too many issues

[bhaspurk]

I have a 2007 328i and I got it 5 months ago. I have been to the dealer 5 times already. The turn indicators on the front blew out 3 times already, the engine head was blown off once, yesterday went in for scheduled maintainence and today the door locks dont work, so its out for repairs again.

Im just wondering how people put up with all this, the dealer said the door thing was a common isuue and keeps happening. I mean this is supposed to be some high end car not a crappy piece of engineering.

Why would anyone consider a BMW knowing it has reliability issues? Does Audi have all this problem?

[nmonfared]

Well seeing as how hundreds of people on this board will stand by their BMW, and millions more purchase the car every month, something leads me to believe your car is not the average example for this brand. Seems to me you just got the short end of the stick here my friend.

[primedomain]

I bought my 328 brand new 6 month ago and I have no problems whatsoever.

Maybe the previous owner didn't treat the car fairly

[AZG1164]

Just because its a BMW doesnt mean its bullet proof. There no telling how it was treated by the previous owner, which could have led to some of your issues.

Did you purchase it from a BMW dealer, other or private party?

Turn Signals: are they OE or does it have aftermarket clears/angel eyes?

Engine Head blown off: You mean head gasket?

Locks: ?

[bhaspurk]

well, i got it from a non bmw dealer, the car had no accidents and a low price for all the options it has(nav, idrive, premium package etc).
Maintenance by previous owner would not have anything to do with lights going out(OEM) and door locks failing(got it fixed). Maybe the head gasket thing could be the previous owners fault.

[fun2drive]

So in short the turn signal issue has not really been resolved and the door locks had issues. Where did you come up with the head gasket failure? Pretty much could only happen if the water pump failed or the engine was driven at redline for a long time.

You seem to have a few more problems than most with the new 3.

Is the car still under BMW warranty?

Everyone gets a car that is not up to the the standards it should be and BMW is no exception.

[gogita502]

been to the dealer 6 times in the span of a month and maybe a week.

at least its under warranty

[kvanriper]

I just turned in my 07 328i lease yesterday. How sad. Fortunately I did not have one thing go wrong during the 3 years. Nothing not one squeak or rattle. It was the most trouble free car I have ever had. I read yours and other horror stories here so I do feel for you. Hopefully the 2011 328 will be as trouble free.

[RonNSoCal]

I wonder what percentage have had trouble free 328is. Those with problems are the ones you typically hear from. I bought my coupe used from a Chevy dealer. It had been leased previously with two previous owners in 17 months. So far, other than a bubble on one of the tires I had to replace, it has had no issues. When I had my 2001 M Roadster, I was aware of several serious problems people had experienced, including subframe separation issues, engine bearing wear/damage and others. I sold my car with 77K and never had any real problems other than with the coil packs, which BMW replaced free as per a service bulletin that had been issued in the past. I have always considered the 328i to have a well designed engine and expect it to be bulletproof. I guess time will tell. Still, there always will be some cars that end up having some issues for one reason or another.

[powerharp]

I bought a 07 328i wagon CPO about a month ago with 33K miles on it. The door locks failed the night I bought the car, but the timing was great for it because it was midnight Saturday on our anniversary and the valet a very trendy LA restaurant could not get the doors open without the valet key. Never mind that we just dropped $425 on a fantastic dinner and never mind that my wife had to sit in the driver's side back seat because the other doors could not open. I've since had wheel bearing replaced (at 33K miles? are you kidding?), the engine burning a quart of oil, the mirrors going out of adjustment by themselves and of course, the radio display being invisible when wearning polarized glasses.... The egos of many BMW owners amaze me. They'll never admit to any problems with their cars. These cars are the ultimately overrated cars in the world. I'm just waiting for the next thing to break.

[RonNSoCal]

BMWs are certainly not perfect cars, but whether any better or worse than others depends upon what you want out of a car. I am driving the second BMW that I have owned and feel it is a very solid, great handling car. Having always owned sports cars, BMW sedans and coupes appear to be a good compromise of practicality, comfort and handling. Are they trouble free? No. Are they better than other cars that offer similar handling, luxury, etc.? If I knew the answer to this question, I could tell you what I will undoubtedly buy next.

