hey MrBlonde, good to see you over here from e46F. Your car sounds almost exactly like the one we just picked up. Fantastic car. My only regret is not ordering active steering. Make sure you get the y-ipod cable and other freebies!

Charlie batisti in Nunawading is where we take all our cars. One of the best in melb imo, and fairly close to surrey hills.

Good looking rig Atlas! We're excited to pick ours up when it's delivered!

Atlas

Curious about your active steer comment - did you try one with and without ? I suspect when you move to 20's that active steer could be more useful in carparks etc ? Noticed your purchased from BMW Mel - me too.

Is anyone else frustrated by their buying experience?
 

Keen to hear about other's recent experience buying their BMW in Australia.

Key points I found very frustrating:
- the dealer no longer provides a price or options list - falsely claiming they can't due to the ACCC ruling in April 09 or BMW Aust won't publish an options list. Most other car brands have working this out now

- I was reduced to writing prices for options down on a scrap of paper in the dealers office

- The BMW Australia website is woeful. Most useful information has been removed over the past year, no options details, and some information on the website is cut/paste from international sites and wrong for the Australian market. Compared to most other car brands websites in Aust it is terrible for information purposes

- the dealer had limited info on the new iDrive system (2010). In the end I had to beg to talk to BMW Australia direct - who will no longer talk to real customers under normal circumstances

- since making my purchase I have had 4-5 calls from BMW Aust wanting to do customer surveys of various types - all wanting to know about my dealer experience. They don't want to know about the problems being caused by BMW Aust.

This is my 4th BMW purchase and easily my worst experience. Some of the probs may be dealer related, but I suspect most of it is the (lack of) support they are getting from BMW Australia.

Does anyone else relate to my recent experiences?

Jammit - I agree that the lack of configurator showing price transparency esp with options is a real pain.

I have a really strong relationship with a guy at dealership who is willing to basically show me the list of what's coming etc and all the associated prices ..in saying that the 'tools' that these guys use to build up the total price in front of customers is just terrible - I actually feel a bit sorry for them. At times I've run the numbers faster in my head whilst their punching the numberic keypad manually entering option pricing etc into computer from hard copies :(

when you say new iDrive - which one you talking about? I thought I had the latest in my 2010 - is something new due?

that's the thing that really bothers me ..they seem clueless when it comes to new models / feature in the pipeline ..e.g. when I ask my dealer in Dec about the 2011 models he didnt know about them and said even if it was coming it would be more like end of 2010 release - so I jumped with 2010 model ...but had I know June this year was arrival for 2011 I would have waited ....

I had problems with my 2009 and we swapped it out for 2010 ... BMW really looked after me in that sense ..but it was a borderline Lemon case :(

The ACCC did f**k everyone up with that ridiculous ruling - a case of the inmates running the asylum and bringing in a law that caters for fools, while intelligent people suffer. I do agree however, that BMW has been slower than most to adapt.

I haven't tried one with active steering, but our e60 has it. I just imagine it would make low speed manouevres a lot easier. Yeah BMW Melb are great, I find their service quite helpful especially when dealing with BMW Aust.

Dealings with BMW Doncaster, and Bib Stillwell BMW South Yarra.

I had no problems to get costed options docs from in 2009 and 2010.

I even got email costings for 2011X5, on the day that they got it.

+1, IMHO, the official BMW websites are no more than advertisements for their products. I've found their websites useless, but then I was searching for detailed technical information.

Yeah, feel your pain.

On my side, order delays, conflicting info coming from different dealers (called BMW Aust to clarify and they never returned my call!), incorrect info, and worse.

I don't wanna play the blame game too much, maybe not the dealers fault if BMW Aus don't give 'em the info, and maybe not BMW Aus fault if BMW Ag don't give them info either. Also, perhaps it's unrealistic to expect the dealer to know everything about everything. (PS: maybe my dealer reads this forum!) But regardless, I find it sad that I get more detailed info via the internet (google, youtube, Xoutpost.com, etc) than from any BMW websites or dealer...

4th BM purchase? You should argue with them that your a "premium customer" and you expect better; maybe deal with the floor manager rather than just a salesman ?

I just grin and bear it, willing myself into thinking that it's all justified when that X5 arrives on my doorstep.

I do agree getting detailed information from their website etc is almost non-existence.

However, I nothing but praises for the dealership where I purchased the car. It has been the most pleasurable car purchase experience for me. My 1st BMW in this instance. And will definitely consider purchasing future cars from them.

What I didn't appreciate too is the manufacturing/ delivery progress updates they provide. The information seem very unreliable. At one point we were told the car was going to be almost 2 months late then next moment, the car will be ready for pickup in 2 weeks as it has arrived in town.