10 Most Overrated German Luxury Cars On The Used Market

As good as they might appeal or have a glorious history, these German luxury cars are worth avoiding for the truth they hide behind their veil.

The idea behind owning a German luxury car from brands like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi or Porsche is to experience the sheer excellence in engineering. The cars from these German brands are known to be benchmarks in driving pleasure, luxury, and technologies on board, which are considered benchmarks for the world to follow. However, as good as they might seem, some German luxury cars from these brands are not as good as they claim.

In the recent past, there have been cars from German brands which have been mild or strong sales successes and have built up strong fan bases too. However, the real stories and truth about these cars experienced by the current or past owners of these cars make them overrated in general and undervalued in the used car market. Here are some of these overrated German luxury cars one can find in the used car market.

Related: 10 Used German Luxury Cars That Are Cheap To Own And Maintain

This particular version of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class is one of the most gorgeous-looking cars to grace the three-pointed star badge. It also debuted a few techs and features for Mercedes-Benz, while being a great driving experience behind the steering wheel.

However, looking past its glory, one can be aware of the teething problems the owners of this car faced, particularly the C300 version. The owners of the Mercedes-Benz C300 reported issues like a noisy steering wheel, airbag defects, and a software glitch that provided wrong locations in emergencies.

Most of these issues reported by owners popped during the warranty period, with Mercedes-Benz rectifying them under warranty schemes or with official recalls. However, coming from a brand like Mercedes-Benz, such issues shouldn't have emerged in the very first place.

As it is about SUV coupes in general, we have to do it with the pioneer of them all – the BMW X6. The BMW X6 debuted for the first time in 2008 and debuted the concept of an SUV-coupe – a vehicle with the heightened stance of an SUV and a rakish rear profile of a fastback or coupe.

The BMW X6 came in as an SUV with the added dynamism of a fastback/coupe, and is a great value-for-money proposition in some aspects. However, for all the visual drama you get in the BMW X6, it comes with a big drawback attached to its design – practicality. The BMW X6 retains all the traditional flaws related to a coupe – difficult ingress and egress, limited headroom and restricted boot space. All these are not what people expect from a premium and luxury SUV.

Audis are known to be well-engineered in general, but the B7 generation of the A4 became an exception, particularly those that came with the Multitronic CVT gearbox. A handsome-looking car otherwise, this version of the Audi A4 suffers from numerous reliability issues, which can give you uncountable nightmares. Over the years, the A4 emerged as one of the most reliable cars, but the B7 generation doesn't make a cut on that list.

A few online forums related to the ownership experience of the Audi A4 B7 generation reveal the number of reliability issues the owners of this car face. Problems like ignition coil pack and spark plug failures, low-quality engine bay plastics, carbon build-up in intake valves, excessive oil consumption, PCV valve failures, fuel pump failures and defective fuel injectors are some common ones faced by the owners of this A4. If you ignore these reliability concerns, this Audi A4 is one great-looking car, but sadly, such issues cannot be ignored in long-term ownership.

It might surprise many Mercedes-Benz fans, as the ML-Class (now known as the GLE-Class) has been a sales success – beginning from the first generation of the SUV, launched in 1997. The first-gen ML-Class helped Mercedes-Benz to become an SUV-specialist over the years, but the initial samples of the SUV hitting the market suffered from build quality problems.

The first-generation Mercedes-Benz ML-Class was made at the brand's manufacturing facility in Alabama, US, during the doomed Daimler-Chrysler era. Many Mercedes-Benz fans, owners, and experts feel that the first samples of this urban SUV suffered from poor build quality. The build quality of these samples was not up to the high standards established by Mercedes-Benz, which is otherwise known to have an impeccable focus on quality and luxury.

Porsche gave us a sweet surprise by launching the Macan compact SUV in 2014, which gave many a chance to experience what a scaled-down version of the Cayenne can feel like. However, the exercise of scaling down goes against the Macan, as in the process, it has lost out on all the versatility for which an SUV is generally known.

Due to the compact size, the Porsche Macan feels cramped on the inside, with the rear seats best reserved for two, and that too on a compromise of headroom. For the same amount of money for a Porsche Macan, one can buy a thoroughbred sports car like the Porsche Cayman, a coupe which gives a more purist sports car driving experience. The Macan also looks slightly small and uninspiring for a Porsche, and even from the inside, it is a bit old-school from sports car standards.