Are BMWs overrated and are owners of them blinded by ego? Some probably are, others know what they want and feel a BMW fits the bill. It depends on what a car needs to offer to make you happy. If you are not into performance driving and a car is just an appliance to get you from here to there, get a Camry. They are comfortable and reliable, well built and relatively inexpensive. They also wallow when cornering hard and are not very fun to drive on curvy mountain roads. They are great cars, but boring to drive. Sports cars are fun to drive but are impractical for many, because of limited space and limited comfort.

Every car is a compromise tilted to what the car maker feels his buyers want and are willing to pay for. You have to figure out what you want out of a car and find the one that fits your wants/needs best. It appears you got a BMW that has some glitches, and one with features important to you that the engineers did not consider when they designed the car. Sometimes you get a car that has more issues than others, it's a crap shoot. Sometimes you get a bad meal at a restaurant, but that does not mean the restaurant is overrated or not a good place to eat most of the time.

[mryakan]

BMWs are certainly not perfect cars, but whether any better or worse than others depends upon what you want out of a car. I am driving the second BMW that I have owned and feel it is a very solid, great handling car. Having always owned sports cars, BMW sedans and coupes appear to be a good compromise of practicality, comfort and handling. Are they trouble free? No. Are they better than other cars that offer similar handling, luxury, etc.? If I knew the answer to this question, I could tell you what I will undoubtedly buy next.

Are BMWs overrated and are owners of them blinded by ego? Some probably are, others know what they want and feel a BMW fits the bill. It depends on what a car needs to offer to make you happy. If you are not into performance driving and a car is just an appliance to get you from here to there, get a Camry. They are comfortable and reliable, well built and relatively inexpensive. They also wallow when cornering hard and are not very fun to drive on curvy mountain roads. They are great cars, but boring to drive. Sports cars are fun to drive but are impractical for many, because of limited space and limited comfort.

Every car is a compromise tilted to what the car maker feels his buyers want and are willing to pay for. You have to figure out what you want out of a car and find the one that fits your wants/needs best. It appears you got a BMW that has some glitches, and one with features important to you that the engineers did not consider when they designed the car. Sometimes you get a car that has more issues than others, it's a crap shoot. Sometimes you get a bad meal at a restaurant, but that does not mean the restaurant is overrated or not a good place to eat most of the time.

+1, very good response.
Most time people's expectation are not inline with the product offered. e.g. Just the other say I was at the Apple Store and heard a guy complain about his iPod and how Apple products should not fail :confused:shifty.

[RonNSoCal]

Thanks,

I am a bit of a car nut and spend a lot of time reading car magazines and articles about cars, when I am not out in the driveway or garage detailing my car.

[Jewbagel]

I bought an 07 328i coupe loaded without idrive and in the 2 months that i have owned it, i have been to the dealer 5 times and am getting ready to bring it in for a sixth. I have had the fuel pump, gauges, front and rear brakes, CCC computer and now driver and passenger door seal replaced. I bought it as a CPO and i told the Sales Manager that this was ridiculous and he sent me a check for one months payment.

[dallasfan824]

Its probably because its an 07. It was the first year for the E92. I have an 08 and have had only one problem with the Ipod adapter. Other than that, pretty flawless.

[Not Sure]

my friend has an 06 e90 with the lock problem too. I keep hearing about that one. And guys, while I feel your pain, you should come over to the VW TDI forum. Brand new 09's with fuel pumps that disintegrate causing $8k in damage and warranty refusals, camshafts and lifters that literally wear out at 80k miles, transmission failures with month-long waits for repairs. While I don't regret selling my very old M3, I probably should have stuck with the brand I knew so well. Oh btw, OP, audi has more problems than BMW. If you think frozen locks are bad, *laughs* :D

[BMWs4Ever]

I bought my 2007 328i brand new and have never had any issues :-)

[anova]

I have an 06 330XI CPO, bought with 45k miles
so far:
lifters replaced, didnt help the knocking of the engine.
Just had the head replaced
driveshaft replaced because of corrosion? still dont get that one on a 4 yr old car
rear balljoint replaced.
rear door panel came offline
constant creaking from interior
door lining adjusted
side mirror would turn on its on, replaced
door handle malfuntioned, replaced
now, it doesnt always unlock, lock with the keyfob
one computer didnt work or shorted, causing the car to stall out, once while turning onto a hwy (lots of fun huh?)

