Okay, let's get something straight right off the top.

When I first bought the 3.0 X5 my son was constantly unsettled because there is precious little airflow up to a toddler in a booster seat. My son is important to me and we found ourselves often trying to direct the front vents between the seats, as the airflow was inadequate on a hot day.

Secondly, when I bought the 3.0, I actually got in it EVERY day and enjoyed driving it, long after the thrill of the new car wore off. It's only drawback was a mid range hole in acceleration that made getting on our freeways a challenge. When it came to trading in our 320 my wife wanted the 3.0 so I bought a 4.8 after test driving a LOT of alternatives.

I was AMAZED at the handling, the acceleration and told everyone that this was IT, the last car for a very long time as I was happy to spend $165k for the ultimate in driving pleasure. I even ordered a cooler colour than the lovely looking black to assist keeping the inside cool for my son.

What I got is a car that is massively unstable around a corner, pings to high heaven on any day over 24 degrees C, the rear suspension collapses whenever it feels like it whether I am driving or stopped, I have constant electrical faults (ext mirrors freeze in down position every day, susp inactive, cluster fails, passenger side door doesn't unlock, alarm goes off when it feels like it, the list goes on) and having patiently spent over 12 months and some 20 visits to the dealer who wrote a report to BMW AUST DENYING the faults exist, I waited 3 months for the official tech to visit. After demonstrating the faults and long discussions (including pointing out to the dealer their internal reports verify my claims), BMW AUST has written back to me stating that the pinging is unacceptable and they have offered to lower the compression in my engine so please go see the wonderful dealer to get the work done. That's it, case closed and ignore the suspension and everything else.

I've spent enough money with BMW over the years (and as with the Cayenne overlooking some faults) to have been a fan, but any company that tries to give you the brush off so consistently when the FACTS speak otherwise forces me to choose between trading both cars in for another brand and forgetting BMW, or going to court and fighting those $%^ers... either way I lose money and it pisses me because I thoroughly enjoyed my first X.

Third, and final, the day to day usage of the nav and phone were FAR easier in the Cayenne, something that I need due to my work and the fact that talking on a mobile is illegal with your hands where we are.....

NOT bashing, just an opinion

My solicitors will do the bashing.....

Once again: do not compare E53 4.8is with E70 4.8i. It's like comparing regular 3er coupe with M3. Or 320i with special edition 320si. Very different personalities.

E70 4.8i is a substitute for E53 4.4i, NOT 4.8is - despite same 4.8 designation.

A performance version of E70 will come later - just like E53 performance version came later after E53's launch.

Btw, E70 is a very capable vehicle - definitely much better than E53 (comparing entry I6 & V8 versions).

At the end of the day, it is pretty sad that BMW is starting to lose customers because of a lack of buisness ethics. You guys put in the hardwork to create these fantastic vehicles and market them..And then you throw it away in a few words spoken by not backing your vehicles when there is a problem to be dealt with.

LVR is not an isolated incident with his 4.8is and plethora of problems. Neither is SANguru with his M5's SMG lockout issue. These are very highend vehicles that two seperate divisions of BMW won't stand behind.

Since you represent BMW AG here, we'd like to hear your opinion Scott..

I'm not representing BMW AG here! Not officially. :D

Yes, there are some unfortunate lemon cases when people have to deal with representatives, and even take legal actions. I'm sorry to hear that. BMW AG is not perfect. Nor are their cars. No car /company is perfect.

Eg. recently I had a bad experience with Sony (otherwise having very good ones with them). Buying bloody expensive (lemon) plasma TV that went dead after few weeks, and Sony didn't wanted to repair it under waranty - claiming liquid was present inside the TV (oxidated pins). Of course the TV hung on a wall from day one in my living room, without any liquid being near.

I'm sure such cases shouldn't happen, but life is not perfect. I wish you guys to iron the troubles out ASAP. Insist till the end!

I understand your point, but it seems like these cases are different from your analogy to Sony. You had an isolated incident with them. These occurances with BMW are not isolated. Similarily, Sony is known for reliability. I'm sorry, but when we purchase a BMW we do expect reliability issues to arise, but that is the price to pay for driving pleasure heh. We expect that the warranty we paid for will be honored.

Does this sound isolated?
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=72395

What do you want from me? To take responsibility, or what?

I'M NEITHER BMW AG ADVOCATE NOR REPRESENTATIVE!

Please, do not throw flames at me. There are official channels to sort such cases out. I can't help you here. Sorry. All I can do is to tell you MY OPINION. My PERSONAL opinion. Clear enough?

Working for BMW AG doesn't mean I have to take every responsibility here for lemon products.

What's next? Are you going to scream at a cleaning lady at Apple HQ when your iPOD dies? I don't think so.

I'm not officially representing BMW here. I just provide you the info I had.

Btw, if you are not satisfied with a product change it. That's the best advice I can personally give you. :thumbup:


PS: obviously your line in avatar ("i come in peace") is not very true.

No flame..I guess my assumption that you're here to promote the product was a bit hasty..

Something to the extent of 'I will pass on the info' would have easily sufficed..

OK. :thumbup:

Btw, you should understand BMW AG is a HUGE corporation with over 105,000 employees. Everyone is working on a very specific task he/she is assigned to.

I can't pass on the info since I do not personally know anyone at BMW NA, or BMW Australia etc. Or even people responsible for after-sales activities in our Sales / Marketing department in Munich. I making a call to a person in responsible department will have same effect as you calling a random person in you home town. Or you personally calling BMW AG - same effect.

I'm not such Übermensch knowing all 105,000 our employees, or have such powers as eg. a CEO. :D

Just to back up what LVR said about the rear vents in a hot climate - a good rear vent system really is critical in hot areas. You don't know how important it is until you've lived somewhere like Phoenix. In my experience BMW's a/c systems suck in general (I've owned an E36, E46, E53), and if you're in the back seat with puny vents, well, then it sucks even worse. I can absolutely see that having a better rear a/c system (and a better a/c overall) could be a big factor in someone's buying decision.

With regards to BMW's service issues, I absolutely think BMW is hurting itself when it comes to post-sales service. I've personally experienced it, friends have experienced it, and I've seen lots of stories regarding it. Right now they are experiencing phenomenal sales, but these things build up over time and eventually will bite them in the behind. Mercedes' quality issues started about 10-15 years ago, and is just now starting to hurt them.

In my friend's case, he had a problem with his power driver's seat under warranty. A new one was ordered, but the dealer never called to let him know it was in. He was notified the next time he went in for service, after his warranty expired. And you know what? The dealer refused to install the seat under warranty! They wanted him to pay for it. He contacted BMW NA, and got the same story from them. He's since dumped his X5 and vowed never to buy another BMW.

That's fair, though I think you missed the point on this one. You're over-complicating things a bit. No one is holding you personally accountable for these problems..we've beaten this to death so since a resolution hasn't arisen alread, I'll leave it at that.



This can't be good..don't you work for marketing? Where's the cross-functionality? :rofl: