turnbowm

Was very hesitant about buying a BMW in view of all the bad press. One test drive, however, and I was hooked!

Have a new 2005 530i sitting in the garage with 3600 miles on it. The car has been trouble-free, except for an annoying brake noise (groaning) when stopped and slowly releasing the brake pedal. BMW dealers call it the "driveway syndrome."

Initial quality (fit & finish) was very good! Better, in fact, than my wife's Lexus. The BMW, however, is on a 4-year/50,000 mi probationary period and if it has too many problems it's history!

Martin

kryptokat

Sigh...... If only that were the case with me I would have kept my 545i even with all the problems including rattling doors.

mihusky

Can't add substantially to the points already but some key considerations to reiterate are: (1) assign a weighting factor to reliability vs excitement and that will guide you to the BMW or Lexus-like path (2) message boards are not a good indicator because those who have a compliants will naturally complain (and for good reason) (3) ratings around reliability are somewhat misleading since they hide the fact that while the numbers of complaints may be higher for BMW than Lexus for example the pecentage may still be low (for example the difference between an excellent and average rating from Consumer Reports for number of reports from owners may not be that great numerically and still represent a minority overall).

My 2005 545i has been flawless for nearly 8 months now. The "first year" e46 (1999) I had before it was equally flawless for 6 years of ownership except to replace a head light housing (under warranty).

SteveHI

My 04 545i has been in service since 12/03. I bought it about 6 weeks ago, and have had zero complaints aside from the creaking door seals (which have been replaced under warranty, curing the problem). The dealer's serice records indicate no other problems in the car's 19-month existence, just routine maintenance. My experience with my E46 was similar - except the creaking could never be solved. No mechanical, electrical, software problems whatsoever. So, my 5 years of BMW ownership has been hassle-free.

If you visit an Audi or MB forum, you will see volumes of complaints - just like you do here. Active forum posters are often a vocal minority. My $0.02.

jmatthe

April 05 build 545, 2500 miles, flawless. Before this I had the new generation 05 Acura RL and it was in the shop 8 times, with minor problems persisting when I traded it in. So much for norms. The E 60 5 has been out long enough to be reliable in my experience so far.

subterFUSE

You are just lucky, then.


BMW absolutely needs to start sending moles to infiltrate Lexus, so they can learn the secrets of reliable automobile manufacturing.

ZinMe

BMW has never manufactured V6 engines , and I hope they never will.

The 530i engine is a 6 inline!

I haven't had a single problem with the sixinline engines.
[/quote]

You are correct, it is an inline 6, however, BMW doesn't manufacture it. It is built by a contract manufacturer. (In Austria I believe.) The V8 in the 545i is built by BMW in Germany.

GarryF

Reality is if you buy the first products off any production line your probably going to have issues with it. now is probably the best time to buy an E60 where's is been out for two years and the bugs are all just about ironed out but it's got 4-5 years left of production run so it won't date.

ZinMe

I would agree with you, however, the new engines in the 530 and the 550 could have issues. Go with an '05 545 if you can-- the car model has been around for 2+ years and the engine for 4+ years.

my530i

545 still have valve clearance problem like the case of Andy and SpeedRacer.