o well, if you reall dont like it, i wonder if its time for a new lexus or mb?

Narrow that down to Lexus. M-B, for the most part, has electronics that are as bad or worse than BMW.

(now, before you M-B fans start to heave stones at me, not EVERY M-B will have electrical failure, but the incidence is much worse than average)

My GS has had 8K miles over 3 yrs of ownership, Battery died couple times but just needs recharge. I live in Vegas which is derest too.
Gotta give props to Optima Yellow top.

I don't think we disagree. Basically, that's what I said in my posts....if you start it up every week or so and let it warm up a little , that should keep the battery charged. Today's alternators, unlike those of decades ago, can deliver a charge at idle. Of course, that won't do anthing for the rest of the drivetrain.....you still have to put the car in gear and drive it a little to keep the transmission and differential fluids circulating and the seals from drying out.

No arguments there......and some German cars have electrical defects serious enough to cause fires.

i love mb, but i will not heave stones at you i guess withj their cars are a hit or a miss, ex, my best friends mom had an ml for 3 years, not a problem, ok good, but just got the r 350 i think and after one year, traded it for, wait for it .............A LX 570 bcause of electric problems. o well

Wow, good luck Stig. No excuse for such a new car to exhibit such problems

yes i notice problems with my friend new 08 328i. i guess there something wrong with the gas door. i pushed it once to open it and pushed it back again to try to close it. it wouldnt close back so i was like wtff is wrong with your car. told him to take it to the dealer with the quickness. He got a new one but it broke again sigh. it seem like bmw dont really make things to last. even my uncle bmw has a lot of electrical problems. its super hard to pin point it. we changed out everything and still the same problem :[. i guess some people get lucky some people dont. we try to bring his bmw to the dealership. but they are stomped to. if you can react the scenario again with a camcorder be perfectooo. its also hard for ASE master mechanic to pin point problems. especially if it something new that arrives. they usually like to scan the car for codes. if the codes dont come out they believe the car is good.

I let my IS350 sit for two to three weeks at a time since I work out of town. Last fall I came home to a completely dead vehicle, no hint of power, no click of relays, no nothing. Jumped it at night and ATTEMPTED to drive it around a bit, but the lights, Nav, and warning lights were flashing. Limped back home and put it on a slow charger overnight. In the morning it started up and I drove it 85 miles to the Lexus dealer. The first thing they ask was 'How long was it sitting?'. They state that there is enough drain on the electronics to drain the battery if left for an extended period of time and they are seeing more and more of this. Some will call this BS, but it rings true to me. They did a load test and it was ok at that point. When I got back I put the battery on a Battery Tender while I am away, and haven't had any further issues.

For those that have no problems letting their cars sit for months on end, good for you. But I would not let a new vehicle with all of the electronics on them now to sit for an extended period. You are asking for trouble.

yup tru that tru that. it doesnt seem like all the electronics in your car would kill your battery off. but with new technology theres a lot of stuff being rammed into these new cars. like lo jack, air pressure sensor, and like a load of stuff. even the alarm you activate can kill your battery. had that happen to me . but i guess the long drive from riverside to san diego recharged my battery lmao.

That's interesting. I'm glad you got it sorted out.

I've left my GS430 sitting in my driveway for 3 months while I was away at school. Came home for winter break and she started right up with no problems and my parents don't have the keys to the car so it was never turned on for those 3 months.

Guess I learned a couple of things but I've done this to the GS a number of times with no problems. In fact, from the end of my winter break to the end of my second semester (which is about 4 months), I didn't touch the car. And the day after coming home from school, I drove her 5.5 hours to Boston in one trip with no issues.

Bulletproof.

That BMW service makes me wonder if it's worth getting the M3 because my parents and I have been seriously considering it along with the IS-F. I've had a fear of going over to the dark side because of possible reliability issues with the car but I LOVEEEE the E92 M3. We've also been looking at the IS-F and know that Lexus is backing it up but also fear how its reliability will be like with the new high performance engine.

I think the navigation unit probably draws a lot of power. I let my IS350 sat in the garage for over a month, and the car started right back. I don't have navigation in my IS350.

you could just disconnect your battery if you're going to let it sit for a while...it's really not that hard...

I have been seriously thinking about M3 until all these problems.

High performance cars are less reliable than the everyday cars. But you will know that Lexus will stand behind their products relatively better than BMW.

Once the car is started, it shouldn't have any battery related problems at all, in fact you can safely disconnected the battery - the car will run on alternator.

I'm really sorry STIG!

These types of issues can happen to any car, and I have read at least one story of a similar thing happening in the 3GS forum. Honestly, it's how the situation is dealt with by your service department that makes or breaks the customer experience, even regardless of the car. Unfortunately it seems that your local BMW service department has obviously fallen short in customer satisfaction. You should make your story heard by upper level dealership management and maybe even BMW corporate.

If you are still really dissatisfied, then you could definitely sell it...lot's of great replacements on the market in all different classes.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune though, and best of luck getting it sorted out