[Pretender]

It's getting more and more. My service advisor pulled out the list today and said that my car was serviced at this dealer almost every month.
3 weeks ago I had the passenger airbag sensor and center console replaced. Today, I got "transmission overheated" error (red thermomether on dash) after driving for 7 minutes. My car couldn't shift right and the cooling fan ran crazy. What the hell? Luckily, I was only 4 miles away from the dealer.
So far, I had services for oil gasket leak, bluetooth overheat, 3 door handle replacements (3 different times), driver side door panel replacement. Rear brake service, 3 oil changes and AC filter replacement. My front break service will come in 2 months at 45,000 miles before the manufacture warranty expires.
See...I'm at dealer more than at home...This reminds me that "never buy a first-year-model car"

[Sea2Ski]

Sorry to hear all that! Thant sucks!!!

[achien]

can you "lemon" your car?

[BK]

Jesus. Is this your 330i? Knocking on wood, I've had no issues and they seem to generally be reliable for most of us.

/knock knock knock

[voltron1011]

All of that you've listed, and I only see one of them as actual 'problem' (the transmission overheat). The rest are either minor annoyances, or scheduled maintenance.

[renegade]

Damn...was yours built during the world cup or something naw but sorry to hear all that...and I consider any trip to the dealer as an annoyance...my time is too valuable.

[Neurorad]

That's crazy. The 330?

No problems here ('06 330xi), after the first 4 miles (oil level sensor bad, replaced the day after I bought the car). 20K+ miles.

[Pretender]

By the way, one more time for replacing the shift knob too. Yeap...most of the times were minor problems except the gasket leak after one months old, the airbag warning and this time the trans. cooling.
Today, also they replaced my rear break even though I still had >3000 miles left. I hope I won't have to come back until the next oil change.

[Tony717]

Well my 330i hasnt had any major problems until now, which the coolant was leaking all over where the coolant tank is, luckily i was 1-2 miles away from home. Not sure yet on what happened.

Aside from that, its just maintanance and replacing the pump for the washer fluid.

[Ninel]

hmm ive been to a dealer twice and i have had my car for 14 months now (i have a 325i though not 330i) but yeah, thats way too many problems hopefully those were the last things you had to fix

[John 070]

Knock on wood, I've had zero defects on my 335 coupe in about 10 mos. of ownership. However, a big factor is it's not a daily driver and has roughly 3800 mi. Yesterday, it did crank longer than normal, but was sitting for 2 wks.

From everything I've heard from friends and relatives, BMW is not the car to buy if it's total reliability you're looking for. You've got to care a great deal about road feel, and let's be honest, it is a prestige brand and nearly if not at the same level as MB. It's a car that feels good when you drive it. At 92 cents a mile to operate a 335 coupe, is it worth burning twice as much money on a trip than it would cost in a brand-new Accord? Not really, but for the occasional driver, it's worth every penny.

[Gnarz310]

my car is only 3 months old with 6k miles on it, and already i got the alignment corrected, the back breaks replaced, the sidepanel fixed because it was warped, accec. module replaced (whatever that is), shifter module replaced, oh and foglight bulb replaced. SIIIIIICK

[RodB]

Originally Posted by John 070

Knock on wood, I've had zero defects on my 335 coupe in about 10 mos. of ownership. However, a big factor is it's not a daily driver and has roughly 3800 mi. Yesterday, it did crank longer than normal, but was sitting for 2 wks.

From everything I've heard from friends and relatives, BMW is not the car to buy if it's total reliability you're looking for. You've got to care a great deal about road feel, and let's be honest, it is a prestige brand and nearly if not at the same level as MB. It's a car that feels good when you drive it. At 92 cents a mile to operate a 335 coupe, is it worth burning twice as much money on a trip than it would cost in a brand-new Accord? Not really, but for the occasional driver, it's worth every penny.

Sorry for laughing, but your comment...."nearly if not at the same level as MB" is amusing (no offense). But, having driven MB cars for the last decade, I've had more problems than I care to document and the reliability was crap. Now that I've had my V8 moment and drive two BMW's, I'm convinced BMW is above MB by a long shot.

[Gnarz310]

ye RodB is right, my family has had the 2005 s500 from MB and it had problems left and right, my dad upgraded to a 760li and he hasn't had any problems with it yet. I think it's just the 3 series that have problems.

[FotiosF90M5]

goddamn that sucks.were they having a bad day at the factory. sorry to hear man.

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by Pretender

It's getting more and more. My service advisor pulled out the list today and said that my car was serviced at this dealer almost every month.
3 weeks ago I had the passenger airbag sensor and center console replaced. Today, I got "transmission overheated" error (red thermomether on dash) after driving for 7 minutes. My car couldn't shift right and the cooling fan ran crazy. What the hell? Luckily, I was only 4 miles away from the dealer.
So far, I had services for oil gasket leak, bluetooth overheat, 3 door handle replacements (3 different times), driver side door panel replacement. Rear brake service, 3 oil changes and AC filter replacement. My front break service will come in 2 months at 45,000 miles before the manufacture warranty expires.
See...I'm at dealer more than at home...This reminds me that "never buy a first-year-model car"

Absolutely unacceptable for a $40k car. One thing I've noticed with BMW is the lack of consistancy from car to car. It's either bulletproof or constant hassle.

[Last E92 M3]

Originally Posted by achien

can you "lemon" your car?

no.

i have to agree, 1st year models suck.