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Comments
I may go out with friends, but probably not. So yeah, this may be my Saturday night activity.
If I was single, I'd sure be going out, but since I'm not allowed to hook up, a lot of the incentive kinda flies out the window. Know what I mean?
OK, popcorn's ready.
I am getting very anxious to purchase, but would hate to find out that I am missing something here.
Any help or comments would be appreciated.
By the way, my father(age 76) is a new 525i owner and my sister recently bought a 323i, from the same dealer but through a different sales person than I am dealing with.
Thanks....
I heard BMW now gives a very good warrenty, like to pay all scheduled maintanence in the warrenty time, and have 7 years option to buy, etc. I have not talked to dealer yet. Can you confirm?
As far as negotiating a price goes, ALWAYS negotiate up from invoice. NEVER negotiate DOWN from MSRP. Don't think of it as $750 off invoice, think of it as $2500 over invoice.
You should be aiming to get a price $1500 to $1800 over invoice.
I just found this board today and I'm hoping someone can help me out. Here's the background.
Purchased 2000 328ia end of Oct, 1999. By Jan, 2000 I mentioned to my dealer that the transmission 'hesitates' upshifting after I've accelerated quickly. First I was told that I must have trained the 'adaptec' tranny that way so they reset it to factory settings. That lasted a couple of weeks. However they have reset it about 1/2 dozen times and each time the 'solution' time gets shorter and shorter. Now resetting the computer doesn't help at all.
In Aug, 2000, my dealer agreed there was a problem and the service notes on my car indicate that BMW is aware of the problem but does not have a fix for it. By Oct, 2000, the service notes indicated that the car is shifting into 'sport mode' so I told them to tell it to stop. At one point, my dealer forwarded the computer codes to BMWNA tranny tech guru who said it was set to hesitate and to replace the controller (so that was done).
Finally, in Mar, 2001, the BMWNA tranny 'guru' came to my dealer and I took him for a test drive. I easily repeated the problem over and over again and the 'guru' says it's normal and that it's a safety feature. Well, if it's a safety feature, why don't all the BMW cars have them? I told both my dealer and the 'guru' to find me another car whose tranny is like mine and prove it to me. So far the dealer claims to have tested 2 others and they're the same but they refuse to let me test drive the cars.
So, you all seem pretty knowledgeable - you tell me if this is normal:
Example: (a) I'm on a highway entrance ramp doing about 40-45. I hit the gas (without hitting the kickdown) to come up to speed and the tranny drops into 2nd gear and revs up to 6k. (b) I'm on the highway at 60 and accelerate to pass another car. The tranny drops into 2nd or 3rd gear and revs up to 5.5-6k. I ease my foot about halfway off the gas to tell the tranny to upshift ... and it doesn't! For those of you interested, a 328ia slows down REALLY fast when doing 70 in 2nd gear. I've tried everything to get it to upshif and all I can do is keep my foot on the gas at 5.5-6k until the tranny finally decides to upshift.
When I took the 'guru' for a test drive, he said I had to take my foot all the way off the gas to get it to upshift. Well, sometimes it works, most times it doesn't. I've been on the phone to BMWNA customer service and they've told me there's nothing they can do and that the procedure is to have my dealer sort it out with the 'guru'. Well, once the 'guru' said it was normal, my dealer changed his tune and won't do anything else. BMWNA customer no-service said I can write to the president's office or I could always trade my car in.
I love my car but I hate the tranny and one of these days some poor soul is going to plow into me from behind when my tranny finally decides to quit upshifting all together. My (very pampered) car is less than 2 years old and I don't want to trade it in but I'm at my wits end.
PLEASE ... can anyone give me input here?
Many thanks for anyone's help,
Lauren
Here's whats happening.....
Start of, boot it, full gas (no kick-down button), in either sport or normal, transmission selects lowest usable gear and throttle is held to redline. At this point, the car decides that you are in "performance driving" mode. In any of the following gears, if full throttle is still used, and is held beyond 3000 RPMs, if there is a reduction of power the car considers that you may not wish to shift up. Example, stick-shift driver hauls booty on the on ramp, after joining the freeway (or about to) driver is in 3rd gear, at posted speed limit, but has to wait for the truck to finish passing before he can revel in the straight six's intoxicating howl to the red line again at a thoroughly illegal speed before selecting 4 gear and deciding how much your drivers license is really worth.
There really is nothing wrong, if that's what you're getting. I hate to say it, but all those trips to the dealer were......
