3 Series Sedan five to eight years (or high miles) later?

Yes, Dave, you are (a troll). Somebody said so.... ;-)

And how dare you suggest to people that car makers know better than some of the World Experts here...

BTW, have you moved? Weren't you in Shepherd's Bush or Ealing before? Now you state "SW" in your signature.

DAS

To reply directly replace 'nospam' with 'schmetterling'

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Reply to
DAS
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Does the plastic around the nipples feel nice and smooth, or is it grey and rough because it's starting to form millions of tiny little cracks? Or does it feel even rougher because it has larger cracks forming? Or does it feel wet because it's already leaking? Or does it feel sticky because someone has already wrapped it in duct tape?

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

I often read the extended intervals came in with inclusive servicing. May have done in the US - but not everywhere. Extended intervals happened at the same time, model wise.

I also wonder just how many get the 'benefit' of more frequent oil changes by buying a car new and running it to a vast mileage. Very, very few is my guess.

I did once have a flat in Ealing briefly - in the '60s. ;-) But have lived in this area since.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

It's amazing how common this misconception is. In the US, inclusive serving (nice term, BTW) and warranty covered 3 years/36,000 miles when I purchased my 97 Z3. The average oil change interval was 7,500 miles and the car came from the factory with non-synthetic oil.

For the '99 models, the switch was made to OEM synthetic oil and that promulgated the approximate doubling of recommended oil change intervals. Sometime thereafter, the "free" maintenance and warranty were extended to 4 years/50,000 miles.

But it seems easy to bash BMW online by relating the covered maintenance to the longer oil service intervals, so I guess that particular urban legend will continue.

Tom

Reply to
Tom K.

This sounds very much like the silicone implant problems we heard about years ago!

Tom

Reply to
Tom K.

I've had my early 528 for over 10 years and it's had lots of problems. Or rather more than I'd hoped for. And non could have been prevented by more frequent servicing...

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I know what you mean. The part about the duct tape was especially erotic. 8)

Reply to
dizzy

Our 2002 325i 4 door (sport pkg, manual, 12-way power seats, HK stereo) has had one battery failure (put the car in a mode where it would start, but was limited to 1300 rpm) which required towing to the dealer, under warranty. In the past two years, three of the four window regulators have failed, the left rear just this week, to the tune of $485 each. It will need control arm bushings soon. That's it.

It hasn't been babied -- it was doing 100+ mph on the autobahn ten minutes after we picked it up. It's done numerous BMW club (and other) track days. The care has been great, and still drives like new. I'd buy a new one in a heartbeat.

One thing, though -- we ordered this car for European delivery and picked it up at the factory in Munich. From talking to people over the years, I'm convinced that by doing that, you get a car that has received special attention during the build process. No, I have no proof, but I believe it.

-- Larry

Reply to
pltrgyst

I think your regulator motors still have oil points on them. Every once in a while, pull the plastic tabs off and put a few drops of light machine oil in there. Maybe once every other year or something. While you have the door open, spray some Super-Lube or similar spray grease on the gearing and on the latch mechanism. You'll find the regulator mechanism lasts a lot longer this way (although the motor brushes will eventually go bad and the rubber gaskets will crack someday).

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

Nice idea...but only an idea nonetheless. A large percentage (can't recall how large) of BMWs and Mercs are factory collections. I collected mine from a factory in 2001 as well. And that was a second time, having previously done it in 1986 (from a diferent factory).

Part of their marketing/customer loyalty strategy... well, at least it's Merc's.

And the clever thing from the manufacturer's point of view was that the car was largely not built at the collection point. It was a CLK Cab,collected from Bremen. At that time all Merc cabrios were built at the Karmann factory in Osnabrück, quite a distance away. I remedied that a while later by touring the Karmann factory (from which you could not collect cars anyway) when in the area.

A so-called factory-collection facility has been established by Mercedes in southern England... (they don't manufacture here!).

DAS

To reply directly replace 'nospam' with 'schmetterling'

Reply to
DAS

Nedavno Scott Dorsey napisa:

Really? Do you have some photos / links to photos with location of the oil pints?

Reply to
Yvan

No, but look at the motor. It will have a plastic cap near the front of the motor and another one near the rear of the motor, if it's that kind of motor. The caps can be pried off with a screwdriver to reveal an oil cup.

The newer ones are completely sealed and don't have the little plastic caps.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

I bought my 2002 330xi new. It is just shy of 149k miles.

It is an automatic.

My most expensive repair was the power steering, about 2k at about 130k.

Now it has a freon leak in the AC, which would cost about 2k to fix. Slow oil leak --- I need to add a liter every 1500 miles.

But I am selling it. I have a 2011 335xi on order. It should be here soon.

ah

Reply to
<ahall

I have a 2003 325i (base model with only the Sunroof as an option). It now has 160K miles. At this point the car is definitely starting to show it's age -- the drivers seat looks well used (which it is!) and there are various rattles and squeaks. These started to show after around 130K miles.

I currently drive about 25K miles per year and it costs about $2K-4K per year in scheduled maintenance, preventative maintenance (e.g. replacing the cooling system), and things breaking (e.g. power window regulator).

I would buy again. It is definitely less reliable than a Honda Civic that I owned previously, but on the driving front (both safety and performance) there is no comparison.

If you are going to buy new, they come with a warranty/maintenance for 4yr/50K. If you drive a lot of miles, I would definitely get the extended warranty/maintenance out to 6yr/100k which BMW sells (buy it just before you run out in case you decide not to keep the car). By then, all the kinks will have been worked out and you'll only be paying for wear and tear and maintenance. Depending on what model you get and how much you drive, maintenance costs can vary significantly. For example, if you get the sports package, the low profile tires are going to wear faster and the tires cost most than regular tires.

That said, I'm having a really hard time buying the new 3-series because of all the de-contenting that BMW has been doing to these cars. So many things that were standard on my car, are no longer available on the new 3. For example:

- Standard music system is down from 10 to 6 speakers.

- No flashlight in glovebox.

- No blue band on windshield.

- No storage nets behind the seat back.

- Plastic tire valve covers instead of metal.

- The manual seat controls have changed for the worse and one of controls now juts out enough that my leg hits it (found out while being a passenger in one of the newer ones).

- No spare tire because the car comes with run flats (what to do when you're on a road trip on a weekend...?) ....

You'd have to look at the forums (at e,g, bimmerfest) to get the complete list.

Anoop

Reply to
anoop

I don't know... The "kinks" (read: genuine defects) should already be "worked out" within 50k miles. I'm not convinced that spending a lot of money to get a couple more years of coverage is worth it. It's likely that the issues you'll encounter, at that point, will not be covered as they are considered "normal wear".

Reply to
dizzy

I got to 50K in 2 years. I know at least the power window regular and the sunroof mechanism failed after that. Additionally, I think the warranty covered the replacement of the control arm bushings (also after 50K), but I'm not 100% sure if it was the warranty or the extended maintenance...

Anoop

Reply to
anoop

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