To the OP: forums usually tend to overstate problems, since it's the first place owners come to discuss (and moan) about their problems. You will not find a daily thread titled "Today was another excellent day, as usual, in the BMW. All systems worked fine. No problems here".

The E70 is a relatively new model, and every car, regrardless of make or model, has first year bugs. I don't know if you know this, but last year, every Toyota model was affected in some way or some percentage by a recall. Issues ranged from power steering problems (Prius and others) to transmission failures on the Camry to gas pedal issues on the Lexus RX to defective side airbags (like on my friend's tC).

BMWs are far more complex and more reliant on software than their Japanese counterparts. For instance, the automatic gearbox has Adaptive Transmission Control which learns your driving style based on past driving behavior and load while deciding which of 5 different shift maps to use at any given time, based on throttle inputs, braking inputs, g-sensors, yaw angles, and engine temperature. The computer monitors the gas pedal position 200 times per second. It's not just "Drive" or "manual mode" like other automatics.

Yes yes, BMWs overall are not as reliable as Japanese counterparts in general. However, the latter cannot match Teutonic engineering and driving dynamics. By buying BMWs, we basically agree to put up with the occasional hiccup in exchange for something that is fun to drive all the time and never grows old.

There's a 4 yr/50k mile warranty and free scheduled maintenance for 4 yr/50k miles as well. Oil changes, wiper blades, brakes are paid for.

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