RANT: BMW Cars

Slowstang305

Slowstang305

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I don't have a journal so figure the best place to write this is the ORG. My GF has a BMW 335IS and my coworker has a BMW 550I. No, I do not personally own one or want to own one. I was fond of the M3 years ago but realized I could never afford the repair bills....

GF's BMW 335IS: 70k miles on the clock and had the AC Compressor/Condenser replaced. Fuel injectors replaced. The charge pipe has blown 3 times under warranty and finally spent the $ to install one that is not a piece of poop plastic. I called BMW the last time it broke and they told me $511 for parts. Parts guy asked if I was a shop so I said what if I was and he said $380 for parts. It's a piece of plastic that honestly I thought was worth $50 or so. Oh, they wanted 2 hours labor to install... LOL So while the car was on a lift and was checked out they found no leaks. Mechanic comes up and says "You know the car is in great shape, its not leaking from any engine gasket except JUST ONE while every BMW we have ever had here surely does." REALLY? The mechanic for BMW is telling me that its normal for engine gaskets to seep oil at 70k miles on all BMW's and this was some sort of damn unicorn. WHAT IN THE WORLD! So yes, sent her back home for a quote of $1200 for this one gasket. Oh forgot, fuel pump also replaced under extended warranty. Car also overheated on her driving down the highway. She loves it and just won't get rid of it! Forgot, the bluetooth module went out as well and was done under extended warranty.

Co workers BMW 550I: Older 2008 model. At 90k miles he took it to bmw where they found it leaking oil from a few locations. Sent him home with an estimate for $7200 to replace all gaskets. As he was walking out one of the mechanics came up to him and said he would do the work for $2500 on the side. He went that route. Car now has 130k miles and is leaking from every gasket known to man AGAIN. His kids laugh at the car because it is "peeing" all over the garage floor. His transmission went out at 110k miles. BMW told him $9500 to replace. I found some guru on the forum that replaced a couple of things in the tranny and got it operational for $950. He has come to the realization that the car will no longer require oil changes since he puts 1 quart of oil every time he fills it up with gas. Coolant he adds every 2 weeks since it vanishes on him into thin air.

That is my rant. For the cost of a BMW I would expect it to be a much more reliable car.
 
Sadly they have always been known to be "garage queens" and expensive to repair.

I've seen a few used ones which were in perfect condition...I found out later it was because they spent much of their life in the garage getting fixed.

Of course there are always exceptions to everything.

Their bikes used to be known for their longevity, not so much nowadays...
 
I once dated a woman that drove a Top of The Line 750il(I think it was those letters). That thing always had crap wrong with it that somehow was never under warranty. She got a flat on a run flat. They couldn't change just that tire, they had to do a set, because the Traction computer would get confused by the different tread depth. $2800 for tires and misc crap that also got changed.

Seat warning light came on. Because someone spilled coffee on the passenger seat. $1800. Because people aren't supposed to drink anything in a BMW. Never mind it had cup holders.

If had dual turbos. One turbo developed a "flutter" because some mechanical linkage wore prematurely. It caused the ECU to go nuts with unstable boost. That was under warranty. That repair was covered at nearly 5K. I said why don't you change the other side since it was a known problem. We can't unless BMW authorized it under warranty and since it hasn't failed we can't.

And on and on and on. It was amazing when it ran, but that wasn't for very long at a time. It has a sensor and warning for every framing thing imaginable. And when any of them came on, it phoned home and BMW was all over calling her about them.

I stopped dating her so I have no idea what that pig cost to keep it going. But in the 8 months we dated, I spent more time with her car in the shop than I did with her.

But it was a sweet ride for a few weeks along the way.
 
In my (limited) experience they are reliable, with well documented exceptions of known issues. I had an E60 535i, close friend had a 4.8 X5, another buddy has an F10 550i. All suffered from issues, but it's been easy enough to get around exorbitant dealer labor charges and parts prices.
If you object to the costs of BMW ownership, don't switch to any of the other German brands, the rest of them are worse....
 
