Originally Posted by Lamby (Post 1092417)

Our X5 is our family wagon, you have to love it to want to own it. Also, I understand that its a 10 year old BMW and will require parts/maintenance and I don't like the next version x5 and only like the latest F15 model.... which I can not afford. So, where that leaves me is... with a ageing luxury car that will cost me a few quid on the odd occasion. However, its a beast, still looks great today and I get in so many new cars these days and I am just disappointed with there features , that I have these features on my X5 and its either missing / not as good or even they somehow botch it and it doesn't work the right way. BMW's Pan Roof is a great example, I love mine... yes, I had problems with it and needed the fix to make it work again. But every other Pan Roof I have seen is rubbish including the Discovery or Q7. Basically, get the spanners out, learn to repair it, feel good about keeping it on the road and love the fact that you could have spent the evening in front of the TV watching Walking Dead but you did something productive instead.

PS. I love Walking Dead, so if you do choose to spend your evenings watching that then you will hear no complaints from me.

Originally Posted by Lamby (Post 1092497)

OrangeFurious, Totally agree with the black plastic everywhere on the new ones. I looked into it and thanks to some articles from Chris Bangle, seems that BMW struggled to get anywhere near VW's emissions/mpg lies and took a step to 'lighten' there cars. This mean't looking at the cabin and seeing where they could lose weight and try to keep the quality.

Anyway, I am way, way off topic... Lets hope 1iwilly gets his X5 on the road and not have any more serious issues.

Originally Posted by X53Jay4.8is (Post 1092668)

So what you are witnessing is the convergence of the premium german car transforming into the world of other commodity vehicles such as our domestic Ford GM and Chrysler vehicles. The build quality of the 98-2004 BMWs (E38,E39,E46,E53etc.) are superior to these 2015-2016 vehicles. Take a 3 series for instance and look at the suspension components underneath the car. They are stamped steel (high strength) as compared to the lovely aluminum suspension components used on a E46 or a BMW of that era. Keep in mind BMW is a commodity car outside of the US like our domestic commodity vehicles so I call this story convergence. The main stream vehicles are getting better in terms of craftsmanship and the once premium german vehicles are moving down market with respect to craftsmanship. It's there way of improving the profit margins. Its not an illusion its really happening and more to come.

Originally Posted by 1iwilly (Post 1094229)

well this thread can be close got the ABS module back install it everything back to normal clear all the codes using bmw scanner software.only out of pocket cost was $15.00 to ship to them and $20.00 for them to ship back to me.:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Originally Posted by OrangeFurious (Post 1092471)

Another friend just bought a Mercedes C class and the interior looks and feels like a Hyundai (though, FWIW, Hyundai's are annoyingly nice for what they are).

Originally Posted by crystalworks (Post 1094273)

I was going to say that. Most newer cars from other brands are upping their interior quality (and their price points). So I don't think it's so much BMW losing quality, but others gaining more soft plastics and leather.

My wife and I are die hard BMW enthusiasts but Kia managed to lure us into 2 new fully loaded Optimas (one after the other) after the redesign back in 2011. We enjoyed those cars and had the second one until Sept 2014. Only got rid of it because the car was FWD and the wife didn't like that it didn't drive and handle like our BMW's. Even the older ones. So she picked up a 2006 (last year of the M54) Mtec X3 and loves that. As a side benefit the X3 costs half as much as the Optimas did.