zimguy

Hi All

Its been an age since I posted and looking back I wish I had been more active...I have been suffering in silence and I fear I am now at crunch-time with this e60 situation.

Can anyone shed any light on what i have experienced (and continue to), I seriously think I have bad luck and have bought a car built on a friday afternoon

I dont know where to start...but here goes with my current problems:

Sound System Can you believe this is still going on, they have had my car 6 times. It goes in, gets "fixed" I drive it for a week and its back to broken/normal..... http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=41833&st=0

I assume the below are steering or suspension related and the car is not as stable on the road as others I have driven or as it used to be when I first got it. It has not been curbed or involved in any sort of accident.

Suspension/Steering A My car has developed a very strange problem. No matter how fast/slow I am going I am getting a rumble/crunching/vibration coming through the drivers footwell. These symptoms are quite subtle but none the less do exist and are %^$^ng irritating and ruin the pleasure of driving a "luxury car" - Dealer claims to not be able to feel or hear the problem

Suspension/Steering B When stationary a gentle "rocking" of the steering wheel from side to side produces a clunk sound and slight knock is felt through the wheel. It is not an illusion and yet the dealer says again they can not find or see the problem.

Rear window demister So slow it hardly seems to be working, can take up to 40 minutes to remove a light amount of mist/condensation - Again dealer says no fault found

erratic / lumpy idle Irrespective if car is warm or cold or placed in park or neutral, there is quick regularly an lumpy idle, as if the car is missing a beat. When it is doing this "lumpy idle" , the whole car will shudder for a moment and then idle nicely for a few seconds and then do it again. IMAGINE MY SURPRISE....dealer says no fault found

I am tearing my hair out with this and feel the only remaining possibility is to write to the MD of the delearship and request a change of car or my money back.

In addition to the above mentioned problems, since buying the car in June 07(main dealer under BMW approved scheme) I have had :

- passenger window anti-trap broken (twice)
- driver window anti-trap broken
- Positioning clips on both headlights broken.
- 6 disk cd changer damaged (was like this on the day I collected the car)
- Bad wind noise at 50mph+ from rear door on drivers side - dealer cant find the problem

I know my posting is probably coming over as being quite emotive, but its hard not to be when you have had to save your butt off for a car like this and then the whole experience turns out to be a pile of poo.

Made worse by the fact that every time they have my car in to "repair" it, they give me a well behaved 5.30d courtesy car...very nice of them I know...but it being well behaved just highlights the faults in mine.

Any advice or kind words from you guys??

pennetta

Its alway helpful when you add which car you have, what year, what options and what country (which you did). Sorry to hear about the problems.

westcoast550

I'm on the same team right now..........

Hawkwing

One can sense your disappointment mounting - Perhaps you could try a different dealer? Your current dealer may not be offering you the back-up you need here - its quite possible that, and I hastened to add perhaps not consciously, they have conditioned their response/opinions to the quota of problems you've experienced in the past and now only see your ?input? as complaint not a real problem that requires addressing.

I read you?re located in Cheltenham UK - God?s home to NH racing enthusiasts.

Russ1974

If there is a fault, confirmed by driving an identical car which does not have the same problem, then when they come out from the back to say "no fault found", do NOT take the keys, say "ok thanks, bye" and drive your car away. Say "then get somebody more senior to look at it because there IS a fault and i am not leaving until somebody competent confirms this and agrees to fix it. Please go and get your MD so I can discuss this with them".

If you are sure there is a problem, don't let them tell you there isn't. Of course, if you are wrong, you'll look really stupid - but is that worse than driving round in a car you are unhappy with?

You will often find that the engineers/technicians in the back do not drive BMWs and hence won't pick up on the subtle faults as they are (sorry for the steretype for any BMW techs here) probably used to driving round in souped up Saxo's or Fiesta's. However, if you get the senior managers/directors involved, they'll be driving round in company 5/7 series, and will be able to detect such faults and confirm they exist.

Don't take any crap - show the dealer you mean business, and don't accept being fobbed off. If possible, try to have discussions about incompetence quite loudly, in view of other customers, especially near the sales floor when people are browsing. It's amazing how quickly they become helpful when you take this approach

prase007

I?d visit other dealer, some of them are so busy or lazy, that they are only changing oil and are trying to get rid of you asap. It solved a problem with my previous car when my dealer was unable to find the fault (I think they didnt even look for it) and the another I have visited has found it immediately + another things, for example the wind noise from right rear door was fixed by reprogramming the window closing (the window thought its closed so it stopped moving even when there was 1mm space) again - my previous dealer told me he found no fault.

Just to be sure, you can ask for the key data to be printed by your dealer, there you can find if your car was really made on Friday afternoon

pharding

In the US you can ask for the factory technical engineer, who visits each dealership once a month, to look at tough issues. I would ask for a meeting with him/her.

Lord Monkey

Hi Zimguy,

My only suggestion would be to see if you can accompany a mechanic on a prolong test drive (with them driving), so you can demonstrate the faults as they happen.

If you are sitting next to him (or her for that matter) indicating the circumstances when each fault arises, I cannot see them fobbing you off again.

I would think that you have had the car too long now to reject it under the sale of goods act, but you might want to consider asking the dealer for a favourable trade in on a different car as compensation???

As others have said, don't take no for an answer and if in doubt take the car somewhere else.

Let us know how you get on.

HotLap

Didn't know that...will keep it in the back of my mind just "in case"!!

HotLap

I think the clear move here is to find another dealer and have your car checked. Try and have the tech ride along with you so you can show the faults and get him/her to agree that they exist...that's the first step. You need to do this or you will never enjoy your car and probably end up selling it sooner than you othewise would have. Stick with it and you will see results!!

It appears your current dealer thinks you are just a "complainer" and is not really taking you seriously...there is a local Ford dealer (Thousand Oaks) who trys this approach...I think it must be the Service Manager's goal to try and turn away as many warranty customers as possible. I never give them the business anymore and have found a much better dealer who listens, fixes the fault, washes my truck and thanks me for visiting the service dept....that's my definition of good service!!

Good luck