High Mileage BMW (Would you buy)?

TradePro

GAZ237 wrote: »

Not on a BMW no.

If it was on a Corsa, Fiesta ect. Then yes I would say run away.

3 Series 'fault list';
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/bmw/3-series-e90-2005/?section=bad

Fiesta 'fault list';
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/ford/fiesta-2008/?section=bad

Is it just me, or does the BMW have many more troubles than the Fiesta??

Weird_Nev

Couple of points on that:
1) The BMW is a 3 year older model, so it's going to have had much more time to rack up cumulative faults.
2) The BMW covers a multitude of cars and specs from weedy little petrol engines to twin turbo 3.0 petrols, a variety of specs and trims, and everything from £16k bargain cars t £40k executive cruisers with all the bells and whistles. More complexity = more to go wrong, at every stage.

People also expect more from a BMW, so they're going to complain hard about trim, rattles, fit and finish. If you've bought a basic fiesta as a runabout, yo're not going to care as much.

Honest john also lists single complaint faults from all over the world for the BMW, whilst the fiesta only gets a gouple of generic issues and the recall notes! I can't believe that every fiesta sold since 2008 has been completely trouble free.

jase1

colino wrote: »

There's a twisted argument posed for no value. If a council mechanic was good enough, he'd be on bonus out in the real world. The council MOT centres are there to keep their fleet legal and on the edges, carry out other MOTs. Council MOT centres are the easiest places to get a pass, they do no favours to unknowledgeable private motorist giving easy passes just because they lack experience in a wider range of vehicles.
Well done in comparing dedicated, trained, life-savers to a council MOT tester, they'll be delighted with your comparison.

When was the last time you saw a private garage that only did MOTs?

An MOT test is an MOT test. It's not a commercial enterprise and it isn't intended to be. The employee in both private and public garages is doing the same job for pretty much the same pay -- indeed the chap who does the MOTs at my local garage is a former council tester.

No difference whatsoever.

zappahey

colino wrote: »

Council MOTs are a joke. The guys doing the job ordinarily are there to legalise the local authorities fleet, not be over scrupulous of a nice marques foibles. Lets face it, if you have a mate who is a council plumber (i.e., bloody useless and couldn't hack it in the commercial world), you wouldn't trust to fix a leak. Why would you trust a council wage taker, with virtually no real life experience, to do a proper MOT?

Really?

Our local council MOT place does all of the taxi tests and those tests ask a lot more than the standard MOT.

The taxi guys hate them due to their thoroughness.

Apples2

Weird_Nev wrote: »

People also expect more from a BMW, so they're going to complain hard about trim, rattles, fit and finish. If you've bought a basic fiesta as a runabout, yo're not going to care as much.

I agree with this.
I have owned Saabs, Fords, Vauxhalls, Renaults etc over many years and have always been a DIYer. I hate throwing money at garages.

All other Forums are hugely busy, especially the Ford one, practically every component had it's own sub forum. You could get information on resolving pretty much every fault which is great for the DIYer.

I now own a 5 Series and finding a busy forum which in any way compares to the others is impossible.

Every single rattle and nuiance sends the car back to the dealers for a fix.

Example is changing an EGR Thermostat, one phillips screw to remove, two 10mm bolts to take out, thats it. Fit the new one, tighten the bolts and refit the screw.
You wouldn't believe the amount of people who send it back to the main dealers to fix at ££££'s

The cars cost a lot, so people expect a lot in return

Iceweasel

Apples2 wrote: »

I now own a 5 Series and finding a busy forum which in any way compares to the others is impossible.

Difficult but not impossible.

You don't necessarily need a busy forum - just a well informed one
- and a little patience.

Have you tried http://www.bmwland.co.uk/ ?

Very friendly place and great advice but you may need to wait a 24hrs for a comprehensive accurate answer. :cool:

Apples2

Iceweasel wrote: »

Have you tried http://www.bmwland.co.uk/ ?

My username on there is chr15gb,
630 posts.

Bimmerforums.co.uk
BMW5.co.uk
BMWForums.info
BMWCoding.com
Bimmerforums.com
5Series.net

To name a few.. I'm one of the more active members but with previous cars & forums, no matter how much I contributed, was always more of a leecher.

TradePro

Weird_Nev wrote: »

The BMW is a 3 year older model, so it's going to have had much more time to rack up cumulative faults.

But as a premium, exquisitely engineered thoroughbred* that costs vastly more than a Fiesta, should it not be better??

Anyways, despite the usual badge-buyers excuses, I was purely trying to demonstrate that perhaps buying a Fiesta isn't riskier than buying a 'B M' after all...

Gaz would like to thank your post for helping him out in the argument, and Apples would like to thank you for making him feel better about running around in a 2004 dinosaur.

*I'm being sarcastic

TradePro

Apples2 wrote: »

The cars cost a lot

Not all of them

Apples2

TradePro wrote: »

and Apples would like to thank you for making him feel better about running around in a 2004 dinosaur.

It'd be a sad day when I keep up with the Jones'.
I buy cars for cash and owe nothing to no-one.
I drive 25k miles a year and run them into the ground... then they are in the auction and I buy something else.
Neither a badge snob nor a year snob, so long as my house is in order.

My next car will be a Merc, I haven't had one of those.