Mr Brown said:
In my (limited) experience they are reliable, with well documented exceptions of known issues. I had an E60 535i, close friend had a 4.8 X5, another buddy has an F10 550i. All suffered from issues, but it's been easy enough to get around exorbitant dealer labor charges and parts prices.
If you object to the costs of BMW ownership, don't switch to any of the other German brands, the rest of them are worse....
Click to expand...

I have heard that of all the other German brands (minus VW) BMW is the cheaper one to repair...although it's all relative. I guess the old adage of "if you can afford to drive one, you can afford to fix one" rings true in most cases.

Of course the domestics are catching up when it comes to expensive repairs. If something goes wrong and it has to go to the dealer, it isn't cheap either.
 
Last edited:
After wrenching on cars of all makes and models, I’ll never own a BMW.
My 2010 Subaru 2.5 litre NA engine doesn’t burn a drop of oil between services, it doesn’t leak a drop either, runs smooth as silk, no electronics issues at all, I’ve had it 4 years, it has 230,000kms on it. Best car I’ve had.
 
Kiwi Rider said:
After wrenching on cars of all makes and models, I’ll never own a BMW.
My 2010 Subaru 2.5 litre NA engine doesn’t burn a drop of oil between services, it doesn’t leak a drop either, runs smooth as silk, no electronics issues at all, I’ve had it 4 years, it has 230,000kms on it. Best car I’ve had.
Click to expand...

I've heard Subaru is solid along with many other Japanese companies. I've also read the Forester and WRX are having a few issues but the recalls are taking care of them.
 
I have owned a few bimmers as well. My favorite was my 328xi. It ran great no leaks no nothing untill 80k. Then i got the dreaded trifecta. Screwes with teh AWD. Requires new transfer case usually, at roughly 4k to 6k. Then the adaptive headlights took a crap. That was like 2k. Replaced all brake componants at the wheels was 500 a corner. I can recall any other issues, but at that point i had enough.
 
SSGT_B said:
See that why I had a 928s porsche with a Chevy swap. To get away from over the top maintenance cost
Click to expand...
Very cool!
Tell me more, which chev engine did you have? I worked at a Porsche franchise in the 90’s and drove a few 928’s, loved the way the felt and drove. I never see them on the road these days here in NZ.
 
Slowstang305 said:
I don't have a journal so figure the best place to write this is the ORG. My GF has a BMW 335IS and my coworker has a BMW 550I. No, I do not personally own one or want to own one. I was fond of the M3 years ago but realized I could never afford the repair bills....

GF's BMW 335IS: 70k miles on the clock and had the AC Compressor/Condenser replaced. Fuel injectors replaced. The charge pipe has blown 3 times under warranty and finally spent the $ to install one that is not a piece of poop plastic. I called BMW the last time it broke and they told me $511 for parts. Parts guy asked if I was a shop so I said what if I was and he said $380 for parts. It's a piece of plastic that honestly I thought was worth $50 or so. Oh, they wanted 2 hours labor to install... LOL So while the car was on a lift and was checked out they found no leaks. Mechanic comes up and says "You know the car is in great shape, its not leaking from any engine gasket except JUST ONE while every BMW we have ever had here surely does." REALLY? The mechanic for BMW is telling me that its normal for engine gaskets to seep oil at 70k miles on all BMW's and this was some sort of damn unicorn. WHAT IN THE WORLD! So yes, sent her back home for a quote of $1200 for this one gasket. Oh forgot, fuel pump also replaced under extended warranty. Car also overheated on her driving down the highway. She loves it and just won't get rid of it! Forgot, the bluetooth module went out as well and was done under extended warranty.

Co workers BMW 550I: Older 2008 model. At 90k miles he took it to bmw where they found it leaking oil from a few locations. Sent him home with an estimate for $7200 to replace all gaskets. As he was walking out one of the mechanics came up to him and said he would do the work for $2500 on the side. He went that route. Car now has 130k miles and is leaking from every gasket known to man AGAIN. His kids laugh at the car because it is "peeing" all over the garage floor. His transmission went out at 110k miles. BMW told him $9500 to replace. I found some guru on the forum that replaced a couple of things in the tranny and got it operational for $950. He has come to the realization that the car will no longer require oil changes since he puts 1 quart of oil every time he fills it up with gas. Coolant he adds every 2 weeks since it vanishes on him into thin air.

