Oh, you remind me...did I mention my neighbor who lemoned his Murano? And then had to return his SLK to the dealer at 500 miles because the top stopped working? And he's a plaintiffs' attorney. :rofl:

in light of my recent issues with my 01 x5, i cannot disagree with your feelings on the matter. an an ex-gf of mine had a late 90s 328is that was also constantly cursed with one little problem after another.

this begs the question: why *DO* hondas and lexuses (lexi?!) have virtually *ZERO* problems ... *EVER* ... how can that be?! I rember reading a recent stat once about Lexus (less than a year ago). Car problems are usually measured in "problems per 100 cars". With Lexus, that stat was *LESS* than one car out of 100!!

I don't know if this is true or not, but I have heard that any Honda or Toyota worker at any station has the power to stop the line in the name of quality control, whereas the Americans choose to correct through recalls. True or not?

well that's interesting. hm. you know, i'm also realizing how much i too have often made a statement more or less equating to "yeah, bmw have their problems, but so what... i still love them, it's the price for having a bmw" ..... odd.

Heh, heh. I dumped my Mercedes E320 so fast because after 120K miles, the automatic tranny died!! What a piece of junk....Yes, do fluid changes every 30-40K miles and it still died. Cost almost $3K to fix! $600 for a new climate control unit. One day, the HVAC died....I thought it was just a "fuse", but it was their final stage resistor, but their resistor and control unit are not separate and you have to replace the whole control unit. Ugh. Then, after that, no one, not even Mercedes could fix my "Check Engine" warning light....car kept on running too lean, but there was no vacuum leak, etc. However, Merecedes response was to replace my ECU with a new updated ECU so it would ignore the leaner running condition for cost of over $1K. Good luck with your ML. My X5 with over 131,5XX miles runs much better than the E320 ever did at the same age and mileage.

My friend's ML320 had its tranny died at 52K miles and Mercedes wouldn't replace the tranny despite being over 2K miles past the warranty.

Good luck with your Mercedes. Mercedes definitely has worse reliability than BMW.

I must say I understand, BMWs are always problematic in the begining, all of ours bmws (2004 325i, 2004 X5 3.0i, 2006 x5 3.0i, 2005 Z4, 2002 M3) etc, they have all been great, your right they have little issues (squeaking brakes etc) its annoying yes you know, its FAR better then any of the vehicles surrounding me, try the SL thats always in the shop (I love how it comes with a code error book so my dad knows whats wrong, just luxurious lol) and then there was my moms 2001 Town and Country, its her work car, 3 transmissions, everything has failed and its never fixed (power tailgate, heated seats burning through seats, climate controls never work right, power windows don't work etc) and top that with shitty service, so yeah, all horror stories aside i'm extremely happy with all our BMWs, all cars have issues, ESPECIALLY such overly-engineered vehicles, but this car saved my life and did it looking good so i'll be a BMW driver for life

ok.. let's see, Honda's.. why don't you do a search on the Oddessey and it associated problems along with recalls and also do a search on the Lexus V6's with oil gelling and grenading motors. Also, do a search on honda accords and find out how many TCU's go out on the auto tranny throughout the past 10 models years. No manufacturers are exempt from issues. Some just hide it better by taking care of the customers.

I feel for you, having weathered all that you did. Someone. somewhere, will get a 'lemon' that defines what a 'lemon' is. Unfortunately, you seem to be the 'lucky' one. Maybe searching for a better dealer may have helped you. Not enough of us are willing to take our service a little further away to voice our displeasure. Not enough of us write to BMW to tell them that their product and/or dealer is unacceptable.

If you want a reliable car with a little zip, try a Honda Accord Coupe V6. It's damn near bulletproof. Not much on mystique or history, but you won't have to replace alot of parts. Not much in the way of mods, but stylish enuf to look good for years to come. AND at half the price!

(PS the Honda SUV gets poor mileage for the wgt & engine, and that was from the dealer's mouth, before a friend bought one and confirmed it)

Rudy, I am with you. One thing that BMW has not done (I have experienced the list of failures you have plus a few you haven't) is offer any type of program for these known issues. Even the US brands have ways of dealing with issues that happen outside of warranty to a large percentage of customers. I am at 113000 miles on my '00 4.4, and am looking to replace it. I am considering another X5, but am no longer passionate about it. As a matter of fact, I am considering a car for the first time in 15 years, not an SUV.

Technology today should allow for 100-150K miles without multiple major failures. Engines and transmissions certainly should live that long. Power steering components should last that long. Computer controlled components, window regulators, electrical connections (can you say tail-lights, turn signals, rear hatch wiring) should last nearly forever. Interior parts should be much better quality (door handlles, wood trim) in a car in this price range.

I never mind general maintenance items- brakes, struts, plugs, hoses, belts, etc. Even a scattered failure of a water pump here or there or alternator should be considered normal.

I published this list a while ago in another thread (my list of failures)

Ball joints at 44K
Fuel level sender at 49K
Rear hatch thinking for itself at 51K
Fuel level sender again at 55K- defective new part
Steering rack at 92K
Both rear tail light assemblies- one at 79K and another at 106K
Valve cover gaskets at 101K- found at spark plug change
Rear hatch sheet metal replaced at 85K- under corrosion warranty.
VDO Cluster replaced at 81K- pixels
Rt. rear window regulator at 102K
Front crank seal at 98K
MAF sensor at 81K- MIL illuminated

I have always followed BMW's scheduled maintenance at the dealer, and thrown in an oil change in between for good measure. The dealer has had every opportunity to see the vehicle and deal with issues before they get out of hand.

I did buy this vehicle with 44000 miles on it- still under factory warranty. Since then 85% of the miles have been highway, and I am still seeing these annoying issues pop up- broken trim clips, broken rear wiper trim requiring wiper arm replacement, etc.

I bet if you talk to your neighbor that owns a Lexus, Infiniti, Acura or Chevy for that matter does not see continuous little issues one after another.

IMHO this is due to BMW not adressing the little issues that show up on a regular basis because they are engineering for Germany, not the US. I'll bet the average German owner of a vehicle travels less than 8000 miles a year, 1/3 less than the US average of 12000 miles. I am averaging 20000 miles per year counting the previous owner's usage. At my 113K, it would take a German owner 14 years to travel the same distance. Spread my issues over 14 years, and they don't seem so bad.

Many on this board spend alot of time talking about CPO being a requirement for a used BMW purchase. Why? Because you are going to need it! Why do you need it? Because expensive crap is going to break on your BMW before 100K miles.

Hell, how many people on this board have had to replace their Roundel on a BMW less than 6 years old? IT'S THEIR FOOKIN LOGO FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!! I have a 20 year old 911 that the original hood badge looks great (110K miles)

Many here sepnd alot of time blaming the dealer for issues and the expense of repairs. I think it starts at the top.

If BMW loses their cult status with their long time customers, they are doomed.

Do I feel better now? No, but it would sure be nice if someone from BMWNA would read threads like this and respond somehow.

MackskiBum: Pretty good post, imo!

Dunno if they "read" here; have never seen a post
offering by them, here.

Their response would be something that had passed
through "mkting" and the legal dept, eg. "give us
a call and we'd like to help..."

GL,md