[xenon]

Given the number of people on the other thread that are having problems with the 318/320 I thought it might be interesting to see if we have anyone without problems.

I have no doubt that the severe problems experienced by Chrisbin and FieldingMellish, among others, are major issues which has obviously ruined their ownership experience but if every 4-pot was like this then BMW would be in trouble and the press would get wind of it. Also, if the dealers were feeding back problems of every car sold BMW AG would have to act to save embarrassment and a potentially very expensive recall.

Perhaps issues have been fed back and corrected even if they're unsure how to actually fix affected cars?

My car is now 3 weeks old (build date March 08) and is fine so far. Until I read the problem thread on here I never gave it a second thought but having read it did wonder if I had a bit of hesitation that I'd previously put down to a tight engine. I think on a light throttle in a high gear in can seem a bit uncertain which would appear to be a 'characteristic' of this engine but not (in my case) a severe issue. Certainly if you floor it it takes off like a scalded cat. Running issues aside, the 170bhp engine has plenty of shove although I miss the sound of my 325 a bit.

Anyway - if you reckon your 4-pot is ok, perhaps you could post and give the build date?

[recalluk]

Well mine seems fine, Apr 08 build date, 1800 on the clock now.

Nothing so far that wouldn't wait until service time

Mind you I am still learning to keep the revs up a little having come out of a large diesel engine car so its possible hesitancy has gone unnoticed, but even trying to replicate the problem I don't seem to see it.

MPG on mine so far about 35-36 MPG and rising as engine loosens up.

[3_toed_tree_sloth]

I think the fact that not all cars are affected is of little comfort to the many that obviously are. There are a number of failures discussed on this forum and there will be many more who do not use the forum. BMW know internally that there is dissatisfaction from their customer base.
The auto industry demands high quality at a low price from its suppliers. This can be a difficult balance to meet. They also push to reduce development time to market another factor that can mean a reduction in the quality of the final product.
The cars should be thoroughly developed before release for sale, customers should not be the proving ground for their product failures it is simply not good enough.
This in conjunction with poor dealer service looses loyal customers. BMW will also be aware of this.

[xenon]

I wasn't suggesting it would be of any comfort to those affected but I was looking to get a proportion on those without issues.

[3_toed_tree_sloth]

Sorry Ian, not really directed at you, more my own experiences with BMW and dealer apathy, when I read” if every 4-pot was like this then BMW would be in trouble “ it was enough of a trigger to vent my spleen.

[xenon]

Fair comment, especially regarding dealer apathy - however, if every four-pot came in for poor running warranty work then any manufacturer would at least realise there was a problem even if they only worked to address the issue in the future and side-step existing customers.

This was similar to the BREMI coil-pack issue that affected nearly all VAG cars of a certain period, owners put up with a lot of grief (as they changed faulty coil packs for new ones that were equally faulty) until the fault was found. Then new cars left the production line with the new design and eventually these filtered down onto older cars through wastage. Perhaps there's something similar here with BMW.

Incidentally, I hear that a huge percentage of VW Passat 1.9 TDi made in 2005-2006 have had fuel pump problems, to the extent that my local dealer had over 30 vehicles in at the same time awaiting new pumps from Germany.

[3_toed_tree_sloth]

It shouldn’t need every customer to come back to realise there is a problem, statistically just a few failures in every 1000 cars sold is dire from a quality point of view.
I do remember the coil pack issue however I can’t remember the root cause of failure. Must have been either a manufacturing flaw or a design issue, the fact that so many cars were affected probably made it unavoidable for the VW brand to duck out of it and therefore cost them a lot of money to put right.
From my perception and in comparison, fewer 3 series 4 pot petrols are affected with poor reliability this should not diminish BMW's responsibility although they probably will try and ignore it and hope it goes away.

[xenon]

Agreed.

[chrisbin]

Originally Posted by 3_toed_tree_sloth

It shouldn’t take every customer to come back to realise there is a problem, statistically just a few in every 1000 is dire.

..as I posted in the other thread...

As for how widespread the problem is, if you take the view that x% of owners probably dont notice a little rough running, x% notice it but accept it, x% notice it, don't like it and complain to dealer but dont know about this place, and finally x% turn up here......

[3_toed_tree_sloth]

Originally Posted by chrisbin

..as I posted in the other thread...

Chris, not quite the same point,

you were talking who reports it and who ignores it.

I was discussing the number of failures in the field with regards to the total distribution of cars sold.

[FieldingMellish]

It's a particularly insidious problem this, given the 320i's position in the range, it's a bit like that second cheapest bottle on the winelist at an expensive restaurant, you skip the 318i and go for the 320i, but either way, you end up shafted by BMW.