Friend of mine got a '04 BMW 318i just about a year ago. He's relatively taken pretty good care of it to date and mechanically, it's pretty good. But the number of problems he had with the accessories were nothing more than a major headache. He just got his car back out of the dealership for a warranty repair on several items. The power windows were no longer functioning, so he had to make use of the sunroof when he wanted some air. The electric shade on the rear window stopped working, he had a problem with the passenger side power mirror not working and the driver's power seat to top it all up. Thankfully, they were all covered under the warranty. That's quite a bit of trouble for a car with only 32,000 km (20,000 miles) on it.

 

I'm glad got my RX instead of the 2 year old X5 3.0 w/ 25K miles from NJ w/ cold weather package that was all rattling on the inside and had a sticky gas pedal!

 

I was waiting in line at Washington Mutual when I heard two tellers chatting in the back, one was complaining about his 3-series lease and how he had the car in the dealership for repairs every single month!

 

Well from the other side of the curtain, not only do i love my 3 series, i bought another one today, and now have 2. No complaints. My two SC400's and my 2 E36's have been the most dependable cars i have ever had, given credit to my ford ranger in there somewhere.

 

Are you planning on starting a dealership

JK man. My girl is about to buy a BMW, probably an M3 - maybe I shouldn't show her this thread!

Peace,
Jonny

 

Siding with the BMWs here.....
My 540ia was 100% trouble free and three of my friends have new BMWs without any issues (ok the X5 has a cold idle problem). I honestly don't consider them an unreliable brand - first year ones excluded.

On that note, my wife's cousin was over with his 2001 740i - with sport package today. I "borrowed" it to go get the pizza and all I can say is WOW what a vehicle - the sound of the engine alone was intoxicating.

 

Well, clearly, BMW is not the most reliable car when it comes down to the numbers. Just as Lexus is not the most sporting car stock. There are unhappy Lexus owners, its just there are more unhappy BMW owners.

But the funny thing is, BMW has such brand and status, many people put up with it and accept the fact things will break but I am still happy with BMW. So to the car's credit, it must be doing something hella right.

Your in Kuwait, looking at Quaility ratings in Europe, BMW is not near the top but not as bad as Benz. Lexus is the #1 ranked company. for quality. Not sure of ratings in the middle east.

 

I seem to remember some ratings where BMW owners were more satisifed with their cars than Lexus owners.

There may however be more really ticked off BMW owners than Lexus owners

 

That is possible, not trying to argue here, I don't have any graphs and I don't intend on looking for any tonight.

 

Emotions can trump reality.

 

that's probably due to more bmw owners total. my gf's X5 4.4 is a great car and pwerful but it's been stressing her out with the problems (alarm, lock, seat, shelflevering suspension, hid) it has and the service we are getting from bmw dealership. they love to diagnos and further diagnos the car and charge $150 per diagnos...

 

many of the electrical problems seem identical to those in Fords, is BMW using the same parts distributor for electronics as Ford, I've heard it many times that BMW is not as German as you may think

 

Life is too short to have car problems.

 

Thats like saying life is to short to get sick, things happen and you gotta take care of them when they do

 

No, I strongly disagree. You can control what you can control in this life. Make wise decisions and you can limit your risk exposure and MINIMIZE your pain.

Eat right, exercise, don't smoke, wash your hands and you won't get sick as much as someone who does not.

Invest and save some money and you won't be as poor and financially struggling as someone who does not.

Buy a Lexus and your time and money handling problems won't be as much as someone who dismisses all of the mounds of data and goes an buys an MB or BMW or some other junk.

Again - you can control what you can control.