Bubblehead

I am now a happy BMW owner again now that I have traded my horrible 2004 530i for a new 2005 530i. BMW helped with trade assist since I had so many problems and thus restored my faith in the brand. As this was my first BMW, I was greatly dissapointed with the quality of the car. Active steering faults, window problems, idrive problems, radio problems, rattles, and on led to the buy back/trade assist.

I was very pleased with the dealership, BMW of New London, and the relatively new sales manager (from when I bought my first one last summer). They also recently hired a new maintenance manager and a new service advisor so overall a much better experience now than during the first year.

Now the hard part is going through the break in period again! Luckily for me I drive over a 100 miles a day during the week so it won't take long.

EBMCS03

Cool what made you decide to give the E60 another chance? Wernt u afraid of all the same problems again?

Bubblehead

I was afraid that there might be the same problems again so I test drove several of the competitors. I drove the new GS300, M35, Acura, and looked at the Audi A6 and Cady CTS. None of them appealed to me the way the BMW "drove". When my car worked - I loved it. It was just so frustrating that it would have some problem every week.

My wife warned me that I might regret getting another one, but the driver's feel was worth the chance. So far I have put about 400 miles on it without any problems and am very glad I stuck with the 530.

acribb

I too have many problems with my 530i, a 10/03 build. What radio problems did you have? Static in the radio? I have the rattles, false tire flat warnings, squeaky instrument cluster, and more.....I've also got this weird noise in the suspension when I turn the wheel left...

Sound familiar? How exactly did your trade-up work? Did it cost you anything? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I love the handling of the car, but it's these little things that won't go away which really annoy me.....It's been in the shop, A LOT.

Bubblehead

Mine was not quite as old as yours Feb 04 build. My radio would not change stations at times with the buttons on the steering wheel and actually caused the satellite radio to freeze up for about 25 minutes - no sound and no changing channels even though the CD player worked. I also had many rattles in the driver's door and rear shelf. My entire steering assembly was replaced due to active steering faults but within a week I had another active steering warning.

My trade up was pretty simple. The sales manager talked to his BMW rep and was authorized to sell me a new car at a low price and give me good trade in value for the old one. I did not pay any out of pocket costs but the monthly payment went up. Worked out well since I put approx 23000 miles on the first one and am now back to zero. So all in all, including taxes and registration and first year depreciation, it is costing me about $5500. It will be money well spent if the car works.

Edit - mine was in the shop 9 times in the first 8 months.

wiszmaster

how long did it take you to get this all done?
I guess i started the process today ... the regional BMW rep agreed to have my car replaced/bought back.
i am now waiting on $$ figures .. seeing how bad it puts me upside down.

zippers525

they can only charge you for your milage. If they charge more go through the state. The formula is on this page http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/4492d7...33;OpenDocument

wiszmaster

Thank You zippers!
i knew that under florida lemon law they will subtract "fair usage" from the car, however i was not sure how they made that out in terms of a formula.

thanks again - that helped ALOT!

Bubblehead

Once they agreed to buy the car back it took about two and a half weeks. Part of that was working with BMW NA and over a week of it was getting a car that had the color and options that I wanted.

It was kind of like buying the car the first time. Wasn't really that long but I wanted to call every day to see what the status of delivery was.

wiszmaster

haha .. i hear that. i stopped by & bothered my dealership a little today ... they said they might have some figures for me by monday afternoon. i haven't actually talked to BMW of NA at all about this yet. i've just been dealing with the dealership, since they told me yesterday that the regional dude agreed to buying it back.

anyhow ... just depending on how bad upsidedown this puts me ... since the '06's are out now, and my car does have 10K miles on it already ... (within 6 months) ....