Have you, y'all, ever noticed what are the vast majority of the vehicles that the Islamic States armed forces use? Mostly Toyota, and I have never seen a BMW pictured?

"Captain Mohammad! Captain, Allah be Praised, the BMW is beeping like a camel and won't go. It flashes lights and sounds like a camel. What should I do?"

I've owned several high mileage BMWs going back to a 2002, Bavaria, 7-series and others. Currently I have a 2005 X5 4.8is with almost 160k miles and a 2008 X5 4.8i about to turn 100k miles. For 40 years I've heard that the high series BMWs (7 series, 6 series, X5, M) are super expensive to maintain, and are crap as they approach 100k miles.

In my experience that is just rubbish.

I learned on my first BMW that you have to maintain them by the book, and address problems as they emerge. That was 1974. At the time typical practice with an American car was to run it until it broke or made a really bad noise, then take it in. So maintenance after the fact, not preventative. When I changed to preventative, all problems became easy to manage and costs dropped significantly.

Today most cars are assembled from components made elsewhere, save the body and engine. ZF transmissions, Bosch electronics, Lear or Recaro seats, etc. The design and assembly, and engineered differences set one marque apart from another more than component reliability. There is variability, however, as a conservative engineering approach (wait to adopt new tech) should result in greater reliability (Lexus) but perhaps at the expense of driving dynamics or fun (BMW M). The trade offs BMW makes have always worked for me; I've had Audi, Benz, Porsche and several others but for me (again, FOR ME), BMW has the right formula. I wish they were a bit more reliable, parts were cheaper and the fuel economy was better (see my engine choices above). But I still accept that for they way they drive, etc.

I have the opportunity to have a company vehicle and spent some time shopping recently for another SUV. Dodge Durango R/T? Exploder Sport? GMC Yukon? And several others (can't really do an import other than Toyota for biz reasons). Result: I'll keep my vehicle allowance which gives me the ability to continue to drive what I really like - BMW!

I just ordered a 2018 X5 35d. We had a TDi Touareg that was bought back. That Q7 is just but ugly. The interior is nice but I wasn’t hot on the infotainment. Range Rover sport felt dated inside. The Discovery....... I never could figure out if I liked it or hated it. Mercedes is just lost on me.
For 76K my X5 could have come with a trailer hitch!

John

I got all my BMWs after the warranty period and I will do it again. The reported problems here is just a small percentage of the total cars made, and the owners with healthy X5s does not report or even post and update the forum. I don’t but I can take this opportunity now to say that my tranny and engine are all original and never acted up.

I think the pattern here is that the ones complaining are the ones:

1. Who can’t afford to keep up their BMWs
2. Doesn’t do regular maintenance so eventually components goes south.
3. Doesn’t do DIY
4. Like what was discussed, putting 87octane gas
5. Rough driving habits
6. Owners going to indy shops expecting that maintenance are done, but in reality, some were not even performed like the incident below:

https://youtu.be/Jf1lr29a3O4

This happened to me personally which made do DIY for nearly 20 years now. My 2001, 2004, 2006 and 2007 BMWs were all spoiled maintenance wise but of course, small issues are there but never had major issues at all.

It is comforting to think that (1) we can, by virtue of our actions, control our automotive destiny, and (2) bad things happen to bad people


DIY is a way to dramatically reduce costs, we agree there. I wouldnt be so cocky that your gentle driving, refusal of 87 octane, or strict adherence to a maintenance plan is the entire story. While all that helps, it doesnt guarantee.

This has been my experience as well and I've owned various french & italian cars that are not exactly known for their reliability.

But unfortunately my luck ran out when I ended up with my X5 - I thought it is a good buy since it had service history along with previous owner already spending several thousand on it (with receipts) for new radiator/hoses, reconditioned transmission, replaced valve stem seals etc. Now, the valley pan is leaking coolant, one of the windows won't go down (probably the regulator) and the engine is leaking a oil from various places. Also automatic kerb monitoring mirror tilt doesn't work properly but the mirror definitely moves!

I mean, that pisses me off. My feeling is that it is a vocal minority that have had bad experiences that spread these myths. Then these types of myths are (allegedly) perpetuated further by independent repair shops so they can charge you a lot of money.

https://www.consumerreports.org/car-...they-stack-up/

I think in this day and age if your product is SUBSTANTIALLY more unreliable than the competition it will be very difficult to keep the company running... it's not like BMW is the ONLY option for luxury/performance vehicles.

I do think the oil leak problems are pretty absurd. But if you buy cars used, like I do, fortunately all that info is already out there. And I was comfortable with the price (they depreciate like crazy!) and knowing I will have to address a bunch of gaskets/O-rings every ~8 years. We had the oil cooler gasket leak soon after we purchased it so don't need to worry about that for a while. Valve stem seals I don't think are bad at 147k so they've probably been done but may be coming around for round 2. But oh well, I'll spend a long long weekend doing that and not worry about it again until I'm well over 200k.

But I also DIY, I've gone through two E36s that I buy pretty abused and basically need to rebuild. So spending a couple weekends a year doing preventative maintenance and repairs is something I'm already used to. We also have a backup car and fairly short commutes so if a car is down for a while it's no biggie.

And this is where the enthusiast and the accounts disagree.

Make a car designed for 100k miles last 89k miles before it needs more work than it's worth. Just like the car dealer's model, BMW will make what they make on the extremely competitive sales side. But when it comes to the replacement parts- some of which only BMW can provide- BMW is the only thing that controls the supply. Which is to say that they get to set the profit based on our demand.

In other words, the enthusiast on which the company was renewed is bent over at the waist. But this is nothing new or different across any brand. It's the new success model...

Who's buying Dodge Hellcats after all?

What is happening to BMW
 

By design it doesn't dip when you have the control switch to passenger side.

I'm quite happy about this since it dips down waaaay too far: it literally points at what you just ran over. I would much rather have it point at a point in space slightly behind the car to help me actually avoid hitting the curb.

So on my car the memory 3 position is with BOTH mirrors tipped down to aim at the curb just behind the car! (I very often park on one way streets also helpful to back into a parking spot!

Nothing new is happening to BMW. They are still the same company that refuses to learn from its mistakes and improve. We are talking about a company who recently celebrated 100th birthday. This same company still to this day cannot figure out a reliable way to manage engine cooling.
To be fair, all of the above can also be applied to MB and VW. Maybe a German thing?