Anyone here drive a BMW 325i?

[BillM]

I'm waiting for my airbag to explode and send shrapnel into my face, or the wiring for my blower motor to catch fire and burn the car to the ground

Unless then, I enjoy every km I drive, lol.

[Old Ironmaker]

3 hours ago, leaf4 said:

I worked at Budds in Hamilton for 3 years and most issues arise with all the high end models with all the bells and whistles, a phrase often heard was it's the best and worst car I've ever owned ?

The smart thing to do is lease if you can afford to or able to write off

I knew a few Budd's employees over the years. All retired now probably. I won't lease for what I am looking for until my wife semi retires. With her commute the daily driver would exceed the allotted K's. If we were to buy it out that is a possibility to lease a  BMW's or other new or slightly used car.  Prices like they advertise in the US I might be all over it. I would need to have my lawyer look at a lease, there can be a myriad of hidden costs in a lease today. Interesting actually. I never considered a lease for the everyday driver since I sold my share of the business. Thanks leaf.

[boombap]

Love my cheap foxbody.. wicked summer cruiser. RWD, V8.. cheap to maintain.. dirt cheap insurance. Whats not to love? Just add oil!

Edited February 12, 2018 by boombap

[Old Ironmaker]

5 hours ago, boombap said:

Love my cheap foxbody.. wicked summer cruiser. RWD, V8.. cheap to maintain.. dirt cheap insurance. Whats not to love? Just add oil!

What's a "foxbody" boom?

 

[Raf]

it's a 79-93 mustang .

[Acountdeleted]

16 hours ago, BillM said:

I'm waiting for my airbag to explode and send shrapnel into my face, or the wiring for my blower motor to catch fire and burn the car to the ground

Unless then, I enjoy every km I drive, lol.

Are you worried your BMW is going to turn on you because you started using the turn signal? Is that why most BMW drivers don't use theirs? (I kid I kid)

[BillM]

11 minutes ago, jerpears1 said:

Are you worried your BMW is going to turn on you because you started using the turn signal? Is that why most BMW drivers don't use theirs? (I kid I kid)

This is another thing that's always in the back of my mind, the car doesn't like it and tries to resist.

[chris.brock]

I've got a big family and on the inlaws side there's a huge group of overly proud Germans who only buy Mercedes, BMW, VW etc. At family functions and stuff, I don't say anything, but I sit back and listen to their car stories. 

I'm just giggling under my breath when I hear all the causally told horror stories. There's one guy who's Toureg has been in the shop for more than half it's life, 12 years old, over 6 years idle in the shop, not exaggerating, what did that vehicle cost? probably twice as much as your house?

german engineering, das auto

 

[Jmeyer]

I had a Audi a4 years ago, great little ride 4cylinder turbo vw motor. I loved the fact it was all stainless steel and aluminum , good on gas and had decent power. Then I bought a vw passat used again like the a4.. just like Chris Brock mentioned it too lived in the shop, 3 motors a tranny and other little annoyances. Now I'm back in north America, just have trucks, dodge and Ford. I'm happy 

[chris.brock]

At work they phased out our old fork lifts and went with German ones that cost about $120 k each for a pretty basic machine. It's good, keeps our mechanics employed because these things are in and out of the shop weekly, and there's the mystical, intermittent problems that even God himself couldn't solve or fix.

[dave524]

Drove the crap out of a '68 Beetle and  '76 VW Rabbit, last year they were carbureted, in my youth, didn't do a lot of maintenance either. Something to be said for low tech for reliability.

[BillM]

11 hours ago, chris.brock said:

I've got a big family and on the inlaws side there's a huge group of overly proud Germans who only buy Mercedes, BMW, VW etc. At family functions and stuff, I don't say anything, but I sit back and listen to their car stories. 

I'm just giggling under my breath when I hear all the causally told horror stories. There's one guy who's Toureg has been in the shop for more than half it's life, 12 years old, over 6 years idle in the shop, not exaggerating, what did that vehicle cost? probably twice as much as your house?

german engineering, das auto

 

Crazy.  I've put over a million kms on both a 99.5 Jetta and a '05 Jetta wagon.   Both diesel.    99.5 has 610,000kms on it before I parked it and the wagon had 530,000 kms on it before it was parted and I bought my current vehicle.   Nothing more then brakes, oil and your other regular maintenance items.  I didn't even change the clutch in either car.   If you aren't willing to get your hands dirty, a german car probably isn't for you, lol.

