BMW Design Woes

[Gravy]

I am wondering when the component failures are going to stop. Today went to open the bonnet on my 2001 E53 X5 and entered a no go zone.

After considerable procrastinaation I resolved how to confirm that the bonnet catch actuation cable had broken . Investigation revealed the cable had parted 10mm from the lever actuation cam. Managed to grab the broken cable and got the bonnet open. What would have been the outcome if the inner cable had parted further along the "Bowden Cable".

Could not believe the poor quality of the inner cable, poor material selection installing stainless cable with poor ductility no wonder it failed due to fatigue.

Fix was to cut back the outer sheaf and install 16 gauge multiwire twisted cable which possed good ductility and tensile strength. Took some time to resolve how to connect the cable ends, all fine now repair should see the vehicle reach retirement.

I am disalusioned, BMW spend multiple $ designing a vehicle with the highest safety standards and technological advances yet cant get the simple things correct that provide log term reliabilty. OK this vehicle is nearly 10 years old however it cost in excess of $A100K surely it should provide reliable service for 2 decades other wise 3 vehicles at $A30K are a better proposition.

[ZsX5o3]

the cable went on my '00 528i as well. but I did not find it odd, the car is 10 yrs old and was not maintained well. would you really rather drive a $10k car to have a better hood release cable?

[Gravy]

Originally Posted by ZsX5o3

the cable went on my '00 528i as well. but I did not find it odd, the car is 10 yrs old and was not maintained well. would you really rather drive a $10k car to have a better hood release cable?

Mate I own two other non BMW vehicles that are over 20 years old and were bought for $A1000 that are experiencing less hardware failures than my X5 that cost me over $A70K.

If theres justice in that Im not on this planet.

[omodos]

Ahhh fella I agree, all this I read about crappy expansion tanks and coolant hoses needed replacing after 50k miles, joke, we got a 14 year old mazda, np at all, ok the x5 drives like no other car, and I spat blood to get it over here from the u.k but I really considering ditching it, gonna get a clapped out land rover from the british army bases here, the x5 costs an arm and leg everytime something goes wrong....sorry for the negative comments but jeez the plastic cooling system components are skata as they say in greek