BMW Service

"DaveR" wrote

BMW dealers usually only provide loaners for warranty work. May be different in a very high-end dealership, but don't bet on it.

Yes.

No.

My Toyotas spend about as much time in the shop as my BMWs.

No.

Can't help you there.

It includes all things that wear out such as brake pads, brake drums, wiper blades, etc. I have elected to buy an extension of the service plan to 100,000 miles for about the cost of the two service inspections.

More prone than what? My 2003 325 has been in the shop for non routine maintenance as follows:

1. The electrical contols on the transmission broke at about 2000 miles. The failure happened on a Saturday afternoon, and the car was repaired by Monday afternoon. This failure was covered by the warranty.
2. An O2 sensor failed. The thing was covered by the warranty.
3. The brake pad light came one, and it developed that I needed disks and pads. This failure was covered by the maintenance policy. It took all one morning for them to fix the car.

By the way, I also had a transmission failure of my 1978 Pontiac Grand Prix at about 700 miles. It was misrigged at the factory; it took them several days because the entire transmission was dead.

But, when they do break... My 88 Honda didn't break. It was however quite hard to drive it very aggressively. I wondered though how hard it would be to change the alternator...

Tell me, are the roads in your fine city littered with broken down BMWs?

It does seem that brake discs and pads wear out sooner in these cars than others... My 1969 Porsche 912 went to its grave with the original disks in place (about 90,000 miles). My 1981 Chevrolet pickup did the same. As did my 1991 Ford Explorer.

This may be the result of changing pad materials to meet the current environmental hazard requirements.

Jim

Probably.

Obviously yes. If you drive over speed humps faster you will need shock absorbers sooner etc.

Yes but if you drove your Honda [or a Lexus] like you are likely to drive a BMW then they would have been in for repairs more often.

No.

Whilst this appears to be so with the V-8s, the six cylinder rads appear to be as reliable as most. Nor is the rad made of plastic. The surrounds and tank are. They are also pretty cheap to replace.

He already drives hard -- or so he says. One has to presume his habits won't change when he switches to BMW. If he only keeps the BMW for 50k and 4 years (within the maitenance agreement), me would only be inconvenienced if the car broke down -- unless he gets a loaner.

If you drive over London speed bumps fast on my standard suspension E39 it grounds the spoiler on 'landing'.

I'd like to point out that Toyota radiators use exactly the same type: aluminum core with plastic tanks. They do, however, use a different pressurization system (the old style), while BMW uses a closed system.

Our Porsche also has aluminum core/plastic end caps. My guess is that everyone does, including Honda.

FloydR

Yes - weight *and* cost saving. 'Old fashioned' copper and brass types weren't immune from fracturing, either.

I don't know anything about Westchester BMW (or any other dealerships in that area) but I can tell you that quality of service does vary among dealerships quite a bit and the quality of that experience will make owning the car either a dream or a nightmare. My advice is to ask around before you buy.

I don't know if it's typical but my dealer provides loaners anytime I need them. Because the demand for loaner cars can easily outstrip the capacity of the shop, if I need a loaner I have to ask for one ahead of time. I can't just show up and get one.

Generally speaking the wait for a loaner is one week (depends on time of year, though) and a few days when I provide my own transportation. They've always taken the car in within 24 hours when something critical has failed...though that hasn't happened often enough for that observation to be of much value.

Schedule maintenance is nothing more than a marketing gimmick to trick people into thinking BMWs are low maintenance vehicles. They're not. Most conscientious owners use the "old" schedule BMW recommended before they started paying for maintenance, and I'd recommend you follow that as well if you intend to keep the car long term (> 4 years or 60K miles).

Vehicles driven in stop-and-go traffic and similar conditions will require more maintenance than those driven on the open highway. BMW openly admits this in the owner's manual. As for being "more prone to breakdowns" I would have to say no. For what it's worth, I'd take my 10 year old BMW over a 1 year old GM product any day.

I think it's safe to say that the BMW will need to see the dealer more often than a Honda, but I'd argue that you're comparing apples and oranges. They are different cars designed for different target markets. People who want reliable appliances buy Hondas. People who want to feel something when they drive buy BMWs. Figure out what target market you're in and I think some of the answers may come to you.

For more information, check out my long term review.

Good luck with your decision.

-Doug

This sums it up perfectly. There's a big part of me that says get the nice comfy Lexus and worry less about maintenance.

But then I remember my dad's old 1990 Mazda Miata and how much fun it was to drive. Not that it compares to the BMW, but just the feeling of being connected with the road and having to *drive* the car. It was exhilarating. Something tells me the BMW will give me that same feeling, and I'll be inclined to take the plunge.

I guess since it has high resale value, I could always sell it in a year and get the Lexus if I so desire....

You don't have to worry about maintenance on a new one - it's free for three years.

Go test drive both and see which you like. They are very different experiences. In general, I'd take the BMW if I'm driving, but I'd take the Lexus if I were a passenger.

If it's fun, buy it. If it's not fun, well, there are plenty of other cars out there. Find one that is fun.

--scott

Hondas are not too bad, actually. Toyotas, on the other hand...

I'd *love* to see Honda build a rear-drive 3-series competitor...

And look for a good independant. My independant shop charges $60 / hour and always has a BMW loaner for me, without exception.

My 16 year old E34 is today (with 120k miles) a better car than any Ford/GM I've driven off the lot on day 1.

Carl Hollomon '92 535i '97 R850R

Only if you pay for it -------- otherwise it's cheaper to pay for each service as in 5 years it is possible for an average driver to only need 2 or 3 services and the £1500 for the servicing on a 7 series means that I will save about £600 in the 5 years at my current use which is about 270 miles a week + about 2k on holiday down to Alicante.

Best get a seven series - track wider than most pads, ground clearance enough to clear them.

Perhaps it's escaped you but the idea of these things is to slow you down. ;-)

But the E39 is fine with pads. It's full width humps I mean. Like the majority round here - apart from on roads buses use.

They are SUPPOSED to be designed so that you can drive over them safely and without damaging your spine / suspension at the speed limit - i.e. 20 or 30 mph. A few on some bus routes are built properly with the slope designed to minimise jerk*, and you can (but if you go faster then the effects 'ramp' up), but oh so often they are just an arbitrary strip of tarmac in the road, with scrapes from sumps, exahuasts and spoilers on the summit and the road.

You might need to get a Merc' - they have adjustable ride height and suspension settings.

• meant literally here - third derivate of vertical movement.

No they're not. There is no design speed for the full width ones - nor could there be as it varies from car to car. And very few cars indeed can cross them at 30 mph comfortably. If any car could cross them comfortably at 30 mph they'd be rather pointless as the majority could then go much faster.

Indeed. Some decide they're not going to slow down and prefer to damage their car. Strange choice.

All Mercs? I know some Citroens seem to be able to cross them at speed without discomfort.