You do understand I own this car and purchased new. I have experienced the DSC hydro ABS issue, nothing else. I DIY'd because with the German cars as you know there is a huge enthusiasts what you ma call it which leads to a competive aftermarket repair industry that is non-existent with Japanese. Meaning what the dealer charges $4,200 for, can be DIY for $249. And there are youtubes showing every detail of the job. Even a caveman could do it.

 

I do feel that BMW has an Apple like aspect to it. No, they are not perfect nor are they innocent. And people love it when they lose. I don't like Apple myself but I have a Xs. BMW lately did build bad products or decontent and even some FWD cars now. But in the case of the 335, that is a misleading post created by a newbie, who is long gone. 540i likely could have a water pump problem, I mean we toss these things around. I had a friend with a wagon it broke 2X so that was enough for him. But that thread uses "common" and "24" things, which just isn't correct. It's all good!

p.s. that thread just brought back memories--Sara504. I have no idea what she did, but she got banned. As I recall she went from a 328 to 335 to 335is, and a gazillion guys were hitting on her, and I guess it wasn't like she was telling them to stop. Again no clue on a forum what it actually means but she was one of my friends lol

 

I was not aware that you had your BMW since new. My sister has a 2015 3 series and has had zero issues.

 

This maintenance link is very misleading. Cant imagine the entry level BMWs cost that much to maintain.

 

Now maybe you will appreciate the critique of CR? This is the same thing for JD. Impossible to interpret.

 

Fiat dead last? Gasp...Who'd a thunk it? My first and second cars were Fiats, though I borrowed them from my folks and did not own either one. The 1972 124 Sedan was overall a good car. It had some issues, but was decent. The '74 US regulations seemed to be problematic for Fiat. My folks did not want me taking the '72 to college, so my Dad let me take the 1979 131 Brava to school my second year. That car was plagued by electrical gremlins. It also leaked pretty much everything. When that car met its demise, I went to Toyota and declared myself out of the Fiat business forever. When they came back to the US, I hoped they would do well, but there was no chance I would buy one.

 

so, 'problems per 100 cars' it says... so lexus at 106 is 1 (1.06) problem per car. plebian chevy at 1 (1.15) even, and WAAAAY down the list is volvo at 2 problems per car.

volvo looks terrible but the difference is TRIVIAL.

lies, bigger lies, and statistics...

 

and that was 6 years ago, so things could have changed radically, but perceptions and experiences are extremely hard to overcome by car makers or brands of most major purchases... heck if someone has a bad experience with a major kitchen appliance they're likely to NEVER buy that brand again.

 

Yep - and this is a point that absolutely gets lost. Whether you buy the most reliable /brand or the least reliable brand, statistically speaking you'll probably be visiting you dealer's service department for something. It doesn't mean there aren't differences, but they are probably not as significant as some might assume.

 

I love how JD's list is so different from Consumer Reports brand reliability list. I guess it's just as reliable as political polling units.

 

That's true. They have often had significant differences.

 

 

One would hope that they're different, because in real life behind the scenes the two organizations could not be more polar opposites. JD Power is a multibillion dollar marketing information company that provides a variety of services to its corporate customers. JD is now owned by XIO who bought it from none other than Mcgraw Hill. JD makes its money by using its data on surveys that are paid for by the corporations themselves.

Consumers Union is the owner of Consumer Reports - it's a nonprofit public interest organization driven by a huge subscriber base and doesn't accept advertising or freebies like any number of car review publications etc. They both have their place, but automakers started using JD Power because it was in their interest to do so and they paid for the surveys that JD did on their behalf.

As far as the drivel about CR subscribers somehow paying to do the surveys - that's usually from misinformed individuals who don't even subscribe to CR. The organization's members pay a subscriber fee annually to use the resources of the organization on a wide variety of consumer goods.

 

But what is the time frame of the posted JDP survey? They used to do "initial quality", which was the first 3 months. Which always seemed to me to be a worthless metric.

 

This dependability study covers the 1st 3 years which is certainly more valuable info than the initial quality study.