Team-BHP - Outside of the big 3 Germans, which luxury car brands would you consider & why?

I'd ignore all of them (except maybe Tesla), and opt for a Camry or a Kodiaq. Why? From the numerous horror stories that one reads about these so-called luxury brands, peace of mind is surely not what you get when owning some of these alternative brands. Not only does one pay a massive premium to buy the cars up front, the insurance and maintenance costs are quite ridiculous as well. I'm not even sure if some of these brands are designed to operate optimally in our conditions as well (read a recent thread about a Volvo S90's interior on this forum, along with others).

Disclaimer- This is obviously a personal perspective, and may not apply to much of the audience reading this thread.

Voted for Lexus, Land Rover / Range Rover and Tesla.

1. Lexus
Reliable as anything ! There are a couple of Lexus in the extended family and each of them runs without a fuss, rattle or squeak and age like fine wine. Yeah they don't have much of those gizmos as their German or Korean cousins, but you can take them on a 1000 km road trip with minimum prep and without any worry. And being an owner of a Toyota Fortuner I definitely do think Lexus is the most sensible pick after the 3 Germans.

2. Land Rover / Range Rover
The go anywhere pedigree. They're great on and off road. I have participated in a few Range Rover experience drives and I must say these are some capable machines. A couple of friends in my business fraternity have owned them and have shared horrific stories of maintenance issues and parts availability,but some how they remain on the list of brands I would consider.

3. Tesla
Electric cars were considered a pipe dream that would someday transform mobility. But then in the last decade, things started picking up pace, especially the range issues. The big car companies seemed to be experimenting. But then Tesla happened. It's the future. And future for once isn't beige and drab. It's fun and whimsical. And the the first time I sat in a Tesla and my friend just activated Autopilot and turned to me and talked to me, I felt I was in a Star Trek movie ! Model Y Perfomance is something I dream to buy someday. I'm not a Tesla fan boy, but if they come to India and don't price it astronomically high, I simply might pick one over the Big 3 !

Frankly, luxury cars in India are touch me nots for me. Good to watch and read about only. When my brother bought an Audi, I kept on advising him not to buy one, to the point I was coming across as being jealous. :)
Now, that I can own one of these, I admit, for a moment, sometimes, I do start thinking of buying one, but the thought goes only as far as buying a BMW, as it appears to be the only one which has the reliability to go with that upmarket feel. All others either appeal to me, but not reliable (read Merc, LR) or are reliable but don't appeal to me at all (read Lexus, Volvo).

On the SUV front, I will change from my current Endeavour 3.2 Titanium to a Porsche Cayenne Turbo S or its equivalent in the Porsche family when I am ready to change - not sure when that time is going to come though.

Likewise, I am super happy with the Superb L&K Diesel that I have at the moment - both from a performance perspective as well as space perspective. My ideal replacement for that would be an S-Class - but that's going to be grossly off the budget. In line with my answer to the poll, I would like to replace this with the Tesla.

Cheers!
Krish

Tesla - the only car that I would consider.

Why?

A couple of years ago when I was in London with a group of friends, the only car that our group collectively turned our heads for was a Tesla. And yes, that was also the case with almost every other passer-by.

As a luxury, cool, and fresh marque, Tesla is up there ahead of even the German 3 in my opinion. :thumbs up

Cant wait to own and experience one of these views myself -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzLUVxMfaTc

Besides Volvo, Tesla and Range Rover I have already indulged in all the above brands. Porsche most recently
I would be open and willing to add the latter two to my garage in the coming years however not very excited about adding Volvo.

I am not sure about others but I have/had been experiencing brand fatigue. Not sure if such a term exist or I have just coined it but there is no better way to explain that after a point the 3 germans start feeling very similar, especially models within the same brand.

