What do you hate most about your BMW?

[nice1guv]

I love my facelift 3.0d!
Awesome power, torque, economy, comfort, handling and looks.

Only a couple of things have bugged me so far: the air filter and fuel filter.

Changing the air filter is an absolute bugger of a job!
I've done it 3 times, the first time took the good part of an hour and now even though I know what I'm doing, it still takes nearly half an hour.
You have to remove the cabin filter housing and covers, engine cover, air intake, air filter cover that has a hidden bolt that has to be done by feel with a uni-joint socket on an extension bar,
and then the cover has to be rotated in a space where it just doesn't fit to get it out! Come on!
Getting this cover back on is even worse, I've actually put a hole in a new air filter once trying to get it back in place! What were they thinking!?

The fuel filter is also a right pain in the arse!
Under the car, under a huge cover with lots of bolts some requiring two socket extensions to reach.
On a diesel where it is best to change filters quite often, this is just a pain.
What makes it even worse is that the pre-facelift cars had a normal diesel bowl type of filter in the engine bay, a minute job to change.

[Bayerische Motoren Werke]

Originally Posted by upallnight

I hate it when people come on a BMW forum bitching about the cost to own a BMW. If you want a cheap car, buy a Kia. You don't need to have a BMW to get around, but you want to have a BMW so pay up.

I disagree. What he is saying here is what the dealer charges.
You have a Kia if you go to the dealer for service they charge you top dollar as well.
What was said here, as an example, the same transfer case oil you buy for $30 on line, the dealer charges $75.

[lhordmclain]

I hate BMW coz I can't afford to buy new vehicles every 5-6 yrs

2004 purchased new X5 3.0 and M3 Coupe
2009 purchased new 328xi
2016 Not on target to purchase a new one (this it will be euro delivery, maybe 2017 or 2018)

[bcredliner]

If you didn't know parts are expensive, if you didn't know BMWs are seen as a status symbol, if you didn't know Dealer pricing is high, if you didn't know about timing chain replacement you didn't do your homework---that's your fault. If you did know and you still bought a BMW then you have nothing to b#$%h about--that was your fault.

My suggestion for those that have come to the point of hating something about their BMW is to get over it or sell it. Useless thread.

[SlickGT1]

I know which dealer to call to order parts 15% over cost. So nope. Nothing. I just hate that I have to get my rims refinished and 3 dents massaged out. Pain in the ass nonsense.

[Perrier]

I do find find a couple of items to be quite annoying and wish there's an aftermarket fix. Or if any of you guys have engineered a fix I'd like to hear about it. I'm referring to a 2004 X5
1) the awful cup holders. Can't get 2 small coffee cups to fit properly in them. I can manage with one, but if I have a passenger, it's a problem.
2) always dirty the back of my pant leg getting out of the car. I don't even have the running board.
3) always find that the left A pillar blocks some of my view.

Silly little things, I love the car but could love it more if I didn't have to pay attention to these things.

O, btw, one last thing, it seems like they hadn't figured out a standard for the tiptronic shifter. I have 2 BMW and each one is different. One is push forward to shift up, the other is push forward to shift down.

[upallnight]

Originally Posted by Bayerische Motoren Werke

I disagree. What he is saying here is what the dealer charges.
You have a Kia if you go to the dealer for service they charge you top dollar as well.
What was said here, as an example, the same transfer case oil you buy for $30 on line, the dealer charges $75.

When you buy stuff online you are not dealing with a brick and mortar store. The seller online could be drop shipping stuff from other people. He may not have the item in his hand so he doesn't have to pay for a place to store them. He doesn't need to carry insurance on a building like your local dealer. He doesn't need to heat a building like a dealer. A dealer probably has more overhead than most online sellers.

The items that some people sells online could be questionable, but a dealer only sells genuine parts approved by the factory. You can't blame a dealer for marking up his prices. I buy a lot of replacement parts from dealers and most offer some type of discount on genuine parts. They also offer a two years warranty on parts that are brought through them. Most online sellers only offer a 90 days replacement.

[Joshdub]

Originally Posted by upallnight

When you buy stuff online you are not dealing with a brick and mortar store. The seller online could be drop shipping stuff from other people. He may not have the item in his hand so he doesn't have to pay for a place to store them. He doesn't need to carry insurance on a building like your local dealer. He doesn't need to heat a building like a dealer. A dealer probably has more overhead than most online sellers.

The items that some people sells online could be questionable, but a dealer only sells genuine parts approved by the factory. You can't blame a dealer for marking up his prices. I buy a lot of replacement parts from dealers and most offer some type of discount on genuine parts. They also offer a two years warranty on parts that are brought through them. Most online sellers only offer a 90 days replacement.

Many big online retailers stock their parts. Such as FCP and ECS. You can also order from some dealers parts departments for comparable prices. For example, my local dealer charges $200 for a door handle carrier assembly, one of the popular dealers with an online parts department charges just under $100 last I checked. That's a pretty big markup.

[crystalworks]

Seeing as how I've owned 13 (I think?) BMW's now, and 5 currently... I can't really say I HATE anything.

I love the way a well-maintained BMW drives and handles... so I forgive them the window regulators, fading sport trim, and other little foibles for the pleasure I get out of ownership.

I buy a fair amount of parts at the dealer... but I know the parts guys. It's more expensive than online of course, but I have the part right then and there. As upallnight stated, the dealer has 10000x the overhead of an online supplier. Even one that has a warehouse with many employees. So it's not a big deal to pay for the ability to have my part right then and there. I use FCP Euro quite a bit as well for most of my big repair projects though so I think both have their place.

[e53sg]

I hate the attention. I like nice cars but I look for bargains. So I own a BMW a Mercedes and even a Porsche..... combined they cost less than a new ford truck......and I get the same thing at work... one guy has a new 2015 king cab f350.... and he has seen me drive all 3 to work and one day he said something, like it must be nice to have all the big bucks. so I asked him about his big bad truck... and I asked him how much he had in it....he told me he had a little over 50K in it with all the additions and then bitched about his $800 per month payment. I told him he must be the one with the big bucks because I lave $35K into my "fleet" all paid for with no payments...his jaw dropped.... now back to what I really hate about my bmw....

the funny odd downshift from 2nd to 1st when I roll up to a light and it turns green. I have to wait until I feel it downshift into 1st before I can go it it slams into gear which I know is bad for the transmission.