[Leonard1905]

Is BMW abondoning long-term ownership model? I just got off the phone with BMW customer service to confirm my conclusions, and before that I had a long discussion with dealer technical stuff. It appears that BMW now changes software on both, cars and at dealer service centers, so often, that car purchased in 2008 (in my case 535XI) will be 2-3 (!) releases behind if computer diagnostics is needed 2 years after the purchase. Normally all car diagnostics is computer based. Our car can potentially have number of engine or pump/injector problems. So dealer will have to install new software to diagnose it, which will mean charging a lot for it, since it is not part of warranty package, at least not after 50,000 miles. Imagine Microsoft charging you for every Windows update! BMW effectively does this. In my case we have 52,000 miles and now feel that we should have sold the car earlier, instead of expecting it to perform at least until 100,000 miles mark, in line with Japanese or American cars. This is lesson learned, and I wanted to share it with others. There might be no point in keeping new BMW-s as we used to do 5-10-20 years ago, when BMW car was reliable enough to last many years and become a true family car. BMW of today, as some dealers will honestly admit to you is a good short-term car, mainly rental, and not techically viable in-house car it used to be. In my view of new car owner, high potential maintenance is what makes BMW not a good choice for long-term buyer, compare to VW or Lexus. I hope BMW will come up with replacement models with less software complexity and more pure authentic mechanics, which used to be the selling point in the past for their cars. Otherwise it may follow the path of Mercedes Benz which became known as "less reliable luxury car" and is now mainly a flashy rental option for housewives vs quality choice for performance seeking drivers.

 

[alkaline]

stealerships trying to get more cash the old fashion way

 

[edwardtt10022]

What you are referring to is not a flaw but a highly effective marketing decision. In the last century, extended life expectancy required high quality materials which increased cost and required high volume sales to flourish; high volume sales required aggressive pricing to lead the herd through the dealership’s front door. Things have changed a bit and consumers are indulging in (and vastly satisfied with) gorgeous looking machines stamped with royal badges, sporty suspensions, aggressive forced induction engines and highly sophisticated on-bored technology. Now the badges might be mythical, the motors could be faulty and the software algorithms are often buggy - all by design if I may add – but who cares since this is mainly a rental-driven market share (read lease). :tsk:

You seem to be the only one having such illusory complain as these things are selling like ice cream in a hot day. (I wonder why my fingers picked ice cream... Because it sells well or melts fast?! )

Sarcasm aside: I feel your pain.

 

[ard]

Interesting post OP.

I've been thinking a bit about this in recent weeks, having just had a warranty repair that took FIVE programming attempts with new FSC codes to finally get it to work.

All I can say is that I suspect that the software configurations will mature and stabilize over time. Additionally, BMW has a legal requirement to make service information available to non-BMW dealerships.... so there will be indys with these tools. And then there will be chinese copies from ebay too!

But I do agree that BMW seems to have determined that their "customer" is the first buyer, who owns the car for 4.1 years...and that is really all they care about.

A

 

[UncleJ]

You nailed it! I got my first clue when I started seeing ads about how "recycleable" BMW's were! I don't want a "recycleable" car, I want a car that will last at least 10 years and still be running strong when I sell it to someone as an airport beater. I haven't seen any Porsche ads touting how "recycleable" their 911's are.:rofl:

 

[Calibound525i]

All of this just further increases the "disposable society" mentality. :bawling:

 

[enigma]

But I do agree that BMW seems to have determined that their "customer" is the first buyer, who owns the car for 4.1 years...and that is really all they care about.

A

Agree with this statement.

Just the fact that their standard "free" service plan isn't nearly enough to promote long, trouble-free ownership, supports our speculation about BMW's view of their customer base.

The only thing that I would add is the CPO buyer on top of the first buyer.

 

[UncleJ]

Yet another reason to unload your BMW before it gets to the magic "100K mile mark" when the resale drops off a cliff and you get "back of low book" for any trade in.

 

[ProRail]

Yet another reason to unload your BMW before it gets to the magic "100K mile mark" when the resale drops off a cliff and you get "back of low book" for any trade in.

Better yet, buy it for half-price as a CPO and drive it for another 10-12 years and 100K miles.

 

[Munich77]

To make things even worse, I don't think that BMW even updates the software during the warranty period until absolutely necessary. I have had several software updates on my 535xi due to HPFP replacements. If I had not had them, I am certain that my software would still be the original one installed at the factory.

 

[steve330ischnel]

this is why i stick with my e46, later on i might move to an m3 e46 but no newer cars