Consumer Reports = Black ring of death

[glmccready]

I have owned a 740il for 14 years. During all that time it has been the most reliable and fun car I have ever owned.

My wife and I shopping for new car settled on the 535i x-drive.
Then i did what i always do: checked Consumer Reports.
Their verdict: predicted reliabilty = worse = the black ring of death!

I find this disturbing, and is really putting me off buying one. Are you all having alot of problems with your 5's???

Thanks
Gary in Salisbury,MD

[yokoseiki]

First time my wife drove it to work she got a "transmission failure." She restarted the car and everything has been normal for the last 2000 miles.

[wildvan]

I have seen were the 535 have some hesitation problem, my 550 had to get a reprogram done and now has had no problems in 5000 miles. I used to hold a lot in what consumers said, but no longer. I would look more at the real auto people and see what they are saying and compare those to similar models. I heard that CR also did not like Mercedes, guess the Germans have forgotten how to engineer cars...lol yea right. I am very satisfied with my 550

[chris609]

13 months now with my '11 535 x-drive and at 14k kms no issues at all. I wouldn't take consumer reports too seriously, so far I bought/ leased cars that they didn't think much of (MB, BMW, Volvo) and been very happy (and trouble free) with all of them.

[meteck]

When I first got the car the auto program for the seats didn't work. They reprogrammed it and I haven't been back since. :redspot

[glmccready]

Thank for your input folks!

Well it is not really Consumer Reports that rates the cars. It is the people who fill out the survey and send them in. Then they are compared to other cars and rated. There must be alot of unhappy owners, or ones with lots of problems to get into the black circle category.
Meteck: I have a stock 97 740il too! 68,000 miles...

[ajherran]

Consumer reports is referring to the E60 whose inline 6, both tubocharged and normally aspirated had many fuel pump problems.

[meteck]

Thank for your input folks!

Well it is not really Consumer Reports that rates the cars. It is the people who fill out the survey and send them in. Then they are compared to other cars and rated. There must be alot of unhappy owners, or ones with lots of problems to get into the black circle category.
Meteck: I have a stock 97 740il too! 68,000 miles...

Awesome! And it's the unhappy ones who comment which makes it statistically invalid. :eyecrazy

[glmccready]

ajherran: have they fixed the fuel pump problem do you think?

[ajherran]

ajherran: have they fixed the fuel pump problem do you think?I don't really know. I traded my E60 for an F10 after numerous high pressure fuel pump issues.

[535F10]

I have owned a 740il for 14 years. During all that time it has been the most reliable and fun car I have ever owned.

My wife and I shopping for new car settled on the 535i x-drive.
Then i did what i always do: checked Consumer Reports.
Their verdict: predicted reliabilty = worse = the black ring of death!

I find this disturbing, and is really putting me off buying one. Are you all having alot of problems with your 5's???

Thanks
Gary in Salisbury,MD

After almost a year of 535iX ownership, I have only one complaint - failed tires. Do not get a 535iX with 19" tires! I also have the dynamic suspension and I'm not sure where the problem lies. I average about one tire failure per 800 miles. Many others with the same vehicle setup have similar experiences. Other than that, it has been (so far) a reliable vehicle for 8000 miles.

[wildvan]

what is happening to make you go through the tires? Are you wearing them out, puncture or potholes? That is an incredible number..

[glmccready]

I'm not planning on getting the Sports suspension. All I can say is WOW on the 19" tires. Very strange.

[535F10]

what is happening to make you go through the tires? Are you wearing them out, puncture or potholes? That is an incredible number..

