Audi vs. BMW vs. Mercedes... Who's Most Reliable for 2020?

just a few decades ago it was pretty easy to differentiate between the three German luxury brands Mercedes was the sophisticated big body big engine player howdy was the turbocharged problem-child with the confidence-inspiring all-wheel drive and BMW was naturally aspirated with rear-wheel drive and 50:50 weight distribution but nowadays they all have super sophisticated cockpits refined all-wheel drive options and efficient and powerful turbochargers what I'm getting at is each company's philosophies are a lot closer in every category than they've ever used to be so that's why I'm gonna dig into the three big European car brands and at the end the side if outtie is the king of the castle it's great to see you guys again let's go let's start this video off with the little Bavarian flavor shall we BMW once graced us with incredible sports cars like the e30 m3 and although it lacked pure grunt hit more than made up for it with its revi four-cylinder motor superb 50:50 weight distribution and handling as sharp as a surgeon's scalpel 18 years later BMW has stayed true to focusing on driver dynamics and experience and they pretty much made all of our dreams come true with the BMW 1m a future classic with its perfect weight distribution wide fender flares hiding massive tread and a similar personality that made the e30 m3 so much fun BMW has continually won the hearts of everyone that is driven one inline sixes are synonymous with the brand and sound hos so good when dialed in let's be real for decades if you wanted a quote unquote driver's car there was really only one choice but the last few years haven't been as kind to him what character they had using almost exclusively naturally aspirated power plants has been traded in for turbocharged versions and yes they are more fuel efficient but they provide a counterfeit driving experience case in point here's an 92 m3 with a naturally aspirated S 65 4 liter motor that revs to an astronomical 8250 rpm s oh my god that thing gives me goose pimples and now here's the successor that f82 m4 with its twin turbocharged s 55 3 liter motor huffing and puffing as loud as it can I'm not saying that it sounds bad it's it's just different which I know which one I like better but I'll let you guys be the judge which one do you think sounds better the naturally aspirated or the twin turbocharged let us know up here as of late BMW as a whole has just evolved and tried to make a car for everyone let's say that you're looking for an SAV which stands for sport activity vehicle you can have your pick from the compact x1 the rebellious x2 the adventurous x3 the coupe inspired x4 the og x5 the reimagined x6 and drumroll please the large and in charge x7 yeah to say they've gotten a little diluted would be an understatement there's no doubt that BMW was once the head honcho for driving enthusiasts but that title may be coming to an end in the place that we spend 95% of our time the interior is the lowest quality of the bunch the ergonomics are great and if you like Spartan interiors they're easy to use but they just lack the sophistication inside that the other two brands booze more recently buyers of European luxury cars want their cake and eat it too and let's just say that BMWs become less and less the flavor of the week if you've ever owned a Mercedes you know that they have deep roots their tanks over engineered and known to go hundreds of thousands of miles if they're properly cared for and with those miles owners grow to appreciate the loyalty of the brand more and more Plus and they made the 190 Cosworth 2.3 the full package with the well-executed body kit including one of the best wings in the business a limited slip differential and it out of this world 2.3 litre 8-valve four-cylinder ready for a performance of a lifetime the cars in the 80s and 90s were solid reliable comfy rattle free powerful and of real pleasure to drive and back then the interiors were what really set them apart from the competition oh and you've got the AMG models like the c63 AMG with the massive 6.2 liter engine providing incredible performance in dismal gas mileage but who cared and an understated exterior gave it an even more sleeper and luxurious look if I had to explain the differences between AMG outies RS and BMWs M division to someone AM G's are like the muscle car ready to shove your eyeballs to the back of your skull at a moment's notice while outies RS is the race inspired confident all-wheel drive line of Audis in BMW M division used to be dedicated to their most prestigious road-legal sports cars but now they seem to be slapped on to pretty much every model available hey there's an x3 let's make it an x3 M Performance by slow hangin in badge on it that way it will sell a bunch more of them the EM badge to me just doesn't really mean the same as it used to in it and it's sad but what's also sad is just like what we saw with the BMW and the SAV X models Mercedes downfall was when they decided to add way too many new models to their lineup not only is the expansion to over 40 models confusing to their consumers but they're inherently