Star , you probably don`t have any experience with German cars if you`re saying such a nonsense , or you have a luck . I live in europe and from my own experience I can tell you that some German cars breakdown quite often , especially compared to Japanese cars . And if you want some proof , from German weekly magazine autobild . Autobild is testing cars reliability on 100000 km distance and after every test they are disassembling tested car to search defects . They are publishing that tests in their magazines and on website . Two the most unreliable cars they`ve tested are VW Polo and VW Touran , other cars from VW Group have also bad positions :http://www.autobild.de/artikel/100.000-km-dauertest-vw-touran_58765.htmlHere is also their the newest reliability test of mazda 5 and latest update of summary table at the bottom :http://www.autobild.de/artikel/dauertest-mazda5-2.0-mzr-cd-top_766433.htmlTheir summary table ( 1st-most reliable --> last-most unreliable ) with penal points and rating :1. Mazda6 Sport 1.8 MZR Comfort 1+ 2. Mazda5 2.0 MZR-CD Top 1 1 2. Toyota Prius HSD 1 1 3. BMW 320 i touring 3 1 4. Skoda Octavia II 5Combi 1.6 FSI 5 1 5. Mercedes-Benz E 320 CDI T Elegance 6 2+ 6. Ford Focus 1.6i Turnier 8 2 7. Ford Mondeo 1.8/Opel Vectra 2.2 9 2 8. BMW 745i 10 2 9. Honda Jazz/Renault Clio 1.4 12 2- 10. Fiat Panda 1.1 8V Active 13 2- 11. Hyundai Getz/BMW 318i 14 2- 12. Toyota Avensis 2.0 D-Cat/VW T5 2.5 TDI Multivan 15 2- 13. VW Lupo 1.4 TDI 16 3+ 14. Audi A6 Avant 2.7 TDI/Opel Meriva Cosmo 1.7 CDTI 17 3+ 15. Mini Cooper 18 3 16. Hyundai Elantra 1.6 21 3 17. Renault Kangoo 1,9 dTi 22 3 18. Alfa 147 2.0 T.S./BMW X3 2.0d/BMW X5 3.0d 23 3 19. Mercedes-Benz A 170 CDI/C 220 CDI T 24 3- 20. Opel Zafira 1.8/Volvo XC 90 D5 25 3- 21. VW Golf V 1.4 26 4+ 22. Opel Astra (H) 1.9 CDTI 28 4 23. Opel Astra (G) 1.6/Mercedes-Benz ML 270 CDI 29 4 24. Ford Fusion1.6/C-Max 2.0 TDCi 30 4 25. Skoda Fabia 1.4 16V 31 4 26. Skoda Octavia Combi 1.9 TDI 32 4 27. Fiat Punto 1.2/Jaguar S-Type 3.0/Renault Mégane 1.6/Laguna 1.9 dCi 33 4 28. Citro?n C8 2.2 HDi SX FAP 45 5- 29. Peugeot 307 HDi 110 FAP 46 6 30. VW Polo 1.2 Comfort 56 6 31. VW Touran 2.0 TDI Trendline 77 6