Vet Interested

madrob2020

I think 95% of us can apologize for Joe. Really not picking on just you Joe, but there's a touch too much of this kinda stuff lately. Many others have posted here with same results. For John McCain, one of the very few GOOD ones

The HACK

I had my old trusty E46 323Ci for 5+ years and almost 120,000 miles, all it needed was a "window regulator" service for $200. Most of the oil changes were covered by the dealership and even using full synthetic, the parts cost me about $40 every 6 months. Outside of that, NOTHING broke that I didn't actually break it myself. My mechanic, whom I've become a good friend with, one of his jr mechanics bought the car when it was in an accident that damaged the frame. He fixed it up, drove for 6 more years and at 180,xxx miles some lady hit him coming out of a driveway. The whole time the car needed nothing but steady oil changes and maintenance (water pump, belt tensioner, etc).

My E30 318is that I bought second hand, ran forever. I bought it with 175,xxx miles on it, ran it and ran it and ran it...At 265,xxx miles, the gear in the odometer finally broke, so it stopped registering miles. At ~370,xxx miles (I don't know the exact number because it had stopped counting) I sold the car for $500 to a friend's ex-husband, they converted it into a Lemon's race car and ran it and came in top 10 in a field of 50 (some stupid Lemons rule knocked them back 3 spots though). Then they built it out for NASA Spec E30 and raced it for 3 more years, when the transmission broke and caught fire and the car was finally scrapped. During the whole time I owned it, it needed a new clutch (when I bought it it had factory OE clutch) and a new O2 sensor. Sure, it needed SOME work, nothing I couldn't take care of myself, and it's a freakin hoot to drive on the street and on track, and all the while returned, on average, about 32-35 mpg.

My Z4 M Coupe is now 12 years old, have been to COUNTLESS track days. So far in 12 year's of ownership, I had to replace the MAF sensor. Other than normal wear and tear items (brakes, tires, wipers, bushings) it has only been to my mechanic twice for valve adjustment (solid lifters. Needs valve adjustment every 20,000 miles or so). Price to pay for such a high strung engine that revs to 8,000 RPM I guess.

My first BMW, a 1997 Z3 1.9L (yes, Golden Eye/James Bond sold me. I thought if I drive a car like 007 I'd get chicks like 007), had visited dealership total of ZERO times except for oil change. I had a Z4 3.0 with a mechanical automated clutch (Sequential Sports Gear), had to visit the dealership ONCE when the car wouldn't shift out of neutral. They replaced the SSG controller. Other than that, absolutely trouble free.

The ONE BMW that has given me grief? A 2004 545i. 4 liter V8, gem of an engine, most comfortable BMW, actually, CAR, I've ever owned. But NOTHING BUT TROUBLE. Every year it was about $2,000-4,000 in repairs post warranty. Sensors. leaky gasket. Battery (only takes BMW battery, and has to be "coded" to the car. Insane). Alternator. Starter. HUD. You name it, it broke. I joke with the Missus that all our good luck with the other BMWs, the 545i paid us back in kind and then some. It wasn't just that the parts are expensive. It was that they're insanely expensive to FIX because of the 2 banks of cylinder in V formation with double over head cams. So cam position sensor out? $800 to tear the head apart to fix. Leaky VANOS unit? Well, if you're going to replace one side, you might as well replace BOTH. Battery dead? $500 for a BMW battery, $100 to code it. $100 to install because it's buried under a ton of inaccessible trunk trim. Rough shifting automatic transmission? $2,000. Alternator? $2,400 (parts alone was $600) because you have to remove about 1/2 of the front end to get to it.

And this is with me doing SOME of the maintenance myself. The problem with the BMW V8? It's got so many sensors in so many subsystems tied into the same bus, that you have to have a special BMW equipment to read out which sensor is actually dead, or which component is actually dead, Otherwise you go in and tear through half the car to replace what you think is broken, only to find out it's something else that you need to replace.

