The German machines are an unexplored territory for me. I look forward to traveling there! The older handcrank machines are fascinating.
I have a Pfaff 230 in the basement (greyish, as I recall!), which I bought for next to nothing. It looks intact, but it is as locked up as if someone got in there with their tig welder, determined to make a monolith out of the thing. It's been in storage for couple years now. I have no idea as to its merits. Perhaps you do. As I recall, having a sound cloth-and-staple cog belt (or whatever they're called) isimportant in these machines). The one on my basement dweller looked fine.
I like the Japanese machines. They are very well made, traditionally designed within, but with all sorts of kookie knobs and nameplates outside. I like the color palette, derived from the heyday of Dupont auto paints as seen on cars and on Fender guitars, of which I have a few. They're fun, they're fairly cheap, and they're worth fixing.
I wonder if the Japanese-devised grey on my 4100 is a subtle protest against feeling that they had to follow Dupont's lead?
The ancillary aspects - culture, national identity, industrial design, shifting aesthetics, view of women implicit in the advertising - are nearly as interesting as the machines themselves.