[chris.brock]

For sure, any brand can be a good car or a total lemon. A buddy had a new F 150 that was never right, he had to dump it because it was like it was cursed.

I blew connecting rod on my Jetta Diesel with less than 200k km on it and that was it for me.

An extended family member recently bought a used A6 and it looks like it's going to compete with the Toureg for repairs, lol.

[BillM]

My buddy just got a brand new F150 and in the cold none of the door handles work, lol!!   Gotta love it.   

[chris.brock]

 

Those extended family members all buy Miele appliances too, at any given time, one of them is always buggered, lol, I find comical

[dave524]

Lemons are not a new thing, buddy bought a new Ford 150 back in the late 70's, it was using oil, he took it back to the dealer, they said some Bull that it is common during break in to use some oil, getting no satisfaction he took to an independent garage who tore it down and found one of the cylinders had no rings , called the Ford service manager and had him get there pronto 

 

[Dutch01]

I guess I'm in the minority, I've had three BMW's and they were all great. Not to say they were trouble free, but they were great cars.

I had a '77 320i, no power steering or brakes, four speed manual trans. It didn't have a lot of power but it drove like a go-cart.

Next was a 1981 528i (yes "i", not the junky  "e"). It didn't used to like to start after a snap freeze, but other than that it was awesome. It looked great and also handed like a go-cart. On a twisty road I could run with my buddies 5.0 even though I had nowhere near the power. It was tight.

More recently I leased and then bought out a 2009 323i. It was a "stripper", only two options, heated seats and sunroof. I had to get it shipped from the factory in Germany to get standard! I would have liked more power but it was not in the budget and the manual trans made it fun if not fast. With good snow tires it was truly amazing in winter. It never broke down or had anything fail in six years. In the end I traded it for a truck to tow a boat, but I still love my BMW's.

Edited February 13, 2018 by Dutch01

[Tom S]

2 hours ago, dave524 said:

Drove the crap out of a '68 Beetle and  '76 VW Rabbit, last year they were carbureted, in my youth, didn't do a lot of maintenance either. Something to be said for low tech for reliability.

Yep. I am worried that in the coming years you'll see more and more cars that should have lots of life left in them scrapped because of electronics issues. Especially because manufacturers love to do things like change computer boards between models to add in more features. And since so many models come standard with more and more advanced electronic bells and whistles it's going to get worse and worse. It's like we're going backwards. 

[Headhunter]

VW stories... a buddy of mine in high school had a girl friend who's mom bought a Beetle in either the late 60's or early 70's. It was brand new. Fast forward a few years and she mentions that the car is not running right and could he have a look.

So he asks her a few questions regarding how she maintains the vehicle. Things like oil changes etc... this was in the late 70's.

Come to find that in the entire time she owned the car, she never once changed the oil! She ended up at a shop and when the mechanic checked the oil, it was pure sludge. Mechanic refused to change the oil saying that doing so would completely bugger up all the seals as the only thing keeping them tight, was the sludge.

She drove it until it died a year later. Never did get an oil change.

HH

[Old Ironmaker]

1 hour ago, Dutch01 said:

 

More recently I leased and then bought out a 323i. It was a "stripper", only two options, heated seats and sunroof. I had to get it shipped from the factory in Germany to get standard! I would have liked more power but it was not in the budget and the manual trans made it fun if not fast. With good snow tires it was truly amazing in winter. It never broke down or had anything fail in six years. In the end I traded it for a truck to tow a boat, but I still love my BMW's.

I went t Italy in 88' and I had a cousin who was a professional student that drove a new 3 series, it too was a stripped down version of the same car imported into North America. No A/C, crank windows and zero carpeting. It would be 1/2 the price as a North American BMW 3 series then. I don't drive imports or NA sports sedans because of the status thing, I want to drive my car not have it drive me. For many it's to get from A to B. We spend many days behind the wheel of a vehicle when you look at how many thousands of K's we put on them. I don't like wasting my life as a passenger behind the wheel if I can help it.

[Old Ironmaker]

1 hour ago, Tom S said:

Yep. I am worried that in the coming years you'll see more and more cars that should have lots of life left in them scrapped because of electronics issues. Especially because manufacturers love to do things like change computer boards between models to add in more features. And since so many models come standard with more and more advanced electronic bells and whistles it's going to get worse and worse. It's like we're going backwards. 

