I totally understand the thing of being willing to pay for extra quality / engineering / performance or even "feel".
Question is whether (hype aside) something coming from a recognized luxury brand is always going to get you those several legitimate desireables.
I've been there at least once.
Shared some of this elsewhere earlier: I had a BMW 7-series (E32) in my former life in the U.S., bought pre-owned for about 1/7th its original cost. A big, lovely, well-built car of (IMO) relatively timeless design. Oh yeah, it got some (female) attention back then even as a twelve-year-old car - most of which I didn't need/want. Anyway, at that time, a 3-series of around the same vintage had almost as high a resale price as the 7, despite having been a MUCH cheaper car new. Why? Because it was a much more trouble-free and reliable model, mainly for its relative simplicity. As one representative point of comparison, the E32 had a dozen control modules scattered throughout the car as the "brains" of every function imaginable, the failure of any one of which could set an owner back a thousand dollars or more; while the 3-series was still using perfectly adequate old-school cable-operated HVAC controls.
A lot depends on one's definition of "engineering", as well. Lexus and Infiniti came into being and quickly became real thorns in the flesh for BMW/Merc because their entire engineering philosophy was different - and probably better. Whereas the Germans engineered "perfect" components requiring regular replacement as per the factory service guidelines (water pump at 90,000km's, front suspension bushings at 50,000, driveshaft flexy-thingy's at 70,000 etc), the Japanese luxury cars could be run pretty much like their solid lower-end cars always had been - change oil and brakes regularly and go easily 150-300,000km's without having to do much of anything to them at all.
E-class Mercs of that era had issues with valve-guides wearing prematurely (inexcusable for a company that had been building cars for a hundred years already); my BMW had pistons from one of their suppliers that were rattly when cold; Porsche 911's had that stupid sealed camshaft bearing that always failed early. BMW's 4L V-8's had cylinder walls irreparably failing very prematurely, due to high-sulfur U.S. fuels. So-called "updates" were offered by these premium German makers to correct these problems - too often at the owner's expense!!! Whereas American makers would typically recall vehicles and pay for such repairs, and the Japs just basically didn't make mistakes in the first place
!!! That was my perception over many years, anyway...
Anyway, around the same time, my dad was driving a full-sized Chevrolet sedan he'd inherited from my grandfather, built the same year as my 735i. I'd been happily driving the latter for some months when one day I had to take the Chevy someplace, and took off down the road. I was amazed. It was quiet and the driveline was actually smoother than the Bimmer's. It had a powerful 5-liter V-8 that seemed to pull about as well as the BMW's 3.5 I-6. It got about the same highway FE. And with simple upgrades via the Caprice's optional Police Package bits, it would've handled and braked as well as the Bimmer, too. Amazingly, the Chevy had done near 300,000km's by this time, almost twice what the BMW had on the clock. With all those miles, its front suspension had never yet needed rebuilding, whereas the BMW must have been through at least four sets of lower control arms in the same number of years (even with half the miles). The Chevy's A/C still blew cold and worked perfectly, the BMW's wonky climate control, with all its sensors and automated valves, truly had a mind of its own, the only time it came close to working right was when the car was immobile in the driveway.
The BMW's doors shut with a resoundingly solid "thud", and there was very little wind-noise in the interior, the leather was nice, it had ABS, and the dashboard was solid with no rattles... so yes, it was better in some ways. But it had a fairly conventional MacPherson strut suspension, a single-overhead cam, etc... nothing exotic there. And as a $49,000 flagship in late 1987 (this was before the V-12 750iL was intro'd, which was at least five times the nightmare!), WAS IT WORTH THREE TIMES what the $17,000 Chevy was? In comfort? In longevity? In performance? In "engineering"? It is hard to argue in the affirmative.
I know all this goes WAYYYY back now... but conceptually, things don't really change that much. My old college roomie runs the European Auto Garage in Knoxville (google that), works on high-end European daily, has all kinds of stories. Premium/luxury cars can be REALLY nice, but buying such brands or models doesn't always get you better machinery or a better driving / overall ownership experience. All this apart from the question of the Indian driving context, horrible depreciation rates, service access/ difficulties (I remember these guys in a Porsche Cayenne stranded out on Ladakh's Tso Moriri route for some days... not being able to find so much as a replacement tyre for it anyplace within probably 500+km's), etc.
As some here know, I drive an old 4x4 M&M Marshal now that's got about one-quarter the bhp as the 7 did, and doesn't even have a heater, and is rattley and rude. And I'm good with it. Scary on the 4-lanes, of course, even at a mere 100kmph top speed - "A man's got to know his limitations..."
Finally, what makes a person happy? And more importantly, WHY does that thing make him/her happy? Can dig pretty deep here, and the answers are not always admirable when you come right down to it.
There are many potential happy mediums, of course...
I'm kinda liking the Skodas, since someone mentioned it...
-Eric