They say – "the jack of all trades is a master of none", and the BMW 4 Series is a perfect example. At first, the F36 BMW 4 Series might look like a great blend, as it has the practical four-door design of a traditional sedan and the visual drama of a two-door coupe. However, in an attempt to offer everything in one plate, the BMW 4 Series fails to excel in its intent.

Due to the coupe design with a raked roofline, the 4 Series compromises on the front of practicality with more difficulties faced during ingress and egress and a lack of space and comfort for the rear passengers. It is the same reason which led the BMW X4 to find its presence in the list above. It also looks like a desperate attempt to nail the coupe essence with an ungainly looking rear three-quarter aesthetic. If one needs a coupe, the two-door 4 Series makes more sense, and if you need practicality, the 3 Series offers more of it while not being significantly down on looks.

It is hard not to fall in love with the Audi RS6 Avant – a lovely-revving twin-turbo V8 and Quattro all-wheel drive coupled with the practicality of a station wagon. It might look like a complete car for many who aspire to own a family-oriented vehicle but with the oomph of a sports car. But then they say that all that glitters is not gold, and so is the reality of the Audi RS6 Avant.

The owners and reviewers who have driven the first-generation Audi RS6 Avant are not too impressed with how it feels behind the steering wheel. The drive experience feels lackluster for the claims it makes, primarily due to light steering resulting in a lack of feedback, while the standard exhaust sounds muted and flat. The owners have also complained about the lack of responsiveness in the infotainment system and the reliability issues retained from the A6 sedan.

The idea of super sedans offering the performance of a sports car while seating four people in comfort went on a full-blown scale with the first-generation Porsche Panamera. A few brands executed this idea – Aston Martin did it with the Rapide, while Lamborghini almost did it with the Estoque. The Panamera became a sales success for this very idea, but is it entirely great? Not really.

Porsche sports cars and coupes are known to have graceful designs with not so much visual drama as their peers. However, slapping four doors on a low-slung Porsche did not go down well with several people. Many believe that the Panamera is one of the most hideous and disproportionate-looking cars by Porsche. And while it offered uncompromising levels of performance and driving dynamics, the way it looks remains subjective.

The first-gen X164 Mercedes-Benz GL-Class started as a bigger-sized version of the ML-Class, for those who wanted a seven-seater, full-blown luxury SUV with a three-pointed star badge. Over the years, the GL-Class carved a niche against its direct ladder-on-frame rivals like the Lexus LX and Cadillac Escalade. However, along with most of the qualities and luxury experience it inherited from the ML-Class, the GL-Class also retained one of the issues which plagued the former – poor build quality.

Like the smaller ML-Class, the seven-seater GL-Class's manufacturing happened at Mercedes-Benz's facility in Alabama. And like the ML-Class, this flagship SUV from the German brand also faced issues of inconsistent build quality and fit and finish levels in the initial batches. Some Mercedes-Benz fans even state that this particular SUV is the most unreliable Mercedes-Benz vehicle, thanks to its electronics and engine reliability issues.

Related: 10 Most Reliable German Cars Ever Made

It is about the 3.0d version, which used to come with a 3.0-liter inline-six M57 187 hp diesel engine. The BMW X5 3.0d retained all the positive attributes of the first-generation X5 – it looked good and was spacious from the BMW standards. And while it delivered a better fuel efficiency figure than every gas-powered version of the X5, it lacked the power and punch in its driving appeal.

The M57 inline-six diesel in the BMW X5 3.0d offered a painfully low acceleration for an SUV as big as the BMW X5. It is one of the most successful European diesel engines in modern history but with its share of issues. The owners of this version of the X5 faced troubles like bad vacuum lines, turbo oil leak lines, thermostat failures, EGR cracks and failures and electronic issues. For BMW fans, this boring-to-drive, two-ton, high-riding SUV was a complete departure from producing ultimate-driving sedans and coupes.

Hailing from India, Jeo has grown up dreaming about a red-colored Porsche 911. This fascination led him to study more about cars and their functionality in his automotive engineering days from the past. His passion for writing about cars directed him towards blogging, which he has been doing for almost a decade.