Did I just luck out?

nopcbs said:

Come on guys, the Consumer Reports owner surveys show merely OK reliability (or worse) for Bimmers of late. J.D. Power shows the same thing. There was an article in Road & track a few months back about the lagging quality of German cars, especially Mercs. It focused on beyond state-of-the-art electronics that German engineers seem facinated by but can't seem to build reliably. They also quoted a report by the German AAA who surveyed their members and found poor reliability among German brands vs. Japanese, but higher prestige. (I'll take reliability over prestige any day, myself.)

There is a problem and one hopes that BMW and the other German name-plates are addressing it. As for me: 2003 330i zhp with 20,000 miles. Bought it a few months ago, so far she is going to the dealer for: paint peeling from center console trim, alcantara steering wheel cover pilling badly, driver's seat "creaks" on entry/exit. Nothing huge, I grant you, but I submit that none of this should have happened on a 1.5 year old $42,000 car.

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My sample of two would support nopcbs point. 99 MBZ, in the shop more times per month of ownership than our 98 Town and Country Minivan. Most problems were electrical related (connector on radio amp fell off, sunroof switch fail/intermittent, 3xblown bulbs, random gunshot static on radio, CD changer inop/faulty/unreliable, suspension bushings worn (not replaced), shift lever bushings worn (replaced) ). Astonishingly low quality of connectors and assembly was what I finally concluded. Oh and a Very Important looking damper pully at the front of the engine disintegrated at 30K. $1600 in covered repairs. I would not recommend a Merc based on my experience, YMMV.

Slightly disagree on the comparison between reliability vs. prestige, though; I would rather have the "BMW driving" vs. reliability; prestige is nice but if its not not backed up by results that are important to me (performance, braking, handling, roadholding, steering) I could care less about the roundel. I did buy the car expecting average reliability (compared to, say, the previous four Honda's I had before the Merc). 400K miles on them in total, and only real problem was when one of them was bitten by a horse, but that's a story for another post. :rofl:

The Bimmer (03 330i bought Sep 03) has been trouble free, so far 14,223 miles (and oil service indicator is at 0 must get appt!).

EDIT: sorry, forgot to add I also have the piling on the Alcantara steering wheel - and 90% of my driving is with gloves on (personal thing.)