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Comment by holydude | Hacker News Reader

Legendary German engineering is a myth especially in this day and age . Sure they have an edge on few things as they were the first / had the most experience and the budget to improve on but just look at how they are loosing against the fierce competition from the US and Asia. I am not saying they are bad I am saying they are not that good as people think. They milk the brand but fail to deliver exceptional products.

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When you buy from a brand with a reputation to lose, you are not buying a guarantee to an exceptional product, you are buying a guarantee to a product that is not exceptionally bad.

When you buy an appliance from an unknown Chinese manufacturer, you can get a solid product, but if you're not careful, you end up with a cheap knock-off that will break in a month. They can get away with it because nobody ever hears of them, nobody knows not to buy from them.

When you buy an appliance from a well-known German manufacturer, you can get a white-labeled product from a Chinese supplier, but most likely it will still be a piece of solid engineering. Otherwise, any incident will be in the news for weeks, and exactly those customers who bought the brand for name-recognition now avoid it for the same reasons.

I suspect that this will change as wages in China rise to a level where build quality no longer dominates the manufacturing cost and some Chinese brands will probably emerge to be seen as high-value internationally.

Yeah sure i can agree with that. What I was saying is that there is not any reason for me to buy a product from a german brand unless they are really less expensive, giving me a better deal (more features / warranty).

The only problem with Chinese products is the availability and their IP stealing not really the quality.

Bosch is still the best after 130 years.

(I worked for the world #2 supplier that's been trying to catch them for 50 years)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_GmbH

I can also vouch for Miele appliances. Though they've lasted for over 20 years, which means the company might be producing crap by now for all I know :)

I always regarded MIELE as top-notch, so I bought nearly every household/kitchen appliance from them.

Can't remember having had to call a service hotline of a specific brand that often.

Wash-dryer needed 6 repairs within the first 7 years (luckily covered by 10y warranty), dishwasher twice in 5 years, microwave/steamer and ventilation hood both once within the first 5 months.

The MIELE image unfortunately took quite some damage based on my personal experience.

I do not believe they have an edge. They might be sticking to the few features = less moving parts = smaller chance to break but the materials are same cheap plastics and weak metals.

It's not a "myth". Germany holds a disproportionate market share in heavy industrial equipment and their higher end cars are second to none as far as ICE cars are concerned. Every time I pop the hood on my BMW to top up the windshield fluid, I can't help but admire just how "right" and uncompromising the engineering is. You can tell no corners were cut. That is a very rare commodity in this day and age.

They are far from "second to none".

They are good, but for the price they command they should be better (Audi markets their cars as "luxury", but their quality is just average, see the latest JD Power study [1], also Hyundai's dependability is above BMW's)

Eagerly awaiting "dependability is not everything" comments :-)

[1] http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/2017-vehicle-dependabi...

Which would you rather drive, a Hyundai or a BMW? And which in your opinion has a better engine, transmission, suspension, interior, etc.

Define better. Hyundai makes everything from toilets to aegis equipped war ships. If i would have the money i would buy tesla. If i would have to choose i would buy hyundai genesis or sonata. If someone was offering free hyundai or bmw i would pick bmw due to its resale value not quality

I'd rather drive a Lexus (and I actually do own one).

I'd rather drive a car that I can use, not a car that needs to spend time in the mechanics garage being repaired.

BTW, BMW is not going out of business any time soon (unless we have a massive move towards all-electric cars in a short period of time), because there will always be people who will want to drive a "beemer".

Legendary British engineering used to be a thing too.

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