It is happening already Tom. About 8 years ago I drove a 03' Chrysler Intrepid into the Hagersville scrap yard with 300,000 kms. The car didn't have a scratch on it and shone like new. It would have been the 3rd Transmission communication computer module that fried in as many years. At $1100.00 a pop. I couldn't give the car away. That's a depreciation loss of about $24000.00 in 5 short years. I only took the rubber floor mats. I forgot the battery was buried behind a cross member, the washer tank had to be pulled and then the fender cover removed before you even see a battery. 24 grand my friends is a lot of BMW service and repairs.

Pay back is a beeoch. I think I got 3 answers to the original question. Pay back for all the threads I have hi-jacked here. I am on a few other forums that as soon as you hi-jack a thread the post is deleted and a PM from a mod is sent, that's no fun.

Edited February 13, 2018 by Old Ironmaker

[grimsbylander]

3 hours ago, Headhunter said:

VW stories... a buddy of mine in high school had a girl friend who's mom bought a Beetle in either the late 60's or early 70's. It was brand new. Fast forward a few years and she mentions that the car is not running right and could he have a look.

So he asks her a few questions regarding how she maintains the vehicle. Things like oil changes etc... this was in the late 70's.

Come to find that in the entire time she owned the car, she never once changed the oil! She ended up at a shop and when the mechanic checked the oil, it was pure sludge. Mechanic refused to change the oil saying that doing so would completely bugger up all the seals as the only thing keeping them tight, was the sludge.

She drove it until it died a year later. Never did get an oil change.

HH

My friends wife called him at work one day to ask why there was a little tea pot lit up on the dash.

[DRIFTER_016]

Found you a deal if you're willing to have it shipped.

 

[Canuck]

When I got rid of the X5, my wife convinced me to drive her "old" 2009 Acura MDX and she bought a new Acura RDX.  I decided to do that, and drive the MDX for a while till I decide what I want.  Well, I am sorta getting used to not having a car break down, lights go on and things fall off.  Acura's and Honda just seem to work.  Normal maintenance items (at less than 1/2 the cost of BMW) only.  We both like SUVs for bit more ride height.

By the way, the BMW and Benz snobs at work will tell me that their cars are great, but they seem to be coming in late after dropping their cars off an awful lot.  (typing this I remember another BMW story.  I have hundreds.  For about two years, the rear seat floors would be soaking wet in the winter.  I mentioned it every time I went in (which was a lot).  They told me I should kick the snow off my feet before getting in the car.  I said, how does that explain the passenger rear seat?  Anyway went on for at least 2 winters.  So I googled wet carpets in rear of BMW X5.  Turns out there was a known problem and the dealers would fix it if you complained.  Get this.... the rear doors fill up with water and the design of the door is that they glue an inner liner of thin plastic over the inside of the door before installing the interior.  Their glue failed and they new it. So when I went in the next time I told them I had googled the problem, and they needed to fix it.  And they did.  It took 2 years to get that fixed.  I have many more.  I have four inches of service invoices that I keep.

Anyway, I just may go for another MDX this time around.  The expression "runs like a Honda" is not an urban myth.

Edited February 20, 2018 by Canuck

[DRIFTER_016]

1 hour ago, Canuck said:

When I got rid of the X5, my wife convinced me to drive her "old" 2009 Acura MDX and she bought a new Acura RDX.  I decided to do that, and drive the MDX for a while till I decide what I want.  Well, I am sorta getting used to not having a car break down, lights go on and things fall off.  Acura's and Honda just seem to work.  Normal maintenance items (at less than 1/2 the cost of BMW) only.  We both like SUVs for bit more ride height.

By the way, the BMW and Benz snobs at work will tell me that their cars are great, but they seem to be coming in late after dropping their cars off an awful lot.  (typing this I remember another BMW story.  I have hundreds.  For about two years, the rear seat floors would be soaking wet in the winter.  I mentioned it every time I went in (which was a lot).  They told me I should kick the snow off my feet before getting in the car.  I said, how does that explain the passenger rear seat?  Anyway went on for at least 2 winters.  So I googled wet carpets in rear of BMW X5.  Turns out there was a known problem and the dealers would fix it if you complained.  Get this.... the rear doors fill up with water and the design of the door is that they glue an inner liner of thin plastic over the inside of the door before installing the interior.  Their glue failed and they new it. So when I went in the next time I told them I had googled the problem, and they needed to fix it.  And they did.  It took 2 years to get that fixed.  I have many more.  I have four inches of service invoices that I keep.

Anyway, I just may go for another MDX this time around.  The expression "runs like a Honda" is not an urban myth.

Not your moms soccer mobile either.