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Comments
Gordon: I'd be inclined to have your engine codes looked at, hopefully it's thrown a code that will help better diagnose the problem.
Best Regards,
Shipo
When my lease experies, I sworn that I will never ever go back and lease/buy another Audi. As happy as I am with the way the car handles and its beautiful interior, I will never want to experience its unreliability again. The car has been in the shop four times since Jan 11, 2005. Plus the service department (in my opinion) its the worst I have encountered.
I am considering the 330i for my next car, but I want to hear from existing owners that have had issues with their cars. Are you happy with the overall reliability of the car? What about the service dept, are you satisfied with the way they have treated you?
I know that some might have better experiences than others, but I want to hear from both sides, those who are extremely happy and those who have been totally unsatisfied with the car.
Thanks for your input.
R
p.s. Any recommended BMW dealership in Middle/South Jersey?
always appreciate your input on the discussions. i have been having trouble posting a new question regarding battery on my BMW and i thought i will try to ask you a question using this method. i hope you don't mind this. sincere thanks in advance...
i have 04 325Ci with about 43K on it. had the original battery replaced last fall;i had left the car for 4 weeks or so without using itt and the dealer deemed the original battery was drained. anyways, after they replaced the battery and told me that the car was alright and ready to be picked up, i had to wait 3 or 4 days to finally pick up the car due to my schedule. and when i finally showed up to start the car, it wouldn't start at all. they recharged the battery and off i went. when i inquired about whether it was "usual" to have a brand new battery being drained in just few days, they told me that it is not unusual for BMWs. anyways, the car was doing fine until this week. again, i did not use the car for 3 weeks due to my traveling and now it wouldn't start. do you have any suggestions? i tried to use a battery recharger(trickle charger) to no avail. would greatly appreciate your sugggestions.
Sean
Before I attempt to offer any advice regarding your situation, I think a small history lesson is in order. I am somewhat active in a number of aviation related forums as well as Edmunds, and over there the bird that I am most interested in is the old Cessna 170 (built between 1948 and 1956). Given the vintage of that plane, it isn't at all surprising that it was built not with an alternator but with a generator.
Similar to the constantly recurring "Can I use Regular gasoline in my BMW?" threads that pop up here from time to time, a fairly common thread over there is, "Can I upgrade my 1956 170B to an alternator based electrical system?"
"Yes," the old sages will always say, "however, keep in mind that unless you fly on a fairly regular basis, you will most likely experience a fully dead battery at some point. When you do, the generator based system can "remember" the proper polarity, generate its own field, and recharge a battery that is deader than a door knob. An alternator based system cannot do that because the alternator needs at least a little current from the battery to figure out the polarity situation and then to generate a field before electricity can start flowing."
Could it be that your trickle charger needs at least a little charge to remain in the battery before it can then start charging? I really don't know, as I said before, we're well beyond my normal areas of study.
As for BMWs draining batteries, yes, I've heard of that before, however, it seems to me that I've heard most of the complaints come from the E60 5-Series folks. Apparently there was a software bug that took BMW a fair amount of head scratching to figure out. Once the reprogramming was complete, the problem was solved. Could a similar problem be plaguing your car? I suppose. FWIW, I've left my BMWs (one E46 and one E39) parked at the airport for two and three weeks at a time and never experienced a dead battery.
Were I in your situation, I'd get your current battery charged or replaced, and then I would invest in a good high quality intermittent (i.e. it runs for a while, shuts off waits for a while and then starts charging again) trickle charger, which I would then connect up before every extended trip.
Best Regards,
Shipo
In my 3 years, I had to replace the heat sensor, one xenon light, one back light, the ignition coil (twice), get the sunroof fixed as there was something wrong with the track and now the radio's on/off button is stuck on on. So I have been to the dealer many times in the 3 years. Yeah, it did not cost me any out of pocket money and each time I was able to get a loaner so I was not without a car. And my dealer's service department is great but from what I have read here, some service departments are good and some are not.
But I love driving this car and would purchase another one without hesitation.
Hope this helps.
1. Is it worth fixing a 15 year old car?
2. Do I have any issues with BMW about a major mechanical problem in a 62,00 mile car?
I was somewhat comtemplating going Japanese again (Acura TL or Lexus IS). I have driven both, but they just don't drive like my Audi. I am positive that the BMW will give me the same chills from what I've read on these forums. I have a test drive schedule for this Friday on a 330i.
Well, lets see what happends,
R
I'm not. That kind of driving is very very hard on a car due to the fact that the cars' engine and various fluids rarely if ever get up to full operating temperature. This is especially hard on engine oil which needs to be brought up to at least 180 degrees in the pan (i.e. greater than 212 degrees as it circulates through the engine) in order to boil out the water that condenses inside your engine every time it's shut down and every time the ambient temperature drops (as in most evenings).
That your engine lasted 62,000 miles before its first major repair should be considered very good, regardless of make.
FWIW, with your short cycle driving pattern, I'd recommend servicing your car under the "Severe Service" schedule meaning that all fluids (except maybe brake and coolant) be changed twice as often as is otherwise called for. That and I'd go to synthetic oil as it is far more capable of holding water in suspension without forming acids that can damage your engine from the inside out.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Enjoy your test drive. Best of luck whatever you decide.
By the way, I'm in NY. I use a dealer in Greewich, CT. I don't know if I can say the name in this forum, so I won't. Although there sales facility is located in Greenwich, CT, their service facility (brand new, state of the art, looks like an airplane hanger) is located in Purchase, NY.