That is my rant. For the cost of a BMW I would expect it to be a much more reliable car.
Click to expand...

I think the biggest problem is local or outsourced manufacture of components which goes into these vehicles in countries where assembly is outside of Germany; here in the US assembly plant being Spartenburg South Carolina.

I use to work for Mercedes Benz, with training and lots of interaction with Stuttgard Germany, but assembly in CDA South Africa. (1/4 of BMW 3 series are still made in Rosslyn South Africa)
The CDA Mercs were built with 70% locally sourced components and no matter how hard we tried, there were always surprizes with items which in Germany would last forever. For instance the E-Class diesel cars used as taxi's in Germany would turn a million kilometers (620,000 miles) without the motors ever being opened. One would never get that with even an overseas model in South Africa, simply because the diesel fuel was not the same. Or on a locally assembled Merc you get an exhaust manifold starting to leak, simply because the stress relieving process after casting and before machining was not exactly the same as in Germany and after numerous heating and cooling cycles on the vehicle there is a slight warp. Then one has to go into the vendor's factory and get involved with their process to correct the issue and there are denials and cover-ups. That is just one example of the challenges to get that right.

In short, if those BMW's were purchased in Germany and driven on german roads, using german gas and oils and service parts, there probably would have been zero issues.

IMHO, the only folks who get this almost totally right here in the US is Toyota. There are a few million mile Tundras still going strong.
 
I went with a friend to pick up a new i8 a couple years ago. $162k at the time. 200 miles in the right camera stopped working. Less than 6k miles the gas door wouldnt open. While these are only minor issues, for $162,000 I would expect more.
 
Everyone I know who’s owned 1 has had issues..... Unless you can wrench on foreign crap and cool with your local junk yard don’t buy 1 of those turds. Just like Land Rover etc they have 8 ecu’s and 96 different sensors that are ready to fail at a moments notice. And if 1 goes they all go cause somehow the windshield wiper sensor is tied into the traction control sensor which is connected to the damn left turn signal!?!?!? :banghead:

Rent them..... Lease them..... but never OWN 1 unless you plan on just driving to the golf club and back on the weekends
 
greg3852 said:
I went with a friend to pick up a new i8 a couple years ago. $162k at the time. 200 miles in the right camera stopped working. Less than 6k miles the gas door wouldnt open. While these are only minor issues, for $162,000 I would expect more.
Click to expand...
You know that was a weird car to me. I didn't know how the values would react after some time. I saw it on the TV show what my car is worth and someone estimated a used one at over 100k and going up. I see them on the market for close to half of that now. Its still a cool looking car though.
 
Slowstang305 said:
Are we still talking about the BMW?
Click to expand...
LOL. Well she was the first attorney I ever dated. I learned quickly there is no point in having a disagreement. They get paid to argue and are never wrong. It went South quick when she started sort of stalking in a way. She'd want to know where I was and what I was doing. In a sort of challenging sort of way. I tried vaporizing. But freaking attorneys have some tools at their disposal. I finally just had to cut her off. I blocked her from all electronic communications. Told her to not come to my house unannounced. Shes actually a sitting judge now. Boy the things I know about her will probably keep me out of her courtroom forever!!!!!

She was a bit too much freak for me. Yes even I can state that someone can be too much freak. Not often. But yep it happens.
 
Kiwi Rider said:
Very cool!
Tell me more, which chev engine did you have? I worked at a Porsche franchise in the 90’s and drove a few 928’s, loved the way the felt and drove. I never see them on the road these days here in NZ.
Click to expand...

It had the swap done when I got it from the impound lot. Motor was bad. I pulled out that one and put a fresh 350 with a 327 crank. Fun damn car for sure
 
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