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      12-29-2010, 05:17 PM   #1
Sabian
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BMW reliability

Hey all, just wanted to get some input from people's experience owning BMW's over the years... I'm seriously concidering the new X3, but have never owned a BMW and wanted to know what people's experience has been owning older X3's, X5's or other BMW models. Has reliability been an issue for you?

So while I love the new X3, I get a bit cautious when I read stuff like this on the 2010 Consumer Reports Reliability website...

"BMW had a bad year, with five of 11 models now scoring below average. Although the BMW M3 topped the sporty cars category, the 1, 3, and 5 Series models with the 3.0-liter, turbocharged engine had high problem rates related to the fuel system, among other issues. "
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...y-findings.htm

The last German car we owned was a VW Jetta glx VR6 and while the car was pretty nice for what it was in terms of build quality, it had a number of problems within the first 5 years of owning it, all of which were conveniently not covered under the warranty and added to thousands in repairs. Now I know VW is not BMW by any means, but after reading that report on cars from Germany/Europe, the last thing I wanna do is go spend 50k+ on a car and go through that again.

Any feedback would be grately appriciated. Thanks
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      12-29-2010, 08:22 PM   #2
Bora20
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I believe that first X3 has/had the highest reliability in Germany of any car over the last 6 years.

I can't remember where I saw that though. All the cars from Magna-Steyr have high reliability.
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      12-29-2010, 09:32 PM   #3
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The issues CR is referring to are the well-known problems with the first generation direct injection HPFP (High Pressure Fuel Pump). BMW has publicly claimed that the problem affected approximately 1% of owners, but that number has been challenged as being grossly optimistic. Even if it is only a few percent, it represents thousands of irate customers. The replacement HPFP seems to be much more reliable (so far) and presumably is the version that will be installed on the 2011 and later N55 engines.

The new X3 8-speed transmission is an unknown quantity, but BMW transmissions have been reasonably reliable in the past, so hopefully this one will be no exception. BMW does provide an industry-leading warrantee, so hopefully will provide a fix if any X3 teething problems surface.

I have a 35i on-order and am expecting to receive a well built quality machine, but realize that to have some of the most up to date engineering features (direct injection, dual scroll turbo, eight speed electronically controlled transmission, etc) one must be willing to take a few chances, and to have faith that the company will stand behind its product.

(Fingers crossed)
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      12-30-2010, 01:00 PM   #4
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Have drive E60 5 Series and 3 series for 5+ years without a single warranty claim (only scheduled work or crash repairs!)

Any new model will have some teething problems but the warranty will cover any of these if you are unfortunate enough to encounter them

Have driven Jaguar, Land Rover and Ford and can confirm I would have no problem recommending BMW.
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