I don't care what people say, this car is definitely not as reliable as its jap counterparts. ya, it probably handles better then a lexus...but is that everything?
my 18 yr old prelude starts and is more reliable then the 'black widow' (neighbour named it that, as he saw all the probs it had and left me stranded a number of times)
I dont care if wear and tear things break over time, thats expected. but these problems, for the most part, are engineering flaws. And i do expect more from a premium luxury car.
currently looking at trading in for an is350...

[rtd328]

Sounds like a few people get some very bad cars, but the rest seem to be OK. Reliability issues are nothing new to BMW, but I agree that some of you guys have had terrible luck.

As for the noisy lifters, are you guys getting heads replaced because it is an annoying noise, or because it will cause damage to something? I'm new to the e90, and have heard of these problems, but I'm not very informed so far.

[Tony P]

3 1/2 years - no problems.

[Frank ZZR]

328 for 3 1/2 years now. Never been back for ANY warranty work. Just 3 oil changes.

[spitpilot]

I bought a new 535I in 89 (MSRP in 89 $'s was $45K or so!)...and mechanical stuff was bulletproof....but the soft parts (anything made of plastic or rubber..were crap!)....door panels delaminated, headliner debonded, radiator tanks cracked 'n leaked, exhaust rusted out at 70K miles..($800 new muffler cost at dealer) all this on a car that was garaged..cared for extremely well etc...so I said...BS...went to BMW dealer when ready for next new car...of course they said.."We have better quality now..buy another!"...I looked at 5 year old BMW's ..still same kinda probs..bought VW Passat for 1/2 price...no issues with interior or other soft parts..but it had problems too (kept both cars for 10 years)....got super deal on crisis sale of BMW...so here's hopin they have better quality now...if not..at least I can say I didn't pay $40K for the car!

[txvette]

Cars today just have too many computerized parts on them today. A car is really
a harsh environment, heat, weather, vibrations. My new 2010 has an issue of
rolling down the windows, opening the roof and loosing all its memory. Why
have not clue. We don't need all the features, most are toys to use every now
and then but cost out the wazoo if not in warranty.

[mryakan]

We don't need all the features, most are toys to use every now
and then but cost out the wazoo if not in warranty.
Unfortunately, the "we" your refer to here is a minority of the consumers these days. Fact is that most people are looking for "toys" and gadgets in cars more than they are looking for driving feature (responsiveness, dynamic behavior, etc). This is why manufacturers keep adding these features to cars. It is unfortunately an irreversible trend. Long gone are the days of purist cars. Even car manufacturers that used to be more purist in their designs are stuffing cars with gadgets nowadays (e.g. Porsche, Ferrari).

[mryakan]

Sounds par for the course to me:

I had to resort to contacting the President of BMW to finally fix the annoying noise at the back of my BMW. This was after taking my car to the BMW dealership four times over a two-year period to try fix the noise - which they never did.

I am convinced that this noise in the back of car is widespread among BMW 3-series cars (E90). I have now heard it in four different 3-series BMWs and I was told by a BMW representative that they have had other people complain about the same issue. I have a formal BMW Field Report with pictures explaining what was causing this noise and how technicians should fix it.

Ever since taking possession of my 2009 328i BMW (E90) there has been an annoying intermittent clicking or ticking noise that seemed to be coming from the rear window area, near the top of the seat, or where the rear window meets the rear parcel shelf. I finally complained to the CEO of BMW in Germany, Norbert Reithofer, BMW Canada President Franz Jung, and BMW Canada Director of Aftersales, Stephan Kuester. BMW head office assigned an expert technician who identified the problem and fixed it.

It was necessary to get BMW head office involved since their dealer service was a nightmare - apparently incompetent, rude, patronizing and they didn't seem to care less about putting the time and effort into resolving the problem. Their typical M.O. was to claim they couldn't hear the noise, even though on a couple occasions I was in the car with them when they heard the noise. This seems to be the Modus Operandi at BMW when they cannot or do not want to resolve a noise - just deny hearing it. On two occasion when I went to pick up my car they said they didn't have time to have a proper look at it because they had too many cars to service and they ran out of time...even though I had scheduled a service 2 weeks in advance.

