cakennedy

Well, in a few months anyway. I placed an order today for an '01 BMW 330ci, for February-end delivery. After that, it's so long, TL...

My TL problems have worsened. The nav system shat itself this weekend, and my major door pillar rattle is back, after its fourth time in to be fixed. I'm completely resigned now and I'm no longer actively fighting the problems, just looking forward to the day when I can get rid of this lemon.

But don't worry, I'm not going to become like that guy "99TLto00BMW"...anybody remember him?

PS - If anyone in Phoenix wants to race, just for fun, let me know...

Guest

The BMW 330i is a real nice car. I'm sure you will enjoy it. I'd be temped to buy one myself if I wasn't tired of German cars (and I am not crazy about rear wheel drive in a snowy climate).

But, as an owner of German cars (Audi's) for the last 12 years, I can tell you that they have problems too. And when there is a problem it is usually expensive. I've had rattles and wind noise too. I've had the ignition lock wear out. I've had a cracked intake manifold on a new car (fixed under waranty, but WTF?). I've been stranded and couln't start the car because of an engine sensor. I've had multiple head gasket oil leaks. My A4 was turning into lemon so I decided to get a TL. So far I love it.

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2001 TL wo Nav
Laguna green

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">[This message has been edited by subspace on 11-10-2000 @ ]</font>

hunter001

From the Frying pan into the FIRE If you are jumping to the Beemer for a sportier driving environment then it is fine....but for more reliability ?!!! Also, are you buying or leasing....I hope to God that you are leasing the Beemer....

Rice1304

BMW's reliability is not that bad. It is more refined than the TL as well. I'd rather have a 330 than a TL any day. Good luck with the new car!

BostonTL

Good choice , especially if you live in LA or Phoenix ?? is it ? When it's come to snowing it's no longer a nice car to drive. I'd buy 330 too if I live there , had a 99 540 before here in Boston , but just no place to floor the gas and no good weather to support the bad weather.

I agree with subspace and rice , BMW is more reliable ? hmm....it really depends on how you drive the car , I wasted my clutch once when trapped in the snow for 2 hrs, and my car was just one week old , almost had to fix it for 1 grand , luckily i managed to find a reason why it's not my fault ... , and it was replaced by warranty. About soundproofing , Beemer rattles too , i never found out the source seemed to come up from the door/sunroof rubbers. TL is not second in this matter.

Oh one more thing , if you're planning to get the NAV for 330, BMW nav system sucks like shit! I just found it out when I test drived the TL. It took you 3 minutes to calculate a 10 mil route , and another 3 minutes if it has to recalculate. One thing that really pissed me off is when I tried to find my home , I placed BROOKLINE , and guess what ? NOT FOUND ! WTF ??? THIS IS BMW NAV SYSTEM I GOT HERE! And also it's not touch screen , i don't know if it's fixed for 2001 model , but they still use CD-ROM which makes it slower to calculate. So don't bother with the nav , if it still shitty.

Have fun with your new ride , i recommend the sport package, i think it's a must have.



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2000 Nighthawk Black Pearl TL
Mugen Front Grille
Mugen Front Half Spoiler
Factory Kit coming up

ghost31711

bmw tends to have more small problems, like light bolb poping frequently, usally elctronic stuff when it comes to bimmers

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Bad ass TL...but...
Cant afford Mods.....

stevenyi

Yeah have fun with the BMW. and that powerful under 200-hp engine. The BMW trust me will have a lot of problems as well. And it will cost you a whole lot of money to fix those problems.

MafiosoTL

The BMW 330ci was one of my choices also. how much did you end up paying? Fully loaded I think its only like 47.

Atomix

Why don't you import a 330d

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"Now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb." --Dark Helmet

www.distributed.net

cakennedy

The Europeans are crazy about diesel! That's all I saw when I went to France about a month ago. Mafioso, I ended up about $10k less than 47k, with premium package, Harmon Kardon stereo, and Xenon headlights.

MafiosoTL

You only paid 37k???? WOW!!

Shoofin

BMW's are known to having electric problems.. Usually the first thing to go crazy is in the dashboard, the orange display for the odometer, and temperature controls... I don't know exactly what it is, LCD maybe, but on my father's 740il, that was the first thing to go crazy, and the dozen other friends of mine with BMW's.. parts of the display disappear and reappear...usually when tha car is running for a while they come back, who knows why it is this way, and after BMW having this problem for such a long time, yet they still never did anything to improve it, not to my knowledge anyways...
Good luck with the car!
Ed
P.S. I'd say ditch the 330 and go M3! BADA$$!

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'99 TL Satin Silver/Ebony, Non/Nav, Comptech lowered, Comptech Air Filter Element, Inspire Tails

Pics of my TL
Pics of my Miata! Wadya think?

BostonTL

How much off the MSRP was that ? 10K ??


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2000 Nighthawk Black Pearl TL
Mugen Front Grille
Mugen Front Half Spoiler
Factory Kit coming up

cakennedy

Thanks for the support(?!), guys. Under 200hp? Wrong model. The 330ci makes 225, just like the TL, but does 0-60 in about 6 seconds, and quarter-mile in the mid 14s. Sport package is standard on the coupe. Didn't go with the nav system because of the problems I've had with Acura's nav, and because I can get a GPS module for my Handspring for under $250.

I'm aware that BMWs aren't typically the most reliable vehicles, but E46 quality is way up from the previous generation. At this point, nothing could be worse than my POS TL. I think the moral is, there are problems with all cars, so drive what makes you happy. For me, that's the BMW.

Red Hot TL

nice choice bud, you'll enjoy it.

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2000 Red Hot TL w/o nav
Burlwood Trim and Shift Knob
Wood Trim Set
Gutter Guard Grill
Photos Of My RED HOT TL
I DONT'T HAVE A LIFE

Red Hot TL

and that's a great price...
damn, 37???

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2000 Red Hot TL w/o nav
Burlwood Trim and Shift Knob
Wood Trim Set
Gutter Guard Grill
Photos Of My RED HOT TL
I DONT'T HAVE A LIFE

cakennedy

Well, $38k actually. It's a little more than $1000 off MSRP, which I was happy to get, because these things are pretty hot. I would seriously consider an M3, because if you go by sticker price it's only about $8000 more than the 330ci. But the dealership I ordered my 330ci through said they were taking M3 orders for September 2002.

Base price is less than $35k, but that doesn't include leather, moonroof, CD player, heated seats, and several other things that I have buy as options. Still not too bad, though, as it's the closest you can get to an M3, and is actually faster than the E36 M3.

SLVR TL

I have so many friends with bimmers that have so many electronical problems, whether it is 3-, 5- or 7-series. A friend of mine recently bought a 528 with sport package. While he was driving on one of the busiest fwys in LA, his car decided to shut off the engine suddenly. He said that right before the engine shut itself off, all the lights on the dashboard were flashing like crazy. I'd say that's scary.

Bimmers... when will they realize they need to fix their electronical problems! That was one of the major reasons why I chose Acura TL over BMW 328ci (When I was in the market for a new car, 330ci wasn't out yet. That'd have pissed me off big time if I had bought a 328ci, only to find out that 330ci came out a month later.)

Anyway, I hope the one you get will be not too bad on ya. Good luck.

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Y2K silver TL
Factory style full body kit + spoiler, 38% window tint

cakennedy

For the Handspring, right now you can attach it to an external Garmin GPS receiver and use GPioltS software. There's a dedicated Handspring module currently in development from GeoDiscovery.

After my experience with the TL, I'm pretty sure that BMW will be better in terms of quality. It would be very difficult to be any worse.

malibu1

Has the Nav and the rattles been the only problems in your car. Are they not fixed under ytour factory warranty? Could you be more specific on your problems.

mentl

I can't remember the name of the site, but it's that site where you have to pay for cost of ownership data.. anyway, I grabbed the data on my Acura TL and the 2000 323i. I don't remember the exact numbers, but the cost of maintenance for the BMW was over three times that of the TL's...

I doubt that most bimmer owners list "reliability" as one of their priorities when making their buying decision.

FWIW I like BMW's. A lot. But I can't see myself ever owning one.

Oh and for GPS systems for Handspring... I owned one for about 48 minutes. Man, those things are not even in the same ballpark as the TL nav. If you want details, email me.


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2000 Navi TL White Diamond Pearl
(they're magically delicious)

Red Hot TL

the 330ci is faster than an E36 M3???
WTF?

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2000 Red Hot TL w/o nav
Burlwood Trim and Shift Knob
Wood Trim Set
Gutter Guard Grill
Photos Of My RED HOT TL
I DONT'T HAVE A LIFE

black2000

Cakennedy,

Who makes this? Can you refer me to their website? Thanks!

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David

Black-on-Black non-NAV 2000

Guest

cakennedy,

Like others have already said-- don't think you're gonna have a reliable car by getting a BMW. Take it from me, Acura is among the top when it comes to problem-free cars. My BMW is fun to drive, but is nowhere near as trouble-free as my Acura.

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'01 CL Type-S Navi
'99 M3

Guest

I don't know who told you that lie! My M3 will piss all over a 330Ci. Trust me, there's no comparison when you're talking accleration.



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'01 CL Type-S Navi
'99 M3

cakennedy

I'd seen it several places; obviously I haven't tested it myself. My apologies if I offended anyone. See ya later.

tlnav99

What happened to your NAV sytem? Did you master the different regions on the hard drive or on a pcmcia that was not Acura.

Hope you have great luck with the new BMW.