Enough is enough..I QUIT BMW!
 

I’m sorry to say that after twenty years of BMW ownership among them 325is, 635csi, M6 and now the X5, I’m calling it quits with BMW. Like many loyal bimmer fans I chose to overlook BMW’s never ending, flaws, quirks, sliding quality and mediocre service for the sake of the performance and thrill that BMW has always offered, which by the way I believe is bar none. That thrill however has been taking on a new meaning lately.

Reliability or lack of thereof has become ridiculous in vehicles of this class. I’ve experienced just about every common failure mentioned in these forums on my 2001 X5; the popping speaker grills, sunshade support, scraped door handle, hesitant acceleration, whistling noise, four window regulator failures, defective final stage resistor, premature brake, control arm and CV boot failure, disappearing pixels in the cluster and climate control, bad camshaft sensors, crank vent valve, lift gate rattle, the ever ending list of false fault codes, now a terrible noise from my torque converter, who knows what that’ll cost. All this before 70k miles. What’s worst, this unreliability you could say is built-in and even expected. From what I can tell from this and many other BMW forums these mechanical and electrical failures are all common and prevalent in most 3, 5 and X’s which are being inherited down from the previous model year offering.

As I see it BMW is knowingly perpetuating these failures year after year by its own negligence to address a resolution to improve obvious defects in engineering, its lack of acknowledgement of these most common issues, and treating the consumer as ignorant by denying any commonality of these problems exist. Right.

Rather than admit to any problems in quality BMW prefers to let its customer bear the brunt for the repair of these engineering boondoggles. My experience is not an isolated incident if you go by the many BMW forums. What’s even more ironic is how many followers do exist who remain true and loyal to the marque, going so far as to accept, forgive and justify BMW these engineering blunders as a worthwhile price to pay for the privilege of ownership alone. The exact statements I come across in these forums being…. “Oh well, that’s the price you pay for the “privilege” of owning a BMW”. Wat up wit dat?

How can anyone not only accept mediocrity but think to reward it as the price to pay for distinction? Since when is our hard earned dollars become so trivialized?

I have to believe most these owners haven’t been “privileged” quite long enough yet. More likely it’s that younger breeds first discovery of the marque who’s opinion are inclined more by the status of the marque than by the value of their sweat. As if this was an equal tradeoff somehow. I would hate to think this is this generation’s latest trend. I suppose it’s that mentality which BMW has learned to capitalize on and abuse. Is this now a case of you get what you paid for…but in reverse? I for one am tired of paying premium prices for that privilege and that of BMW’s irresponsible and deceptive treatment of its core customers.

I’ve endured more cost of ownership than any other marque I’ve had experience with and regard this latest trend by BMW as unacceptable and am willing to go seek out BMW’s competitors, and do something I would never contemplate before and that is to discourage any one asking me for advice on BMW ownership.

I will get what I pay for elsewhere...

Fed Up in Florida.

This letter will be submited publicly to our local Southwest and Central Florida Newspapers as my way to enlighten consumers to BMW's poor reliability and customer service practices.
:mad: :rippedoff

some dealerships are the worst and you probably got picked by one...my parents had a hard time with "vista bmw" and we finally switched to pembroke pines bmw because we were fed up with vista's service quality and pembroke piens was closer...
and yes i think that bmw should have something like "quality service" assurance program that does not let sh*tty dealerships to take place in the BMW dealerships.
some bmw cars are great, some aren't....this is the way the car industry goes around but if you had alot of problems with the vehicle, check the lemon law and get a full refund OR if you had most of the problems with the dealership/service department, i suggest you moving to another dealership :)

Rudy i agree with you. But there is no other car i enjoy driving out there more than BMW. I could switch to audi or mercedes but there worse. so i just stay with BMW. What else can you do. Im not gonna start driving a honda accord thats for sure. Those things are so unconnected with the road i feel like im driving my boat.

Rudy, Rack It!
Well written...I'd send a copy to the twinks hiding under their desks
up in Woodcliff Lake NJ/BMW NA land. They have head patting, placating
and denial down to a fine acting art.

Cape Coral, Huh?! We shoulda had a SW FL mini-meet!
GL,md

I agree send one to BMW NA. Those guys are artists at there trade. Which really is denial of problems.

Wanna join me on the dark side (Mercedes)?

So far, she's had a tenth of the problems that I had with the X5. :thumbup:

yea but you have an 04 updated merc ml your X5 was an 02. im sure if the ML was an 02 it would have been worse than the X5. You cant really compare the 2. unless they are the same year.

Thank you for the well-composed essay, Rudy.
Ironically, I heard the same sentiments, almost word-for-word, from 04-05 Mercedes owners (all selling!) when I was shopping for my X5 last December. Who makes MBenz's again?
The industry is changing. Tech is becoming the backbone of cars, and BMW does have some quirks there to address. However, as Dinan said, the solidity, ride, and handling are incredible, and simply outdo other models on the road. In coming years, top honors (& solid sales) will belong to the company that can deliver tech, power & handling, not just one. That competition will only make future BMWs even better, IMHO.

PS- You did have a 1st-year X5, which has been aknowledged to have more problems that subsequent years. Not an excuse, but I'd always look twice at buying a first-run model, from any company.
Best of luck with your future cars- I hope you'll stay in touch about what you choose & how it pans out.
M

It all depends on what you get, and (as mentioned above) what sort of dealership service you get.

I have owned 3 M-B's (one right now), and 3 BMW's (the X5 right now) in my life. I had no serious service or quality issues with any of them, except the current M-B (2003 model E320). The car looks like a cheap American car on the inside, and mechanical/electrical things just break in ways that never used to happen. The local dealership can't/won't handle things in the same excellent fashion they used to do, and that helped keep loyalty.

I had a potentially fatal crash in a 1997 CLK and am here because of the quality workmanship. That workmanship seems to have declined dramatically over the past couple years.

I have not heard anyone on this board gripe about quality issues on an X5 with a 2003 or newer. At the same time M-B quality seems to be going down, the BMW quality/attention to detail seems to be improving.

My take on it: I won't be buying another M-B for a long time. I will stay with BMW until they give me reason to quit.

Well put and in BMWs defense it wasnt just a new model year it was the introduction of a first time ever brand new model. they have never done suvs before and also mercedes had a couple of years on them with the ML and everyone i know with an ML absolutely hates them. and say that they are junk.