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Porsche, BMW, Audi are the only brands I'd even consider buying. VW had major problems with airbags deploying while you're driving down the road, and most people I know who own a MB say they're not buying another due to how many times they've had to take it in for service due to things breaking.
Got 2 Porsche and 1 BMW and never had a problem with them electrical wise - well, one of them has had SOME issues but it is a 1981. There is always the "lemon" of every car line but overall I'd say they are fantastic and you don't see near the recalls on them you do from other lines. Also proudly own 4 Chevy's w/ nary a problem. Keeping them well maintained and cared for goes a LONG way no matter what car you buy.
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My parents owned an Audi w/o electrical problems. As a matter of fact, they haven't had major problems at all with their Audi except for a faulty fuel pump and AC. Other than that, my mom was happy with her Audi. But now she drives a Toyota Sienna, it hauls more things!
There are electrical problems and there are "electrical problems". I worked at a VW dealership more years ago than you want to know. The factory was reporting "electrical problems" on the factory backed race cars. The "electrical problem" was a connecting rod leaving the engine and shearing the battery cable.
Never had an electrical problem with any BMW I've owned. I drove my 2000 328ci for 7 yrs and the only major problem were suspension issues with the control arms which needed to be replaced about every 22,000 miles or so. My current 2005 530i had no major problems, as of yet.
My sister swore off VW's after the constant electrical issues in her beloved 2003 Passat. At one point the car's electrical system crashed so bad it wiped the electric Odometer out & the car showed 000000 mileage!! First time the dealer ever got back a car off a three year lease with 2500 miles on it.!
Never had electrical problems, but my grandmothers BMW's have all been moneysinks. My family will never buy another just because even with the 3-4 year free maintenance, it's not worth the time and trouble upkeeping the car. Ultimate driving machine and ultimate maintenance machine rolled into one.
The German makers have terrific engineering, but that doesn't necessarily make them reliable. Terrific in the sense that systems or components are integrated cleverly for whatever reason; for instance the entire front clip of my mk3 jetta is removed from the car by exactly 6 bolts and disconnecting one main wire harness. That's clever engineering. Or that the 911 and Boxster share a bit over 40% of the same parts including some bodywork.
Over the last decade is when the germans have dropped in reliability and it was due to the race of new product and technology, especially in electronics. Remember for years Mercedes was untouchable in the reliability department; all of a sudden they were plagued with blown everything electrical, and later, mechanical too. Same with BMTroubleYou, and it even goes north to Sweeden with Volvo problems starting with the S80 introduction (which, by the way, was before Ford bought the brand).
But recently Mercedes has announced they are going to cut their profit margins by 2/3's(!!) in order to improve the reliability of their cars to the top once again.
I take JD Powers, Consumer Reports, etc with a grain of salt but the last few years had Audi and Porsche as the best german brands, and in the upper half of the overall list while BMW, MB, and Volvo have been towards the bottom.
i had a 1989 bmw convertible. terrible electrical problems with it. the computer was messed up half the time and once, the heater got stuck on full blast.... that was tons of fun.
have heard they have made some strides in this department as of late, however.
my husband rides bmw motorcycles and they too are plagued with electrical issues.
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