Currently, I am experiencing major brand fatigue with Mercedes since we have the S-class W222, GLS, GLC and CLA in the family. Besides the S, the rest just feel all too similar and start getting boring. Thus when I had to get a car for the wife and the E was the perfect fit, I yet went ahead with the Jag F-pace to break the brand fatigue of being just too similar to the w222 S. The 6GT was also considered but having owned three 5 series in the family between 2007 to 2015, I was keen to try a new brand that felt different and special. Same was the reason for the Lexus ES300 coming in just a few years ago. CLA(it is up for sale in the classified) has now been replaced with a Porsche Macan.

I am going to try and keep a variety to brands rather than stick to one brand of multiple models going forward as this has been a trend in my buying pattern first with BMW and now with MB.
I think dealer relationship and discounting/VFM also play a large role in the skew towards a particular brand.

Voted for luxury brands from mainstream manufacturers. The reason is simple, get 90% of product for 50% value. Most of mainstream brands are easy to maintain and fairly reliable.

Till the time our taxation is sorted, i find it pointless to burn my pocket.

Also, i prefer replacing my cars within four years, makes more sense to go with mainstream luxury brands and buy updated products.

I would vote for the Toyota Velfire , as it is the car of choice for all the malayalam superstars Mohanlal, Fahad Faasil . Although Toyota does not qualify as a luxury brand the Velfire certainly does as a Luxury Vehicle.

Even junior Ambani has this is in his fleet , they are videos of convoy of white AMG G- Wagons worth multiple crores with this Velfire the only sub Crore vehicle .Its primarily a MUV for those who like to be chauffer driven and the recliner like seats to pamper yourself.

Apart from that would go with Volvo XC90 for its excellent safety and simple elegant design especially those headlights.The Range Rover Velar for its beautiful fluid design. Skoda Kodiaq as affordable alternative to a Q7

I'm an ardent Porsche fan for the driving dynamics, quality, heritage and practicality of their sports coupes and targas, but I hate the headlight design of the 718s and even the base Carrera is priced beyond the specified range, so Porsche is out, even on paper.

I don't have a connect with Tesla because of the reportedly uninspiring handling and sterile interiors of their cars (full admission: I've never seen one in the flesh, let alone driven one).

I used to be a Jaguar fan in my college days, but the love ended with their exit from Formula One.

That means Land Rover is what it'll come down to. I'm a huge fan of the heritage of the brand, fraught as their cars are with reliability issues as you've mentioned, mainly due to their association with safari vehicles in Kenya (in the form of the old Defenders), their use as filming vehicles in Top Gear, and some of the crazy stunts that have been pulled off in them (from being winched up a dam with a hapless Hammond at the wheel, to pulling a train, with scaling the stairs of a mountain temple in between). I love the idea of a brand that is deeply flawed and yet so full of character and romantic value, colonial hangover be damned. I also love the looks of the old Discovery, the new Evoque with its baby Velar appearance, and of course the new Defender, and would totally jump at any of them if I could afford it!

A few months ago I would have picked a Lexus or a Toyota for the simple reason that you can actually 'use' them on Indian roads in comparison to the Germans, which more often than not, turn out to be garage queens. But now I would rather wait for a Tesla (due to the 'Future-proof' nature of electric vehicles).

Although from my heart I would love to own a Range Rover Sport but my head won't allow it due to the exorbitant maintainence costs and its unreliable nature.

Voted for
1. Volvo, because I already own one , the S60 T6. Wonderful car to drive, I am totally addicted to it. But it is an AWD, so don't know if I will opt for the FWD S60. So far, my ownership experience has been a happy one with Volvo, especially the service. My car is preowned , so has its own share of niggles, but when you are at the wheel, the experience makes you forget everything else. Extremely well built too.

2.Luxury other brands. I own an Accord as well. Bought her brand new, using for eight years. Totally fuss free ownership. Extremely comfortable to be driven around in, but definitely not very driver oriented. In fact, after 120k kms, I still plan to keep her for a good many years for my daily commutes. (I have a driver)

3. TESLA. Now that is one car I am very interested in, because I am a great fan of the EV concept. But will wait a bit before buying one, to see how it fares in India