They're German. Germans expect that you will take care of things on a schedule if you are told to do so. That's why German cars have a much more detailed list of required maintenance than American cars do. The Germans don't think it's unusual.
Indeed, I'm planning to buy a (probably German) used car in Germany around April, and pretty much the first thing I've figured out is you never buy anything that doesn't have its full service history meticulously documented, with receipts.
It seems it really depends. My '12 Jetta TDI was super reliable, never had a single problem apart from it destroying the earth and lying about it. But other people with the same year, same car, had all sorts of problems. I feel like there's perhaps quality control issues coming off the line in Mexico.
Our new-used '13 Audi Q5 is made in Bavaria. So we shall see how its quality compares. So far no problems.
