I can say one thing... German and Italian cars are perfect cars to own if you want a true drivers/enthusiastics cars... while some german models are not good, but most of the Italian models are of the same type. If you are more mechanically minded and dont mind getting your hands dirty and have a good service manual, I wouldnt mind to own any of the european cars(except french
). It gives you much more satisfaction/thrilling when you get the max fun out of them. Most of the electrical problems that you see in many european cars is mainly due to their outsourcing of those parts to china, this started from early 90s while japanese dont have this problem. Seems like german companies have recognised this lately (atleast MB has) and are taking steps to rectify these things.
Unlike that, if you want to have a automobile that takes you from place to place, then go for any japanese cars. They are reliable, but at the end it will be just a car (and I am not saying its bad).
It all depends on what one likes and what he/she wants. This is just my view. At any time I would take Italain over all the three or german among german and japanese (unless its a Subaru, Yep, thats correct
). But I am not sure what happens in the following years... check this article..
"Subaru is still expected to supply a technical team to Toyota for the development of a new model.". Dunno where subaru is goin with this.....
-Pavan.