Case in point. The alternator. I had no idea that you can't just put ANY old battery in the car. When at the 5 year mark, just out of warranty, the battery goes dead. Great. Go to a local AutoZone and bought one that fits. I've been doing that for decades. About 18 months in, car throws a bunch of error codes on dash, wouldn't start. I'm like, no way the battery is already dead? Replaced battery, wouldn't hold a charge. WTF? Gave up and took it to my mechanic. That's when I found out that you have to have a special BMW battery. You can't just buy any old Interstate, because there's a chip inside the battery to tell the alternator how much to charge the battery. REALLY? Yeah, Really. So the car has to be registered to a new BMW battery, because if the chip inside the battery isn't communicating with the alternator, it forces the alternator to either overcharge or undercharge the battery. And that's why, for a simple, dead battery, I'm now out almost $3,000 to replace the battery, alternator, and BOHICA from my mechanic.

By the way, my mechanic and I were friends long before I bought the 545i. And we're friends not because he works on my car. In fact, he RARELY works on my car. We're friends because we're both track rats. And he's just a really cool guy. But yeah. I used to joke with him that my BMW 545i basically paid for his race car.

Mark Lipschitz

[QUOTE=The HACK;1597887614]
My first BMW, has to be registered to a new BMW battery, because if the chip inside the battery isn't communicating with the alternator, it forces the alternator to either overcharge or undercharge the battery. And that's why, for a simple, dead battery, I'm now out almost $3,000 to replace the battery, alternator, and BOHICA from my mechanic. /QUOTE] Tell your mechanic you can use an Auto zone battery in a BMW if he uses an app called Carly and their Bluetooth obd adapter. It is the car that needs to have the new battery registered. It can do many other things as well.

cumbercr

Aside from A8 transmissions and torque converters, I would say the C7 is pretty reliable. My 2015 Z51 had the torque converter replaced at 15,000. I traded it in for a 2017 Z51 and I think this transmission is far better. Shifts are smooth as silk.

Sconn

Sounds about like the complaints we hear about cars of all makes. Ford and GM included. I think Dodge has stepped up their game over the last few years, really.

JDSpeed

mschuyler

Only if you will listen to my Mercedes SL500 stories.

ta70raiii

red62vette

Off topic, but that looks like Baba-Booey

montanaman

I've been lucky I guess. Had two 911's for a few years with no issues. Had a '95 BMW 540I for 4 years no issues. Two Audi's no issues. I did have a 2001 Mercedes E class and that was not great. The problem is once they are out of warranty and things like power window motors go it can get very expensive.

As far as the domestics go it's hit or miss still it seems. Don't know anything about Dodge but Ford is having massive transmission issues with their 10 speed auto in F-150's and Mustangs. I was about to get a 2018 Mustang GT but their manual has faulty shift linkage ( shearing when shifting from 2nd to 3rd in some cases) and a host of other problems. No way am I going to spend 50k on a car with the attitude that some have that " all cars have problems and that the price you pay for a car like this" I don't think so.

Only 800 miles in on my 2017 C7 and its a phenomenal car. Hoping to have the same experience as others on this thread.

orca1946

My wife's Audi Q7 is an electrical nightmare!!!! 9 times in 6 years in the shop for thousands of $$$$ [ $7,000 at this point] of elec. major repairs.
Good thing we bought the $2,300 extended warrenty for 7 years.
The rest of the car interior and sound system is great BUT the repairs will never again be tolerated with another purchase!!
The last car that was this unreliable was my 1972 VEGA!!

ArcticWhite

15K miles is hardly a test of any car's reliability. That said, I just hit 16K miles on my C7 and no issues. My 2011 Dinan tuned 335i just hit 65K miles with absolutely no issues what so ever. My Dinan tuned 2009 335i went 75K miles before I sold it with the only issue being the injectors replaced under warranty. My C5 had a max effort 447cu done by cartek. 32K miles of regular enthusiast driving and not one issue. Regular 8K mile valve spring maintenance changes, however. Now that was the best engine I have ever driven. Even my 2012 dodge ram 1500 sport (not overly known for reliability) has 70K miles on it and just had its first problem: the typical broken exhaust manifold stud. And this is a truck that has towed a 7000lb trailer for 80% of those miles.

Internet forums can make problems seem way more frequent than they are.

Silver C7

KenHorse

Three tires?

Slynky

Vetteman Jack

Good deal that your C7 has been trouble free. Hope you get many more years of the same from the car.

sjones

No issues with my C7 Z06 but my 2016 Range Rover has seen the shop plenty of times.

The HACK

JDSpeed