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Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
1. The dealer said I should be fine using mid grade gas instead of premium. I found my previous car (Passat) gave me better mileage when I used BP as compared to Shell or Chevron. Thoughts?
2. How often will I go to the dealer for service as part of the free 4 yr/50000 maintenance and warranty program?
3. What does a typical service/maintenance trip to the dealer involve - meaning what things are inspected and changed?
4. The warranty covers the vehicle - any specific part or parts that will require replacement and inspection before the 4 yr/50k is up? If yes, how would I know?
5. Lastly, I plan to keep the car for a long time - so idea is to buy extended warranty when my 4 yrs are up. Which one should I absolutely get - the service/maintenance plan or the warranty the gold/platinum packages? I think the first one covers the oil changes while the later covers vehicle parts...
Thanks for your time!
BMW covers scheduled maintenance for the 4years or 50,000 miles. Within the warranty period, your car will go in the shop during the approximate service intervals:
15,000 miles - Oil Change
30,000 miles - Inspection I service including oil change and a very thorough going over of the car
45,000 miles - oil change
Depending on how you drive, you'll also get a set of brake pads & rotors (definitely fronts, maybe rears) and a brake fluid flush.
Now you say you want to keep the car for a long time. How long is long? 150K, 200K? There are many who believe (and these people know a lot) that BMWs recomended service intervals got a lot longer since they started paying for maintenance. They advise an oil change every 7500 miles, brake fluid every 2 years, and transmission fluid every 3 years in addition to what BMW says.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
As to how long I want to keep it - I am thinking 100K miles. Warranty expires 2013 end and I guess I will get to 40K by then. So contemplating if I should get the service/maintenance ext warranty? How much does a service trip typically cost if one does not have a service/maintenance warranty? Also what abt the other warranty on parts such as platinum/gold etc. Is that something people get normally?
I'm thinking the answer is a tad obvious.
Prices vary depending on the dealer and where you live. My dealer charges @$100 for an Oil Service, @$300 for an Inspection I and @$400 for an Inspection II. I wouldn't pay for an extended warranty or service contract. Take the money you'd spend on a warranty or contract and stick it in a Money Market account.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
Put it anywhere but there.... Money market accounts are paying .01%.. one-hundreth of one percent.. $10K was earning $0.09 per month.... That's right.... 9 CENTS!!
Schwab has an Investor Checking account that pays 0.5%.. Doesn't sound like much, but it's 50 times what the MM pays... :P
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(and I'd trust Shipo AND the BMW engineers... both of them know what they're talking about)
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lol shipo, we need to go out for a beer.
My credit union (Addison Avenue FCU) currently pays 2.57% on checking account balances up to $25K if you satisfy 2 requirements: (1) use their Visa debit card at least 12X/month (no minimum purchase - I meet this with my 7-Eleven coffee purchases) & (2) initiate at least 1 ACH deposit into the account from their web site.
This is where I'd deposit the money that I would otherwise spend on an extended warranty. Not that I'd ever buy one - I was burned back in the 70s when an EW company took my money & then folded. Never again.
Does this sound like a fuse problem?
I can't find information on which fuse I should be looking for. Any ideas?
Thanks for your help.
.
Not that I am complaining about my 328i in DS/manual mode with DTC light on, but don't mind paying for extra 20 horses
The convertible when kitted out with the sports package only seems to have the option of performance tires and not all season tires. I live in a high rise condo in the middle of the city and won't have the space to store a separate set of winter tires. I definitely want the sports package. Made the mistake of not getting it on my 328i and had to go the aftermarket route (Dinan) to get the handling where I wanted it to be.
Has anyone run them with the 18 inch performance tires in the snow? Or were you able to get your dealer to swap them out for some all seasons 18 inch?
For some reason you are able to spec out the 335x coupe with the sports package and retain the all season tires but that does not seem to be an option on the convertible.
Any thoughts?
Thank,
Tom
And that's a Philadelphia thought...net even as far north as Boston!
Without the AWD BMWs (each and every one of them) STINK in the snow. And with the sport's package...heaven help you!
I live just north of you in Cow Hamster (but work in Boston), and for a while (a very short while) I had a 530i SP with summer rubber on it. The first 1/8" snow event that we had saw my BMW barely able to make it up my driveway. I ordered a set of winter rubber the very next day. Said another way, summer rubber and snow do NOT mix, even a little.
As for where to stash your off-season set of wheels, I know that Tulley in Nashua does (or at least used to) offer a service that included the storage of the off-season set of rubber and the twice per year swap of the wheels for a reasonable price. You might want to call around.
Best regards,
Shipo
I will look into Tulley and even ask some of the other BMW dealers in the area if they have a similar service. I also looked into TireRack and they seemed to suggest a few 18" ultra high performance all season tires for the 335 convertible w/ sport package. If they are sufficient then that is the alternate option but based on rfl's input I am thinking this will still be inadequate.
I will be traveling this week and the next. Once I am back it is test drive time just to finalize my choice and see what the competition is offering these days. Planning on checking out the 335 convertible, 335 awd coupe, G37 awd coupe and perhaps the Audi S4, E350/E550 (coupes). Can't wait to get started!!
Thanks again both for your responses. If you have any thoughts on the choices I have outlined above I would be curious to hear your thoughts.
Tom
Just find a dealer that will store your winter tires/wheels.. You'll be happy when the winter tires are on, and even happier in the summer, with those sticky performance tires.. Plus, every mile on the winter tires is one less mile on the summer tires, so it's almost as if they were free!
