I was just discussing with my wife how good our cars have been and I thought I'd share my thoughts.
I firstly had an e28 which was immaculate and never missed a beat. It was an '84 model 525e. All I did was replace the water pump in the 2 and a half years I had it, it drove so smoothly and silently for an old car, gutted I ever sold her!
Then came the 1989 e34 530iSE with AC Schnitzer suspension and bodykit. After a few months of running it, I found evidence of accident damage and the headlights kept cutting out due to faulty wiring caused by the accident. I solved this quite simply and also replaced the well worn velour interior with full leather. After that, you'd never know she was used and abused. I paid £1750 for it and after 2 years I got £1000 back in part ex for a car which if any other manufacturer, should have been on the scrap heap years ago. A solid but abused car, with a bit of TLC, still managed to put a huge smile on my face when driving it, the same car got my wife hooked on beemers too!
Another example, my brothers e36, a 320iSE. He is not a person to treat his cars well! In the 8 years he had his, and he did about 50,000 miles and (no word of a lie) never ever got it serviced. All he ever did was put fuel in and replace tyres and brakes. 8 YEARS OF ABUSE!!! and the car never put a foot wrong! Including finance, he paid (over the odds at the time) about £10,000 and sold it 8 years later for £6000! What a quality car! Hardly a penny ever spent and it still ran as sweet as the day it came out of the factory!
Last example being my current love (apart from my wife of course! LOL ) My 540 touring with 6 speed manual box and the power to kill off all other family cars (except maybe the audi S4/6) and, until recently, been no trouble at all, but it's current illnesses can be easily cured I'm sure of that!
Can you think of another car manufacturer that gives you this quality coupled with the fun and driveability too? I doubt it!
Mike