BMW - The Ultimate Driving Delusion?

thescouselander

There have been a lot of comments about bmw's engineering on here but it is this aspect I was most disappointed with during the time I was a BMW owner. Like a lot of E46 models my car chewed through lower wishbone bushes every 30,000 miles - not something I expect from a modern car. The vanos system also started to rattle and the diff started to leak all before 80,000 miles. I also had problems with the airbag system and the rear demister. The handbrake was feeble and it was always difficult to get through mot because of this - I was never confident enough to park on a steep hill either. As I said earlier my BMW was the most unreliable car I've owned and that includes all the bangers I drove when I was a student.

colino

thescouselander, you appear to have had the worst Friday beemer going. I have had dozens of BMWs through my hands and while they are heavy on brakes, bushes and tyres, that tends to be because they are driven more enthusiastically and when replaced by decent parts (now very, very cheap) are good as oem.
The vanos fault is much rarer than a lot of car magazines would have you believe and is always down to poor initial servicing that prematurely wears the seals. Replacement on the 3 series is easy and quick too.
I agree the handbrakes are surprisingly limp in comparison to the service brake, and I've heard too often, from BMW techs in particular, "it's down to them nearly all being autos, so who needs the handbrake!"
Only common airbag problems were passenger side pads going wrong for no good reason. or multi-user cars having the wiring under the drivers seat displaced. On the demister? Sorry you were unlucky, I've yet to found a broken one.
Such a shame to write off a marque by experiencing one duff one.

JustinR1979

Didn't the E46 cause bmw a headache, being so good the owners weren't chopping them in for the new model?

motorguy

JustinR1979 wrote: »

Is mainly the !!!!!! drivers that make people dislike them I feel.
But most have them have moved over to Audi now.

Do you think there is some committee somewhere that monitors !!!!!! and what sort of car they drive?

And they then declared that most had moved to Audi??

:rotfl:

Clarkson has a lot to answer for...

:eek:

motorguy

Strider590 wrote: »

i'll argue the toss with anyone and on any subject.

Yes. We'd noticed.

motorguy

TrickyWicky wrote: »

I take it you're a BMW man then

Just bemused by some of the dross people put on here to justify their prejudices.

I actually drive a golf.

Strider590

motorguy wrote: »

I actually drive a golf.

That's a different type of delusion, nothing to do with BMW :rotfl:

motorguy

Strider590 wrote: »

That's a different type of delusion, nothing to do with BMW :rotfl:

With VW's being so reliable, i'm thinking of putting all the money i save on repairs into making a home made car for the weekends like you have.

force_ten

motorguy wrote: »

Do you think there is some committee somewhere that monitors !!!!!! and what sort of car they drive?

And they then declared that most had moved to Audi??

:rotfl:

Clarkson has a lot to answer for...

:eek:

yes its called top gear they love to push the stereotype of all BMW drivers being cocks

clarkson might have been right when he said BMW M3,s are driven by Imbeciles, might not be all but definitely some.

JustinR1979

force_ten wrote: »

yes its called top gear they love to push the stereotype of all BMW drivers being cocks

clarkson might have been right when he said BMW M3,s are driven by Imbeciles, might not be all but definitely some.

Definitely one at least!


There's never been a bad M3, been plenty of bad M3 drivers...