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Really? My RWD 3 Series and 5 Series had no trouble handling snow covered roads when fitted with winter tires. No car -FWD, RWD, or AWD- is going to perform well on summer performance tires.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
Can both cars beat those numbers on a dry surface? Probably.
Best regards,
Shipo
Personally I find 0-60 a pretty useless bit of information, given that most cars today can easily do this under 9 seconds and that most cars today in the same price and weight class are just splitting hairs in terms of their competitive 0-60 scores.
I mean, it's really "how" you get to 0-60 as much as how fast you get there. Some cars put up such a fuss with engine noise and balky shifting that the 1/2 second you gain is hardly worth the trouble.
Although I think there is a huge difference between 9 and under 5, separates fun driving from just driving.
I did find a BMW M Meter iPhone app. Don't Know how good those apps are at spelling out the performance numbers.
I took it in and had the dealer I bought it from, and they made an adjustment to the emergency brake and that helped initially. Now it is not as constant, but it does appear intermittently. Interestingly enough, if I am moving slowly in reverse and yank up the park brake to stop the car, and then reverse - the noise stops for a period of time.
I would take it back to the purchasing dealer, but I am about to drive the car cross state back with me to Pittsburgh (car is in Philadelphia right now) and cannot get back to the dealership.
Any ideas what this might be specifically? I'm guessing it has to do with something rubbing from the park brake, but I'm not sure why. The front and rear brakes were done within the last 5k miles and the car makes no noises whatsoever going forward or when stopping.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport; 2020 C43; 2021 Sahara 4xe 1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica Wife's: 2015 X1 xDrive28i Son's: 2009 328i; 2018 330i xDrive
I have been trying to find information on this matter. The only piece of information on the potential damage to the alternator is to have a practically dead battery using driving (alternator) to fully charge it, then the alternator might be damaged. Even this theory was not definitive. Does anyone know if using a trickle charger frequently would potentially damage the alternator? Hope to hear from some of you mechanically inclined to advise me to this question. Thanks.
It usually happened on a hot day. I brought the car in couple times but they couldn't duplicate the problem. At that time I got ~40K but they took me all the brakes were ok.
I ended up drove the car in when it happened and force the guy to do the test drive with me to hear it.
On the day of the appointment, they couldn't duplicate the problem but the guy who heard it test drove the car with another service guy.
They took the rear brake pads out, cleaned them, and put them back. The noise was still there. They ended up replacing the rear brakes and the noise was gone.
But, I would not use the charger at all for a couple of weeks and see what the state-of-charge of the battery is.
Were you having problems with the car not starting after sitting for a while, or were your just being proactive?
Sometimes things just fail. The brushes in the alternator wore down/got dirty, that's all. I wouldn't worry about it.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
Knowing the trickle charger won't harm the alternator has relieved my concerns. The cost of the alternator (OEM) was quick costly at $499, so I want to make sure I do the right thing with the charger. The car has never failed to start. The reason i got the trickle charger a year ago was because the battery which came with the car was getting pretty old, so I though to make it fully charged may help to prolong its life. I had the battery replaced as well even though the technician thought this old battery is still taking charge and works. After almost 8 years, I thought I might as well replaced it. Thanks again for the reply.
Started test driving this weekend finally to narrow down the choices. I did drive the 2011 E550 coupe and Audi S5 (highway and city). Both are excellent cars.
E550 - Excellent HK audio system, V8 is excellent. More of a luxury cruiser than a true performance car. Definitely can be pushed a bit though. You can bomb down the highway and have no inkling as to how fast you are going. I really like the quality of the navigation system as well. The screen was super vibrant and beautifully detailed. It looks classy with a tinge of aggression if it has the appearance package. Some bits were slightly a little too plasticky. Wish it came with the 4matic system as the sedans did. I liked it more than I thought I would. Very professional sales staff.
Audi S5 - Great seats. Just as good if not better than the E550 seats. Good audio system though I felt perhaps the MB had a slight advantage here. Though I was listening to Sirius on the Audi and a CD on the MB. Loved the look of the car - very sexy. It has the AWD system which is a plus for me. The interior at first glance looks excellent. Even better than the MB but some of the buttons when you press them feels a bit too plasticky and clicky in their response. The car does drive amazingly well though. It feels more secure and well planted throughout the turns. Definitely liked the way it drove and handled compared to the MB E550 coupe. The navigation system is good but to me it was a bit cartoony and perhaps not as elegant in execution compared to the MB E550. Sales experience was a bit sub par compared to the MB dealer.
Came across the Infiniti FX50S - didn't drive it. A dealer had a fully loaded one sitting on the lot. The interior sure looked like a nice place to be at first glance. Focus focus.... I need to stay focused or I will never buy a car.
BMW - hoping to schedule a test drive later today for the 335i convertible and perhaps the Z4 with the same engine as well. Saving the best for the last
Both are indulgences w/ the 3 conv having a bit more practicality. The Z4 does speak to me from an emotional level and I have always loved the classic roadster look. The time in my life when I owned a Mazda MX5 was one of the best in terms of driving fun.
Once the top choice is finalized, next phase is pricing and poring over these forums to see how much these cars are being discounted from MSRP. Car shopping is fun!!!
Sorry for the brain dump in here. The Mrs. things I am nuts staying up late poring over these details. Had to get these thoughts out of my system.
Have a good one folks.
-T
Thank you!