You guys are great, thanks for all the constructive advice. I'm probably going to head down to Sewell in Dallas later today.

 

After reviewing several posts in this forum, am I correct in stating that if the GS350 (2014) has a wood rimmed steering wheel it is more than likely a Luxury model?


If so, that would be an easy way for me to determine if it deserves "that extra look" whether I'm walking the lot or searching Cars.com and/or Autotrader.com.

 

Dallasguy1 - I had a 2011 550 that was a WONDERFUL car to drive. But totally unreliable. I realize it was the first year for the F10 550, but it had numerous repeat problems. I purchased this vehicle pre-owned and did well on the price. Plus $7,000 down, $750/month and had it for less than two years. Was upside down by $3,000 when sold.


Currently I have a 2014 550 x-drive/msport. It has certainly been more reliable than the 2011 but has still had a couple of problems. It's a lease and for about a minute I thought about keeping it. It's time to get a break from ol' Bayerische Motoren Werke.

 

DallasDave - my love for Bmw started with an M5 08" 6 years ago then got a "10 535 loved the ride of an E60 and then decided to get the F10 before selling it last month. Actually was thinking to get the facelifted F10 14-15 but then changed my mind, besides that Bmw dealerships are pathetic classic Bmw in particular. Good luck with the search.

 

Looking for your report as I am trying to decide between a Luxury and F Sport as well. I have a bad back, so I wonder if the Luxury would be better for me. Though I love the looks better on the F Sport. :P I am in Abilene which is a little west of DFW.

 

Buddy, you and I could fill this forum with stories! I finally had a good SA at Classic and she left. Of course that's EXACTLY when my 2011 started giving me out-of-warranty trouble.


Brought it in for "low coolant" error message. This was after they replaced the radiator and lower temperature sensor under warranty...over two separate visits and over the course of four months. So when I got the "low coolant" message the third time (couldn't smell it in the garage like before), I thought that maybe they didn't fill it completely and topped it off myself. About three weeks later the error came back. I was travelling so I scheduled a service visit about two weeks out.


Guess what? Yep, warranty was out 30-days ago and THEY WOULDN'T BUDGE! Not only that, but I was asked to pre-pay something like $140. Crazy, totally crazy. I finally got past the pre-pay BS, but I now needed a lower radiator hose...$750.


I begged for them to be reasonable and had all my documentation for the previous "coolant problems"...but NO. I even call BMW NA and opened a case. Nope, sorry Pal it's $750. Well, I think that they gave me a good will gesture of $50 off in the end. Wasn't that nice of them?!


I now believe you have to be a masochist to own a BMW out of warranty.

 

Indeed, only the Lux has the wood steering wheel. The seats are great and your passenger is equally comfy.

It is also easy to tell if they have a HUD by the buttons under the odo and brightness ones. That is more reliable than the description or pictures of the front, where it's usually hard to see the HUD.

 

Again, thank you to everyone. I'm lucky I found the "How to identify 4GS options, with pictures" thread.


My son (16 years old) and I just got back from a trip to one of the local Lexus dealerships. We came upon a row of 15-20 2013/2014 GS cars. I told my boy, "find the ones that have a wooden trimmed steering wheel". Bang, "here's one Dad". As I'm standing there looking over the car, I pointed out our next challenge to him. "Find one that has the word HUD on a button in this area".


Less than a minute later, he yells out, "over here, it has both the steering wheel and HUD button".


Holy heck, this is fun!


Now the salesman comes up, "can I help you guys?" We chat for a few minutes and he gathers my driver's license and telephone number. I tell him about wanting the Luxury model with HUD. "Anything else?" he asks. "It would be great to get one with the cold weather package too." He responds that they probably don't have any and it's a feature primarily for up north. He leaves to retrieve the keys to the test car.


While he's gone, I remembered that the cold weather cars have headlight washers. So I pointed that out to my son and yep, "there's two over here!" he yells. We found two cars with cold weather and luxury, but no HUD.


Anyway it was fun and I felt like "I was in the know" thanks to this forum. BTW, my son actually had a good time too and is now my official car search partner.

 

Sorry to hijack this thread, but a couple of you have a lot of experience it sounds like with Classic BMW. I take delivery of my new M5 next week that I ordered from out of state (because Classic wouldn't even come close on price). The car will have the maintenance plan so I shouldn't be coming out of pocket, but can you guys share any feedback on what issues you have had with Classic and if there is SA you guys recommend as I will be having my car serviced there (live in Frisco)? Thanks!

 

Customer service is pathetic and SA talk as they doing us a favor by fixing our car , last time I had a problem with the fuel injectors SA don't wanna tell me which one was bad out of the six lol , said this is company policy can't disclose with the customer which is a total bs, since then I have dealing with Bmw of Dallas at Lemmon avenue.

 

I'll admit, I was so confused reading this thread. I thought someone was answering their own posts until I realized there was a Dallasguy and a Dallasdave lol.

 

Haha, I had the same issue too!

 

If you are going to use Classic, make certain your SA is Nicole Ellender. She knows the cars VERY well and actually cares. Cute, bubbly, great Customer Service and knows cars! Yep.

 

BTW, I have my BMW coded to unlock many of the features not available in the US. You Lexus guys don't laugh, but now my mirrors fold when the car is locked! And when I turn the car off, I don't have to pull the door handle twice to open the door. I cannot type this without laughing out loud. Yep, that's how modern BMWs act. After you pull into the garage, press the on/off button. Now pull the door handle once to unlock the car, release, then pull the handle again to open the door.


Anyway, I bring this up because Nicole is aware of the modifications and always remembers things like, "do NOT recode this Customers car without his expressed permission." I don't even have to remind her.

 

BMW still won't drop the double pull of the door handle!? My '95 E36 was like that. And it was annoying. Another odd feature is when my door were locked from the outside you could not open them. At all. Even from the inside. You'd pull the lock stick up and it would slither right back into the door. Only way to get out was to unlock it from the exterior or break a window.