Door Panel Disintegration - 2015 BMW M235i Convertible Long-Term Road Test


The door panel of our still-new, long-term 2015 BMW M235i is disintegrating.
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The door panel of our still-new, long-term 2015 BMW M235i is disintegrating.
Comments
Softer plastics have their place, but lower door panels aren't one of them.
Alas, that was 15 years ago. Ever since the E65 bowed Bimmer interiors have become less and less impressive. My E92 M3 was awful. That was a weekend car that I barely drove 7,000 miles a year and babied religiously. Nevertheless, there were a few nicks in the plastic and some pealing on the "carbon fiber" trim just from the occasional passengers I carried. The latest generation of BMWs seem slightly better, but that is mostly because BMW now uses low-grade, rock hard plastics rather than the pleasantly textured ones they used before. Either way, the interiors of BMW's below the 6/7-Series have not been able to justify their price point for a long time.
Then again, I don't believe in owning stuff that you have to be overly careful about using. A few scrapes just add character.
And yeah, I don't lease cars.
The leather got so folded and started to delaminate/discolor. I had to pay an upholstery shop to replace it. I never wore studded jeans or buttoned stuff, wallet in the back pocket etc. Always conditioned it with Lexol. Go figure...
Funny enough, if you drive a similar year and mileage Lexus ISF (which has a brutally hard suspension (before the suspension was revised in 2010??) you'll see that the Lexus is rattle free, tight as a drum and the interior materials held up much better.
I loved my M3 but the interior was not a high point.
PS - I agree with others here, this looks like someone slammed the door on the seatbelt.
I find that hard to believe, but I have to give you the benefit of the doubt because obviously I've never seen your wife's car. That's great that she got lucky with her M3. Unfortunately, that is not the norm. Visit a BMW forum, it will be riddled with complaints about how poorly the E9Xs were built.
I will admit that a lot of this comes down to expectation. Despite having their fair share of flaws in other areas, Benz interiors hold up exceptionally well. At the time I owned my E92, my daily driver was an S550 that I was driving 18k miles a year. That thing was in better shape when I sold it with 130k miles than my M3 was when its lease ended after 21k miles.
Pretty much sums up my experience. If I had to do it all over again there is nothing I would change. I loved my E92. The interior, though, was awful.