Are BMW's Rubbish?

The_Dark_Side

The_Dark_Side

The_Dark_Side

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Back with a Vengeance.
we all know BMW's provide a good driving experience, and that it's generally a nicer place to be than in it's competition if you're on the move.
but, part of what makes a car a great car or even a good one is reliability and cost of ownership.
pretty much EVERY BMW owner i know or know of had had to throw serious money at their cars during their period of ownership and that's not a good sign IMHO.
you could keep the warranty going, but this would add somewhere between £20 and £30 per week onto the running costs, and it doesn't even cover everything so either way BMW time is going to kill your pocket.
a work colleague has just had a new gearbox fitted to his 41k mile '54 plate 320D for example.
Fox's gearbox and Rotty's brakes are two other recent examples of what i'm talking about.

it seems to me that the only way a Beemer is a good car is if your company is picking up all the bills.
as someone that's never owned one, and actively avoided doing so, i'd appreciate stories from members that have.
surely there must be some "i put 60k on one and all it needed was an oil change" type of stories?
 
The_Dark_Side said:
we all know BMW's provide a good driving experience, and that it's generally a nicer place to be than in it's competition if you're on the move.
but, part of what makes a car a great car or even a good one is reliability and cost of ownership.
pretty much EVERY BMW owner i know or know of had had to throw serious money at their cars during their period of ownership and that's not a good sign IMHO.
you could keep the warranty going, but this would add somewhere between £20 and £30 per week onto the running costs, and it doesn't even cover everything so either way BMW time is going to kill your pocket.
a work colleague has just had a new gearbox fitted to his 41k mile '54 plate 320D for example.
Fox's gearbox and Rotty's brakes are two other recent examples of what i'm talking about.

it seems to me that the only way a Beemer is a good car is if your company is picking up all the bills.
as someone that's never owned one, and actively avoided doing so, i'd appreciate stories from members that have.
surely there must be some "i put 60k on one and all it needed was an oil change" type of stories?
Click to expand...

I am willing to bet lots of people run 100% fine BMWs, its just that not everyone says "got a 330d, excellent bit of kit, no probs" as a thread.
 
What's brought this on? That thread about Fox's? :confused:

My boss has had a BMW since new, now its got 250k miles. The only thing to have ever gone wrong with it was a split water pipe in a hard to find place (£2 part, £500 labour IIRC) and the aircon has packed up.

Just think of the number of BMW's on the road... then how many complaints you hear of... it's a pretty low ratio I'm sure.
 
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barnettgs said:
Just curious to know about BMW's 3 years warranty, would it be invalid as soon as you take your car to any independent garage?
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You have to have it serviced at a VAT registered garage using original parts I believe.
 
I have to say BMW quality is not what it once was.

A woman i work with has a 54reg BMW 118D, and so far, thats needed a brake fluid change, a front wheel bearing, the drivers footwell has flooded with water. Its a nightmare for her.

Same to be said for Merc too. Not what they once were.
 
I have no warranty so I'll tell you in 12 months about reliability etc and are they worth the money.

My horn broke, and then fixed itself 2 minutes after I booked it in to get fixed. :D

So that just leaves me with a lazy passenger door lock, which I'll do myself when I can be arsed.
 
James_N said:
I have to say BMW quality is not what it once was.

A woman i work with has a 54reg BMW 118D, and so far, thats needed a brake fluid change, a front wheel bearing, the drivers footwell has flooded with water. Its a nightmare for her.

Same to be said for Merc too. Not what they once were.
Click to expand...

118 isn't a bmw its an abomination
 
Well i got a ride home in it not so long ago, and its a nice place to be when your inside, but dam, everything thats gone wrong with it is amazing.

This lady spends more time in her daughters Ford KA than she does in the BMW :D
 
I have very little experience with BMW running - I ran a 1985 E30 320i for about 8 months around 2001 sometime. the only thing that went wrong was the regulator on the alternator, it was otherwise faultless. The example i ran was badly abused and took it well.
 
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