Volvo SUV vs. BMW SUV

I am seriously buying an SUV for fun. My mechanic recommends a JAPANESE
MAKE (Toyota./Lexus or Nissan?infinity, HONDA/ ACURA). But i find those
brands extremely boring and there are too many around.
My final choices are a Volvo's 2002 model or BMW's earlier model (2002 or
before). I don't want to buy a new one. I have been told that the European
imports lose value very quickly.I have been warned by my mechanic to be
prepared to spend a bunch of money for repairs.
Now - I have many questions. I need your advise. What are your repairs in
the first year? How do you like these car makers in comparison to the
JAPANESE (if you have ever owned JAP car or SUV before). How about the
difference between VOLVO and BMW?
VV

 

buy an XC90. American cars suck.

 

My 2001 V70 XC has had no repairs in the first 3 years. I had a AWD
Subaru Legacy and gave it away since it was rusting away. The Subaru
had many repairs: the transmission/AWD unit was replaced just before
100,000 miles, the drivers door lock mechanism fell apart locking me in
the car, the air conditioner compressor fell apart and had to be
repaired, the drivers sun visor wouldn't stay up and had to be replaced,
the air shocks leaked and were replace with mechanical shocks, the tail
gate rusted out and had to be replaced, the sun roof leaked, and the
axle bearings wore out and had to be replaced.

 

That's not very helpful, he didn't even list any american cars on his list
in the first place.

 

I think he meant in general.

The BMW X5 is assembled in the USA, I guess he feels that American
assemblers can't tighten screws as good as Germans or Swedes... Which is
total bullshit, I would hope. American cars for many years have used
inferior parts to Euro/Japanese cars, so they would break faster, in
general. But that BMW uses all German parts (Bosch... guess what, so does
the Volvo... my 960 has more German then Swedish stuff in it, it's all Bosch
or Hella).

It seems to be true that the Americans don't care as much about adjustment
tolerances for doors, trunklid, hood panel gaps. But i'm sure the German
bosses have made sure that the X5 is assembled properly.

The X3 looks good, and is made at a Magna Steyr plant in Austria, I
believe... Since I work for Magna, and they tell us the quality is quite
good from that plant, i'll go on reporting that they are good quality .

I wouldn't buy either the Volvo or BMW SUV's if I had the money to tho, I
think i'd have myself that VW Toureg, it's just such a nice car.... and has
REAL offroad capabilty.

 

Or spend a little more and get the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, though I'm not
sure I like the styling as much. But the newest Range Rover..... they look
fun! Interestingly enough, those of you who know Top Gear (TV program in
the UK), despite them usually ridiculing volvos just for the hell of it,
they did choose the XC90 as the winner of the 4x4 category - must be an
awesome car!

Mark

 

I found a website with those Top Gear test on it (mainly the sporty cars
tho), man do I wish I got that show in Canada, best car show ever.... love
the "Stig" and the reviewers in general.

 

Because there's more to the internet than hits alone, Rob Guenther
wrote:

The Stig, I found out the other day, is Perry McCarthy, probably the
most unlucky man ever to get a Formula 1 seat. He drove for a team
that was so desparately underfunded in the early '90s that they often
couldn't afford to send him out for practice, and I don't think he
ever managed to get through qualifying and start a race. He built up
quite a following in the UK, (we always like an underdog, apparently),
though in international terms he was probably unheard of. He later
went on to have more success in sports cars, including Le Mans.

As for the rest of the Top Gear programme, and in particular it's main
presenter, I commend the following site to you (click on the picture):

http://www.urban75.com/Punch/clarkson.html


--

Stewart Hargrave

Finally visible on www.hargrave.me.uk

I run on beans - laser beans


For email, replace 'SpamOnlyToHere' with my name