If it is "111" status, it is still simply "on order".
If it is "112" status, it is in pre-production, and will be getting built within a couple weeks.
If it is "150" status, it is currently being built.
I ordered my car on April 28 and I am expecting to take delivery sometime in July. Sigh.
Loooooong wait.
advertising, dealer prep, document fees, etc were
"legit"?--All such items are nothing but pure profit add-ons for the dealer. These costs are built into the base price of the car for all makes
not just bmw. When a sales person tries to add these phony fees, one should have them deleted or
walk out fast.
155 is basically the final step (finished), 151, 152 are different prod stages (paint shop & in factory).
I was going to wait until Monday to ask you about the status of my car, but if you have some time over the weekend and can check for me now, it'd be much appreciated.
330xi black/black, PP, SP, CWP,X, CD; Freeport, NY. I've been waiting since April 28, but seems like it's been 111 forever.
Thanks
I did plenty of research on those fees, and like GURU said, they ARE charged to the dealer via BMWNA...you can see it on the wholesale invoice.
Also true is that the MACO/DAG fee is not charged in rural areas, where their may be a single dealership in one region. I believe the intent is for groups of dealers in metro areas (ie Houston, Dallas, LA, NY, etc) to share in the costs of additional advertising used in their particular region (print, billboard, radio, etc).
Whew, I think this would be a good one for the FAQ board....signing out.
roc50mg's car is actually about to get it's production slot. Let's look again in a few days to see if it's 150. It may only just have gone 112, it may have later on the last day I checked.
COOL !!
Hmmm....am I being too weird now if I compare the pain of waiting for a new first time BMW to that of a woman being in labor or to that of having a kidney stone?
Lenox? which ones? Any recommendations?
M3 Frank
I was considering getting LoJack (as I did on my Grand Cherokee) but I think I am just going with the alarm. The anti-theft microchip system in the key acts essentially like a kill switch, making the E46 very hard to start without a proper key, even for a professional thief.
The alarm adds additional anti-theft protection, plus it protects against break ins (wherein stuff inside the car, rather than the car itself, is stolen).
I will probably use The Club too for some measure of additional deterence, although a car thief can cut the steering wheel and remove the club in under a minute.
Can you check to see if my car has hit 150 yet? It hit 112 status 10 days ago. 330xi, steel gray metallic/gray, PP, CWP, CD, AWD, bound for VOB BMW in Rockville, MD.
Roc50mg-
Congrats on making some progress. I bet our cars will end up on the same boat after all. Given our locations, we will probably take delivery within a couple days of each other.
BTW, made the pickup yesterday. Everything went smoothly, I'll report in full later. Still getting used to all the controls, but so far I'm impressed with the power. Right now I'm keeping one eye on the road and one on the tach, and it seems hard to keep it below 4K rpm. It seems like the motor wants to keep going, I guess that's what they mean by "willing engine". At any rate, Steel Blue and grey leather is a stunning combination.
Any other favorites?
signed,
still "on order"
Thanks!
Sigh.
Thanks in advance.
As I said the pick up was smooth and my salesman was very cool. He definitely stressed the importance of the survey and told me that if I had any problems to call him rather than dissing him to BMW. So far no problems at all. I've put about 120 miles on the car and I'm very impressed with the smooth power and precise handling. The suspension seems perfect to me - the ride is not at all cushy but it soaks up the bumps very nicely. The steering should be the "new old" as the build date stamped on the door post was 5/1/01. I don't have any reference for comparison, but it doesn't feel light at all to me. The stock sound system, no HK, sounds surprisingly good. I've heard others say they believe that it lacks midrange punch - I'd agree with that and also add that the bass response seems somewhat limited. But it's pretty good for a stock system.
After I've had the car for a few weeks, I'd like to report my experience to the board similar to Brave's a few weeks back. Hopefully it won't be too repetitive.
In all seriousness though, the wait is too darn long! Being 112 for 10 days doesn't sound pleasant, denright. Does your Owner's Circle still say "On order"? I really hate that.
Irawles1: Find out from your dealer what the scheduled week of your car production is. For my car, it went into 112 status about 2 weeks prior to actually scheduled production. I originally put a deposit for my car on April 28th and was told that it is a week 25 production. Just yesterday, after over a month of checking Owner's Circle daily, gurumike told me that my car is now 112.
Group hug everyone; for all of us who are still desperately awaiting the arrival of the Ultimate Driving Machine.