Hey Steve,
'Dem Hyundais ain't too bad. As a track instructor I get to play with about every 4 wheeled device made that is reasonably available and if I got print my own greenbacks I'd go for a Ferrari 430 in a blink- but as a daily driver any of the H's is more ready to do it when you turn the key every morning even though they don't make anything that's quick or fast. I've used a couple of the newer models as rentals on long runs and wouldn't give Toyota or BMW the extra $ for their equivalent models. The fact is any Asian car maker, probably even the Chinese maker of the Cherry in another couple years, could teach BMW a lot about reliability and durability because BMW cars are no better than the bikes- there are a whole lot of antique Corollas running around and almost no E30s. (And I use a 20 yr old Lexus as a DD).
Aside from cost cutting and time cutting in development, Euro firms are also big into a type of matrix management that holds almost no one accountable for anything - that's why they don't get anything fixed until the costs are big to them or its been 5 years. Add "throw it over the fence" outsourcing of parts (because well managed outsourcing costs real money that is easily eliminated by just "mailing specs") into the mix and the stew for machines with mediocre reliability is complete. In an era when making an extremely reliable device is technically trivial, its the human and management failures of the people in Germany that is the root cause of BMW errors. The stuff they do entirely in house seems not to be the weak points of the boxer bikes at present and that alone is pretty good evidence that its functional disconnects internally that limit BMW reliability and quality. If they put a fraction as much effort into fixing mistakes as they do into cutesy marketing, the bikes wouldn't have the long standing flaws they do.
But fixing mistakes is a weak spot in many firms when the applicable product laws don't exact criminal or very large civil penalties for letting them loose on the public.
I like my RT just fine but if Hyundai made an equivalent it would be $6K less and more reliable (and probably 70 or 80 lbs heavier). An RT, though a decent touring bike, ain't nearly as much fun as that Ferrari 430 so it at least ought to offer the reliability of a cheap car...Too bad the Japanese BMW copycats of years back aren't still doing it- it would be fun to see a modern comparison now that Asians make and sell most of the world's bikes.
'Dem Hyundais ain't too bad. As a track instructor I get to play with about every 4 wheeled device made that is reasonably available and if I got print my own greenbacks I'd go for a Ferrari 430 in a blink- but as a daily driver any of the H's is more ready to do it when you turn the key every morning even though they don't make anything that's quick or fast. I've used a couple of the newer models as rentals on long runs and wouldn't give Toyota or BMW the extra $ for their equivalent models. The fact is any Asian car maker, probably even the Chinese maker of the Cherry in another couple years, could teach BMW a lot about reliability and durability because BMW cars are no better than the bikes- there are a whole lot of antique Corollas running around and almost no E30s. (And I use a 20 yr old Lexus as a DD).
Aside from cost cutting and time cutting in development, Euro firms are also big into a type of matrix management that holds almost no one accountable for anything - that's why they don't get anything fixed until the costs are big to them or its been 5 years. Add "throw it over the fence" outsourcing of parts (because well managed outsourcing costs real money that is easily eliminated by just "mailing specs") into the mix and the stew for machines with mediocre reliability is complete. In an era when making an extremely reliable device is technically trivial, its the human and management failures of the people in Germany that is the root cause of BMW errors. The stuff they do entirely in house seems not to be the weak points of the boxer bikes at present and that alone is pretty good evidence that its functional disconnects internally that limit BMW reliability and quality. If they put a fraction as much effort into fixing mistakes as they do into cutesy marketing, the bikes wouldn't have the long standing flaws they do.
But fixing mistakes is a weak spot in many firms when the applicable product laws don't exact criminal or very large civil penalties for letting them loose on the public.
I like my RT just fine but if Hyundai made an equivalent it would be $6K less and more reliable (and probably 70 or 80 lbs heavier). An RT, though a decent touring bike, ain't nearly as much fun as that Ferrari 430 so it at least ought to offer the reliability of a cheap car...Too bad the Japanese BMW copycats of years back aren't still doing it- it would be fun to see a modern comparison now that Asians make and sell most of the world's bikes.