will be more bugs into each new model and thus it takes more resources to fix them in a timely manner so you have these brands that are trying to appease more customers making more models and like they say MO models mo problems and Mercedes once class-leading interiors are still stylish but they're not next-level anymore they've always been one of the top brands when it comes to comfort and luxury but now that the competition is caught up their plan to fill every niche with a new car isn't really working in their favor so now it's time for the ideal question of the day have you ever owned a BMW Mercedes or Audi or would you ever consider it let us know your horror stories or great stories down in the comments or if you were to ever buy one which one would it be and why let's go howdy has always been a bit her difference see back in the 1980s we saw them transform from a brand only a bank manager would drive to a brand that young enthusiastic aspirational buyers would consider their advertising slogan was Vorsprung durch Technik which stands for progress through technology they had the best aerodynamics the most capable four-wheel drive systems and they even were one of the first to include car phones to really set themselves apart from the pack and no car epitomizes this more than their first joint venture with Porsche where they built the legendary out ers to the estate car loaded with a powerful 2.2 liter turbocharged motor running 1.4 bars of boost a six-speed manual gearbox in a chassis that's athletic enough to affectionately call it a performance car hero as you can tell I love this thing and we just started being able to import these into the USA so if you want to see what that car and a few other really cool cars we can import this year check out that video up there but for decades and decades howdy kept pushing their technology and with that they've had some major reliability issues like major but as with anything if you continue working on your weaknesses they'll hopefully someday become your strengths so when the Audi rs3 sedan hit the US a few years back with a 2.5 liter turbocharged engine that could telepathic steering and most important superb reliability it was a testament to their perseverance and that car had the perfect blend of speed comfort and agility howdy has always had models to compete with Mercedes and BMW but until recently consumers were more inclined to pick a luxury car without the four rings but let's talk about today is Audi the best European car brand to buy right now well all three brands have continued to grow and push each other which in the end the consumer wins with all of this but that is if they don't grow too fast as we saw earlier 10 years ago outtie was the go-to brand if you wanted all-wheel drive now BMW has the xDrive and mercedes has the 4matic and all three are almost as capable as the next so having all-wheel drive is a moot point BMW used to hold the title as the ultimate driving machine but with a bazillion models in their lineup and many of them being big SUVs like the BMW x7 are they really still the ultimate driving machine and Mercedes who once built cars with unmatched quality and luxury have really been reeled in by the competition and no longer stand out from the crowd and last but not least Odie who I think has come the furthest in the past few decades as a luxury car brand and they didn't do it without a ton of trial and error and thankfully never gave up I think because of their underdog mentality they've been able to become the best overall European car brand they've got you covered from the perky little a3 all the way up to the daily drivable supercar that Audi r8 they really do blanket every niche with a competitive offering and their tech forward approach which I love means their cars will be the cutting edge for what's available in the past the differences between companies philosophies were a bit more pronounced but nowadays they're a lot closer in every category and having spent time in a couple outies from 2020 there's a perfect balance of premium sporty in luxury and since that's where you spend 95% of your time it's got to be good now if you enjoyed this video and you found it useful and also a little bit funny please smash the like button so that it can help the YouTube algorithm and check out these six outrageous cars automakers never should have made or check out what YouTube recommends you watch next Oh haven't yet please subscribe but either way you can't lose and as always keep living that ideal lifestyle

Channel: Ideal Media

Views: 374,233

Keywords: brad danger, ideal cars, ideal car strategies, ideal media, luxury cars, mercedes benz, reliable luxury cars, automobile (industry), reliable cars, best luxury cars, top luxury cars, luxury car, audi vs bmw, luxury cars 2020, best luxury cars 2019, best reliable luxury cars under 10k, bmw vs audi, top luxury, top luxury car, bmw, audi, mercedes, luxury, reliable luxury car, audi vs, audi vs mercedes, audi vs bmw vs mercedes, best affordable luxury cars 2020, best luxury car

Id: tEo31FYwXPw

Length: 10min 27sec (627 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 28 2020