This is a common problem with F10s configured with 19" tires. I have experienced sidewall ruptures, but mostly bubbles in the sidewalls. These failures have occurred after hitting minor potholes and road irregularities. They seem to occur mostly in the Northeast where the roads are less than perfect, but still do not warrant the failure rate which according to tire and BMW dealers is much higher than expected with low profile tires. A sampling of the problems can be found at:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=518954
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=584010&highlight=
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=584916&highlight=

There are many more threads. Well over 1200 posts, 100 tire failures and 60 individuals. It's a frustrating mess for a lot of people. Although failures occur mostly in the NE part of the US, it's not clear whether it is because X-drives are more prevalent here, the roads are poorer or both. Many blame it on the Goodyear LS2 tires which are the only 19" all-season RFT tires that are available in the F10 size. Even a long term report from Autoweek (http://www.autoweek.com/article/20111021/CARREVIEWS/111029979) reported an unprecedented number of tire failures in Michigan on their 2011 550iX.

[wildvan]

Goodyears are the main issue as reported by many of the same threads, with some further research you can find were there are some problems with the michelins, but the problems go way down, other forums have talked about the GY tires having the same problem. I am sure michelins will have a failure at times as does most all run flats, and a good pothole will take out any tire and has, I lived in upstate NY and had to replace non run flats and rims due to potholes.

[yokoseiki]

The problem with the 19's is the potholes and the weight of the car. Part of the reason a lot of BMW dealers try and sell you that wheel / tire protection plan if you live in a colder climate.

The 535 is my wifes car and she's a very conservative driver so I couldn't imagine her having an issue and actually prefer her car have run flats on it.

[trakcar]

Only 3 months and 2500 miles, hamered it from day one. No issue.
My car came with 19" Michelin run flats. Replaced them with better Michelin Supersports, saving the runflats for lease return :-)

[wildvan]

I have seen many that change them out. Mine is not a lease, so am looking at letting the michelins wear out and put a regular set on. I am not to concerned here as the roads are fairly good still.

[acepilot]

So happy that I did note get the 19" tires. When I was test driving two identical cars, I was very close to buying the sport package but it didn't
have the winter package. So I picked family over fun and got the 18" instead. But still keeping my fingers crossed...

Ace

[42Pilot]

I have the the 19in Michelins with 7000 miles on them now. Personally, I'm not a fan of the run flat feature, but these are great tires - no side wall flex that I can tell, they're quiet, extremely smooth, very grippy and responsive (for OEM tires), excellent anti-hydro feel and no clod-tire flat spotting. I really need to get the car lowered and corner balanced to be able say too much more about their performance.

Guess I got the good set......

One more thing - the 19's look great with this car - not too big or too small - a perfect fit.

[trakcar]

A little update.

I too had the Michelin run flats. The new Michelin super sport improved the car in all measures. A must IMHO.
Last week I took it tp Pbir while instructing so i left my track car home and I took the bmw for 5 laps before the brakes gave out. Pbir is a brake killer and very few cars last more then 3 laps with all stock brakes.

I tried manual flappy paddling but with 8 gears who knows what gear to be in within a couple of laps so it left it in auto and it held gears nicely.

Anyway, a was very impressed how the car drove. Not much feeling, not much sound but it really handles beautiful in the sport + mode.

The car stayed cool, no limp mode no drama. 4000 miles. All good.

Plan on dynoing it Saturday just for fun to see what the chip tuning actually does

[INLIKEBIM]

I've seen those posts regarding tire failuers, but was hoping that maybe this issue had been resolved. My car has 1600 miles on it, running on 19" GY rft's, and I just noticed a bulge in the right front tire. I was able to get 4 years of wheel and tire protection from the dealership because my buying experience was so bad, I took it out on them by making them throw in the protection plan, winter floor mats, and a battery tender, as I travel a good bit for business. It will go in for replacement when I get back from my current trip.

A question for those of you who replaced the rft's with regular tires, what are you doing in case of a flat? I drive a good bit in and around New York City, and I thought the run flats were a good idea, despite the pothole issues we suffer up here in the Northeast.

BTW, I ordered my car with the M sport package, and the sport transmission, and I have experienced no problems with jerky start off from stop, or funny vibrations at any speed. I left NY on this business trip before it really got cold, so I'll see when I get back about the way the car starts and runs while it's cold.