Buying German reaps the rewards of precision engineering and quality, both traits that are highly desirable in any automotive purchase. Throw durability into the mix, and you've got a winner that will last you a lifetime.
Picking the right model and year makes all the difference, ask any group of 911 owners which years are best, and the later water-cooled examples fare better. It's a similar story with Volkswagen's iconic and niche creating Golf GTi, 2010-12 the popular hot hatch underwent its worst period for reliability, suggesting any brand or specific model can stumble from time to time.
Going down the older model route can pay dividends, an era when proper solid engineering ruled instead of an overreliance on complex wiring. Whichever of the following used cars from Germany grabs your attention, you can be sure longevity won't hold you back.
10 Volkswagen Beetle (Classic)
From the original concept of mobilizing Germany's population through the '60s hippie movement to the modern-day, the original VW Beetle is one of the instantly recognizable cars on the planet, ever. Whether it's the cheeky styling or the trademarked raspy exhaust, Beetles are still a common sight.
Simple by design, simply by construction, a pressed steel floor pan for rigidity fitted with compact torsion in place of more conventional springs. Under the hood, well that's a trunk upfront, the Bug uses a rear-mounted air-cooled flat-4 engine ranging from 1.1 to 1.6 liters, with basic servicing all that is required.
9 Audi TT S
Twenty years and hundreds of thousands of sales later, the Audi TT is still going, at least for another year. The top-selling German two-seater is barely recognizable from its original 1998 form, currently wearing a more aggressive front end resembling a scaled-down R8.
Despite the generation changes, including a raft of engine options from the originals I4/V6 line-up to the current range-topping turbocharged in-line 5-cylinders, one thing hasn't changed, reliability. Audi could easily have changed the layout, TTs always had an air of mid-engine about them, instead, adopting if it ain't broke, don't fix it approach makes this one of the most dependable sports cars on the market.
8 Porsche 356
Sporting a rear-mounted air-cooled engine, the Porsche 356 owes a lot of its basic design to the VW Beetle, both were the creative genius of Ferdinand Porsche. At this point the two couldn't be any more different, Beetles designed to be cheap family movers, the 356 a lightweight sports car.
Sticking out behind the back axle, Porsche's take on the flat-four air-cooled motor utilized new heads, crankshafts, camshafts along with improved intake and exhaust manifolds topped with a dual carburetor set-up, resulting in 56 hp. While all production 356's were rear-engined, the prototype used a mid-mounted design.
7 Mercedes-Benz 600 Grosser
One for those gearheads who prefer to be driven rather than tackle the tiresome daily chores of navigating the urban jungle, nothing presents a more imposing, "get out of my way minion!" than the Mercedes 600 Grosser. Owning one will for sure attract some less than desirable connections with evil power-crazed heads of state, oh, and Jeremy Clarkson, who also took a fancy to the German uber limo.
Built as the ultimate in luxury personal transportation, the Grosser packed so truly innovative design features, engine-driven hydraulics seen as faster and more efficient powered the seats, windows, boot lid, and windows in near silence. Powering this 7200 lbs leviathan, Mercedes M100 6.3-liter V8 produced 250 hp resulting in a 0-60 mph time of 5.7-seconds.
6 BMW 330i
M3s will be more fun with more power on tap, but don't rule the 330i out too quickly. Fitted with BMW's N52 3-liter straight-six kicking out 255 hp ranks up there with the German carmakers most powerful naturally aspirated engines makes this one a sleeper worth tracking down.
Trading power for durability is key here, the N52 near bomb-proof mechanically used a combination of aluminum and magnesium to reduce weight, further boosted by a hollow crankshaft. Complementing the array of exotic materials, BMW's VANOS system boosted the engine rev-limiter to 9000 rpm.
5 Mercedes Unimog
Technically, this one isn't a car, but how do you classify something that can ford any river, climb any mountain with a towing capacity of 45,000 lbs while seating four people comfortably? The Unimog is the ultimate off-roader that has been quietly traversing the toughest terrain for nearly 70 years, although most gearheads will have never heard of it.
If you're in the market for Mercedes build quality with a go-anywhere attitude, then this is the truck for you. Unimog's range is topped by the U530 boasting a straight-six turbodiesel chucking out 800 lbs-ft of torque, drive going to both axles via an 8-speed transmission.
4 Audi Ur-Quattro
Built for the harshest racing series known to man, Audi's Ur-Quattro (Original + Four) had rugged durability built-in from the get-go and proved to be a potent, durable sports car on and off-road. All-wheel-drive wasn't new, other carmakers had dabbled in the ground-breaking grip boosting technology, Audi refining the engineering to be practical to implement in a road car.
Similarly, turbocharging was an existing technology Audi picked up and ran with, the Quattro's front-mounted five-pot growing to 2.2 liters in 1989, boosting output to 217 hp. Small numbers by modern standards, but this thing was a speed machine capable of 143 mph, sprinting to 60 mph in a shade over six seconds.
3 Porsche 914
Misunderstood by many as a rebadged VW collaboration project, the 914 never enjoyed the prestige and glamour of the German carmaker's other models. Yet, beneath the skin, it's one of the simplest and most reliable cars to come from Porsche's Stuttgart factory.
VW derived flat-four engines slung behind the cockpit in 1.7 to 2-liter displacements, each sporting a single overhead cam operating two valves per cylinder producing up to 99 hp. Simplicity rather than stellar performance is the key to why the 914 proves so reliable, 100,000 miles achievable without a re-build.
2 Mercedes G-Class (W463)
Another Mercedes long-termer that goes largely unnoticed, the G-class is every bit as capable a semi-luxury off-road as its appearance suggests without sacrificing the quality you'd expect from Mercedes. Since its launch in 1979, the same boxy utilitarian profile has undergone some work beneath the skin.
All variants are ruggedly built, but if you want the absolute go-anywhere durability, the W463s are the best of the bunch. Stronger transmissions coupled with simpler electronic-free engines, the 3.2-liter straight-six upwards will last a lifetime with nothing more than routine servicing, just be sure to avoid the complex and gremlin-prone AMG models.
1 Volkswagen Phaeton W12
Rounding out our list of reliable German cars, another Volkswagen, this one however is a bit different from the usual VW badged motors we're accustomed to. Without badging, asking any gearhead to name a V12 powered German luxury car, the chances of the Phaeton cropping up are slim.
Aimed squarely at BMW, Mercedes and to a lesser extent Audi owners, the Phaeton is one of those luxury cars that deserved to sell better. Packed to the gills with class-leading tech, not least a 6-liter W12 engine delivering up 444 hp, only a gentleman agreement holding it back at a top speed of 155 mph. Supremely reliable, Volkswagen regularly topped the reliability charts for German cars, pity then it didn't sell in bigger numbers.