I was so furious at one point that I called the owner of the BMW dealership to discuss it with him. He sort of chuckled when I told him about the extremely poor service and rude BMW service representatives and manager. He said that noises are incredibly difficult to resolve and it was a waste of time to try more than once. He never apologized and his manager actually said that if I am not satisfied I should probably get my car serviced elsewhere. Unbelievable.

If you have the same problem please let me know.
You can download the BMW Field Report at this link: http://complaint.pro/bLaCBB (http://complaint.pro/bLaCBB)

Did you try a different dealership before calling up the president?

[mryakan]

Hi mryakan - no I didn't. The problem is that in my area there are only 2 BMW dealerships and they are owned by the same group. They also own a 3rd one somewhere else. The other BMW dealers are at least 45 minutes drive or more depending on traffic and weather. When I bought the BMW there is no way I would have agreed to travel this distance just for a service.

By the way - nice new car
Unfortunately, for certain issues, some dealers are not as capable as others. In your case, it may have been worth it to do the drive at least for once. In any case, it seems your issue was resolved.
I will also note that these kind of problems are generally hard to diagnose. I had a small creaking noise in my previous car which I could clearly hear, but no one else at the dealer could. However they did some lubing of the area where the noise was from and that solved it for the most part. Different people have different sensitivity to noise and they are not necessarily lying to you when they say they cannot hear it.

[RonNSoCal]

This not hearing noises reminds me of my friends experience with his corvette. He complained that there was a loss of performance and he wanted it remedied. Of course, the Chevy service rep claimed the car was operating just fine. So my friend invited the service rep to hop in and he would show him what the problem was. After going for a short ride, the service rep, who nearly peed his pants, claimed the car was never meant to be driven like this! My friend just looked him in the eye and told him there would be no reason to buy a corvette if the owners were not planning to drive it in such a manner.

[pissedcustomer]

Hi Ronnsocal - not sure I understand what you mean. Perhaps I'm just a bit slow today.

[RonNSoCal]

What part do you not get? Corvettes are designed as performance cars, and to some owners are to be driven as such. My friend, who is a very good driver, knows how to drive a corvette close to the limits and chooses to do so on occasion. When he took the rep for a drive he demonstrated, in his mind, at least, that the car was not performing adequately. Instead of pulling strongly to the redline, as it had done in the past, it no longer was able to do so.

The service rep did not see a problem with the car but with the driver. Obviously, the owners expectations and the services reps insistence that the car had no problem were inconsistent. In my mind, I see a parallel to a BMW owner who feels an expensive luxury car should not make inappropriate noises, and the dealer refuses to acknowledge there is a problem because they do not want to fix it. Obviously the Chevy dealer would have preferred to not fix my friends corvette, and used the same argument that there was nothing wrong with the car, which was BS.

[anova]

What part do you not get? Corvettes are designed as performance cars, and to some owners are to be driven as such. My friend, who is a very good driver, knows how to drive a corvette close to the limits and chooses to do so on occasion. When he took the rep for a drive he demonstrated, in his mind, at least, that the car was not performing adequately. Instead of pulling strongly to the redline, as it had done in the past, it no longer was able to do so.

The service rep did not see a problem with the car but with the driver. Obviously, the owners expectations and the services reps insistence that the car had no problem were inconsistent. In my mind, I see a parallel to a BMW owner who feels an expensive luxury car should not make inappropriate noises, and the dealer refuses to acknowledge there is a problem because they do not want to fix it. Obviously the Chevy dealer would have preferred to not fix my friends corvette, and used the same argument that there was nothing wrong with the car, which was BS.


i completely agree with you. It seems bmw, along with some forum users, believe we should just deal with the fact that there are issues with these cars. I was always told to stay away from german made cars and stick to the jap counterparts but i took chance and bought an e90...it's now a love hate relationship. I love the car some days, but really wonder if i would have been better off with a more reliable (yet more boring) jap car. The responsible side of me sides with the latter