Any suggestions? Thanks, Paul
Best of luck.
How time flies; it seems like only last September when you eloquently opined:
I always had very good impression on BMWs, but everything changed since I actually bought one. On an unfortunate day I bought a used 99 BMW 323i with 70K miles, got it inspected by a BMW dealer who said "This car is really good, buy it". At that time I didn’t realize why he said that, until I stared paying almost $1000/- every month to him on some trashy problems keep on occurring. Worst part is it has no warranty on it. It started running sluggish, CHECK ENGINE light keep coming and dealer has been fixing some thing or other every time it comes on and still it comes almost every 2 weeks with a new problem. Now I'm going to Trade-In that for a much reliable Japanese Luxury car which I once had. Long term quality and reliability must be improved. Anyway I am not going buy another BMW in my life. And I will tell the same thing to anyone who asks about a BMW.
If you have a legitimate question there are several of us who would be more than willing to help you. If you simply want to rant and vent, I suggest that you take your own advice and buy a FWD Japanese appliance.
If the car is otherwise nice, you might as well fix it, because it's not worth much with a bad head gasket.
The damage is limited to two gouges in the plastic panel beneath the rear license plate. The gouges are about the size of a quarter and are cut into the plastic. They are actually very deep scratches with some scuffing around the edges. They are noticeable but not real deep.
Does anyone know if they can be sanded out and repainted or does a plastic panel need to be replaced? Any experience on price for replacing this panel?
Thanks,
DTG
The insurance companies will replace a 2006 auto bumper. Thats why this Girl has insurance. Get it replaced at the BMW body shop. Its a new car and deserves a new bumper, not some second rate fix. The girls insurance co is obligated to give you a rental car.. keep us posted.
Owner-6
here's what CARFAX says:
"Vehicles with titles that have been branded as salvaged, scrapped, or dismantled are not covered under the manufacturer's warranty, with the exception of applicable emissions warranties. For further information regarding the branding of vehicle titles, please contact your state's department of motor vehicles."
Repairing the BMW bumper is around $300-350. A new one for a Mazda Protege (my daughter was rear-ended twice, one minor repair, one bumper replacement) is $500. I'm guessing a new BMW bumper will be slightly more.
Hmmm...
Could it possibly be because it has a (drum roll) SALVAGE TITLE?
Which means a savvy buyer would realize that the sled:
Likely has NO warranty coverage,
Will probably have a trade-in value somewhere south of a 1998 Kia with 250,000 miles,
AND
Possibly be uninsurable.
You see, as Robert Heinlein always said, TANSTAAFL(There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch); the money you "saved" by buying the heap will be spent paying for work that would normally be covered by the OEM warranty-not to mention the hit you will take when you try to sell it. If it wasn't an xi, I'd think that maybe you could find a CCA Club Racer who might want it. But it is and you won't. Just out of curiosity, how many pieces was the car in when you bought it?
my wife did not a curb pretty hard and a bubble did show up but we went over to discount and the tire was replaced free of charge since we bought the "no questions asked" tire replacement policy for ~$25 a tire. best insurance ever! no, it's not prorated, a completely new tire
when i get some time, i'm going to take my other new sports cars over there and get the insurance on my existing tires - they'll do this after inspecting them to make sure that they are relatively new and free of issues
My dealer is great...I am in Canada.
I would be very surprised if you test drive one and do not like it ?!
Regards,
Webby
I am an owner of 2006 BMW 325i with Navigation option. I bought it in late November and loving it. However last evening, out of nowhere my Navigation system started acting weirdly. It shows me wrong current location of my car. Also when I feed in new destination it starts with voice command " your route is in the display direction" but then never guides me further. Also on the map my car is shown at some other location (I don't live there nor have been there) and the current location never changes. I am taking my car to a dealership this weekend to get this checked.
Any input on this will be appreciated.
Thanks
The part number is 4505 at www.bavauto.com.
"whatever got you into a car cheap when you buy it, will in turn penalize you when you sell it".
If you understand that, then there's no problem with owning a salvage car....presuming somebody put it back together again correctly of course.
You will find a trend developing these days in the insurance industry to salvage more and more cars rather than fix them.
Be careful on the Kleen Wheels. In some cases they can restrict airflow to the rotors/calipers & pads which is not a good thing when your brakes start heating up. Also, most dealers won't provide warranty/maintenace on your brake system if you tool into the dealership wanting maintenance or warranty repair work with these installed!
Owner of a 2004 325i. Brought in my car for yearly "check-up" and finally got 1 problem "solved". Since the very begining, my radio display (LCD) was fragmented/extremely hard to read in cold weather. You'd have to wait 20 minutes before the car was warmed up, and then were finally able to read the radio station display. The dealership finally replaced the radio unit. When I picked up the car, I checked to see if the display was easily readable - and it was. However, once I got home, and was re-programming station pre-sets, I realized that the "ST" (denoting stereo was not appearing on any FM band stations, and the AM band now diplayed numbers in MHZ's & LHZ's - I am now totally unable to receive AM band stations. It almost seems like the radio has not been "Americanized" for U.S. radio reception. I live in Long Island & purchased car in Manhattan, so I couldn't just turn around & go back. They are closed today (Good Friday), and I can try my luck with a dealer near me - but I was wondering if there is a "quick Fix" to this problem. I read the "radio manual" cover to cover and found no help there.
Thanks in advance to anyone with any ideas.