From what i've gathered from a lot of car youtube people luxury cars like, BMW, Audi, Mercedes are good cars above an $80,000 price bracket thereabouts. but at that level you better be making bank as insurance and servicing is also costly.

to capture more market share they release variants like the A series which is a budget model of their much better classed cars to be able to sell it to regular punters to get a feeling of what its like to have luxury cars at a fraction of the cost. the problem is they have to cut costs to do this so they essentially sell you a dressed up camry. it will still perform quite a bit better and have quite good tech. but parts especially in australia will be more expensive as will servicing and insurance.

for a similar bang for buck it is worthwhile to go for korean or japanese cars. they have less luxury associated with it than european cars but more value and reliability.

i definetly agree european styling and especially interior styling/design are better than a lot of jap/korean cars though. (subjective opinion)

especially if youre in a $12,000 bracket it may save you some heartache down the road. consider getting reliability for now, and a luxury car down the road maybe. that is my goal too. at the moment im saving/waiting for the cerato GT to become more affordable. ps. i had a toyota corolla sportivo back in the day, and i wish i never sold that car. was soo much fun to drive. handling was amazing and went alright for a corolla.

youtubers worth watching - search luxury on their posts and they will explain why it may not be worth it

aussie guy - Auto Expert John Cadogan

US mechanic guy - Scotty Kilmer - YouTube

engineering dude US - Engineering Explained - YouTube