1esquire

I'm not complaing yet because my dealer gives me awsome loaners (I had a brand new 535 last week), but it has needed a lot of service in the past six months:

2004 545, bought CPO in early Dec. 07:

3 trips to dealer for passenger airbag sensor
two trips for door seals creaking
Total of 9 days at shop for clutch creaking; replaced entire clutch, re-lubed the pins and connections, and it STILL CREAKS!!!
One trip for hard brake pedal at start-up and car pulling during braking


I still love the car and, again, I can't complain because my dealer always takes good care of me, but I am seriously worried about this car's condition when the CPO runs out.

mk4

It appears we have had some similar issues. As far as the car "post CPO" hopefully the kinks will be worked out by then. My philosophy is when it gets to a certain point in repair cost the car is gone. I would love to get a 3rd party extended warranty up to 100k for another couple years, but to me the cost i.e. $4k on a $26k-30k car is just not economically viable for me.

1esquire

That's a good point. Paying 15% of the car's value for an extended warrany probably isn't worth it. You could likely take that $4k and combine it with whatever equity you have in the car and have a nice down payment on another CPO car.

Moopai

I bought my 04 545i in March of this year with only 50k (KM) on it. This car spends more time at the dealer than me driving it. If I tell how many parts have been replaced on this car to date, I would probably have as long of a list as yours if not even longer. I thought my previous 740i was high on maintenance! it is nothing compare to the 545i. These cars are trouble and I honestly cannot believe how BMW uses crappy parts in such expensive vehicles and get away with it. As bad as it sounds, I think BMW engineers needs to take some lessons from the Japanese engineers on how to build a robust vehicles. Yes BMW drives nicely but when it comes to reliability they are at the bottom of the list. The amount of time and money one has to put into these vehicles is not worth it. My wife has an Acura RL, I tell you it drives very nicely has lots of power/luxury all the bells and whistles but does not have the problems that I have with my 545i. I know some people on the forum will get upset about what I'm saying but this is reality with owning a BMW. All I can say is I sympathize with everyone on this forum that is having problems because I'm in the same boat.

525iEnjoy

Im telling ya BMW doesnt Certify anything well maybe to make sure the price is right. In my first 2 months of my 525 it had a complete steering colum replacement, headlamp, complete front brake service, oil change, they had to warranty out the exhaust cause one of the muffler brackets was broken. then i had premature front pad wear soon after that.

mk4

I am going to have to agree with this statement. As I feel the certification is no more than a checklist that they just signoff on. I think if some of the obvious things need to be replaced like tires, and brakes for example, but if there are some ticks that require diagnostics I am sure they will wait until one of us roles along and purchases the vehicle. Then we drive it off the lot and find out that it has some ticks, take it back to the dealership who will repair at the cost of BMW of North America not the dealers pocket. Just my two sense from my experience.

northern-monkey

i think the post was about dodgy dealers being less then reputable ,not the car quality my bad

fastkevin

Your state would have some pretty pre-historic auto-buyer protection laws not to make the dealer take this car back. The first thing that stands out is you say they said it was an '05, meaning the sales paperwork would ay '05. If it's actually an '04, the sales contract is void. Secondly, the car being sold with unsafe tires on it would land the dealer in hot water. "Taping" together severed battery cables and selling the car would also cause the dealer some minor (sarcasm) problems as well. I have no idea what New Jersey's buyer protection laws are, but this being the 21st century and all, I would think talking to a lawyer might be advisable. If you don't get your money back with this peach, I would never buy a car in Jersey again. That's scary.

leggomysakyo

+1!! well said fastkevin....

E60freak

+2...I am shitting my pants as we speak...my 04 is just out of warranty now...and I am scared as hell. Did not have any major issue before the CPO expired. Keeping my fingers crossed as well!