The storied German reliability has now become nothing more than a myth. Now, if you buy a BMW, all you are paying for is the name a 'prestige' of a bygone age, because GM is making better quality, more reliable cars than Germany today for a better price. And when things do go wrong, you'll pay a lot more to repair that BMW than you would a GM.  Even in terms of style, many GM cars today look even better than their BMW counterparts.