umichchris

it could be worse....you could own your car for only 12 months....buy it with only 40k miles on it....invest 6k in mods....then have the trans go out and be stuck with either fitting the bill for a new trans ($7k) or trading it in for another car and walking away from your baby....luckily most of the mods i can take right out and sell...

as for the electrical woes....i had them too...replacing the battery solved most of mine....BUT my windows rarely roll up ever w/o a window trap error. only time it works without issue i will the car is in drive and rolling....its the weirdest shit ever....other than that if parked it takes like 10 mins to get my windows to roll up and stay up. i hate it.

tough lesson learned....either buy really old BMWs so u can source cheap parts at junkyards and swap out items yourself or go the CPO route....nothing in between!

good luck tho man...as a Native Detroiter i support you wanting to stick with the big three!

pjinca

Hey Chris, I don't know if anyone told you, but the dealer should be able to fix your anti-trap errors for free. I think there was a SIB or recall on them. They replaced both my front window motors for free for me, didn't even charge me the $50 deductible for the CPO warranty, so it might be covered. Worth a try Bro

umichchris

really?

my local dealer is really losing stock reputation wise....i asked them to check them out at least twice and it came back 'no error found' or "sir we need to install a new battery to solve your window problem...its a voltage issue....that will be $350 plus tax and install" <---to which i said no thank you lol

but ill ask about the recall or power window motor the next time i have her in for this trans issue.


sidenote: never ever buying an automatic or SMG trans BMW ever again in my life....

sheldor535i

Hey Umichchris I too had the Anti-trap error and couldnt roll up my driver rear.. did a little research here and found this thread on how to Reset the window anti trap and BAM! error gone and windows roll up and down with no problem... ill try to find it.. if not do some searching yourself.

HiOffcr

I have never had an issue with my Dodge. I have a Magnum SRT8 (race only) and my daily driver Charger SRT8. Sorry about the build quality of your Jeep.

HiOffcr

Guys.....sheeeessssshhhhh, I appreciate your brand loyalty and all, but I just wanted to rant. If some lurker finds this thread, oh well, I don't get paid to sell the BMW brand. This is not my first BMW, as I said, I have been disappointed in the mechanical (electronic) and build quality in past BMW's (this in fact is the 4th BMW for me). As far as all cars having issues, that is not true. I have owned Volvo's, Dodges and Cadillac that never saw one day in the shop. Sorry, but this was once a $60K car, but the build quality definitely does not show it.

I am not a BMW enthusiast, like most here seem to be. I am a car enthusiast. If someone were to ask me my candid opinion of this car (as they have done), I would tell them it is a great car to drive, but a bitch to maintain (this current issue is definitely not my first issue in 8 months of ownership). As far as comments such as "buy a Toyota" etc......BMW should be ashamed that the quality of car they are putting out is no where near the quality of a less expensive (notice I did not say cheaper) automobile. I find these comments humerous, as when I needed to jump the 5, I asked an employee to help me out. His response: "I don't have cables though, I don't need them, I drive a Honda". I LOL'd

sdg1871

If you get soured on BMW, the Infiniti is a decent alternative. Similar if not better performance than the F10 and a fantastic interior/electronic/stereo and a very firm ride. And super reliable. I owned one for 4 years (M45 Sport) prior to getting my E60 550. But Infiniti has not figured out the ride/handling balance held by BMW. The M45 Sport's ride was rock hard with no give or compliance at all and most of my passengers hated the ride. The car mags say that the M56 Sport suffers from the same ride harshness issue.

But if you can stomach a harsh ride, the Infiniti M is a solid, high-performing sports sedan with a ton of NA power in the M56.

porsche911targa

I hear you brother. Obviously, I would think most of us could afford to buy a Honda. The point of driving these cars is the sheer pleasure of driving them.

As you said, these cars are great cars to drive but a bitch to maintain. It's not really a quality issue. The more refined and sophisticated a car gets, the more problems it will have. Tolerances are much tighter. The metals are much lighter. I would suspect you will damage an aluminum trailing arm faster than a steel one that Toyotas use. Take a look at the Ferrari or Lamborghini forums. Those guys pay about $20-30K a year in repairs and they go into the shop quite often mostly for leaks and mechanical problems.

I don't mean to sound like an elitist, but if anybody has a problem coming up with $2~7K for any one given repair, they really shouldn't be driving a BMW or a Ferrari; the Honda or Toyota is more like their cup of tea.

hansen

I have not had any problems with my e60 electrical system, but my E46 had a bunch of stange things occurring. It still had the CPO warranty so I took it to the dealer. The dome lights started to flicker, dash warning lights were coming on intermitantly, numerous modules were failing, the SRS warning light would come on but real dim, steering wheel controls would not function. The dealer could not solve it, I took it back to them twice and they still could not figure it out. They blamed it on a low battery and aftermarket stereo. I spent several hours checking the cars grounding cables and ground points on the vehicle. BMW likes to use single grounding points and if a single point builds resistance, electricity will find the least restrictive point. This will usually cause ground loop and makes electrical modules go crazy. This was not the problem, it was traced back to the ignition switch. The ignition contacts built up carbon and caused too much resistance. As electricity flowed, it would get hot and reduce the amount of current running through the contacts. 12-13.8 volts normally went through, but when all of the stange things occurred, it let as low as 4.8 volts through. Check the grounding points on the vehicle, battery, and ignition switch. Good luck and it is easier trace as the problem gets worst.

pjinca

Nuff said I love my Bimmer