same period was much lower, at $7,545, but this still placed VW 17th out of the 29 brands eligible for the list.

The situation doesn’t change much, even if we cut back to a more realistic five years of ownership. Mercedes-Benz ($3,330) and Porsche ($4,950) still finish only last place in this measure, Land Rover ($5,560). Audi was one of only two other brands (Mitsubishi and Subaru) with five-year maintenance/repair costs exceeding $2,000.

The predicted five-year cost for Volkswagen was $1,650, which was comparable to mainstream brands like GMC, Mazda and Mini, as well as BMW. Despite how much it costs to maintain and repair BMWs over the entire ten-year period, the brand has managed to keep costs fairly low for the first five years. Individually, it ranked fifth overall in CR reliability.

German cars may be on the pricey side, but you can certainly get a lot of bang for your buck with these machines. All five brands mentioned can point to impressive victories at major motorsport events around the world, and all five have brought a taste of that success to the streets. That even applies to VW, although it ended its support of factory racing in 2020 – but that was only after multiple wins in the World Rally Championship in the previous decade.

The other four all remain closely linked to racing both on and off the track, supported by their own dedicated performance divisions such as Audi Sport, BMW’s M and the Porsche GT team, while Mercedes-Benz has a dedicated subsidiary known as Mercedes-AMG. Do you want to form your own racing team? The last three brands sell real racing cars to get you started.

Now, not everyone agrees with the sportification of German car manufacturers, but it is difficult to dispute the results shown. Once you fork over $270,000 to get into a Porsche 911 Turbo S, you’ll be in control of a precision performer capable of hitting 200 mph on the track and jumping from 0 to 60 mph in 2.4 seconds (with help from the Sport Chrono package). That’s just one example of thrillers like the Audi RS 6 Avant speedwagon, the 523-hp BMW M4 Competition xDrive Coupe and the Mercedes-AMG SE Performance coupe that can put down more than 1,000 pounds of torque.

Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche are literally considered luxury brands, and they live up to that reputation by equipping their cars with an extensive range of comfort and high-tech innovations. However, Mercedes-Benz may be the best example of these brands’ approach to excellence. On the technological front, it is the first brand from any country to offer SAE level 3 certified driver assistance, allowing drivers to take their eyes off the road. Although its cars have been promised to be self-driving for more than a decade, Tesla only sells cars with Level 2 technology, which requires drivers to keep their attention focused on driving at all times.

When it comes to other luxury features, Mercedes-Benz can call on the help Maybacha specific group dedicated to “defining the world’s most elegant automotive brand.” Here you will find handmade engines, such as in AMG models, but also handmade cabins that customers can design in collaboration with the Manufaktur studio. This way they can enjoy unique details. In terms of the aforementioned value-for-money factor, some Maybachs are actually a bargain when you consider how luxurious these mobile mansions can be.

Volkswagen proves that even mainstream German brands can deliver a premium ownership experience. The VW Atlas and Tiguan SUVs are a great example of this, as they can all be ordered with features such as heated and ventilated, massaging front seats.

If you’ve been looking at used car deals recently, you may have noticed that some used luxury cars are so cheap that they can cost less than a regular compact car. You can attribute this to the fact that premium cars are depreciating in value much faster than their counterparts, creating a situation that may not seem to bode well for the luxury German brands. But while those fantastic five names have their clunkers (some of which can be found on our list of 10 Luxury Vehicles with Terrible Resale Values), they do have some models that can hold their value the way they hold on the track.

Porsche’s 911 and 718 Cayman ranked first and second respectively with the lowest five-year depreciation in the industry in a recent period. iSeeCars analysis; the 718 Boxster was also in ninth place. To be precise, the 911 only lost 19.5% of its value after five years, while its 718 siblings had a depreciation rate of 21.8% and 29.6%. According to the figures, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW were among the luxury leaders in terms of value retention AutoEdge; they rated 2nd, 4th and 6th, in that order, and each retained more than half its value during that period. VW did the same, but it was only good enough to finish twelfth out of nineteen non-luxury brands.