pickler

first off I don't hate my BMW. it's a nice car and it's deadly fast and great in corners. everytime I have friends as passengers they really enjoy the fun drive. I baby this thing and don't drive it in winter unless it's sunny dry day. however issues with the car since day one have changed my opinion of the car. this is not my first German car but it's the first one that I intended to keep long term. so when I leased it I paid 15k down with mentality of buying it out at end of lease.

last winter there was an issue with the fuel pump and I had to leave the car at dealer for a month. it was changed under warranty. then few weeks later my sound system started crackling specially with USB iPod connection. the dealer claimed it was my iPhones/cable fault but I proved them wrong by using sisters iPhone and cable. car was at dealer for a whole week got fixed for free. then my tire monitor pressure system went, had to be fixed. finally today I took it for a drive to see fireworks and I was stuck in heavy traffic...all of a sudden bad burning smell filled the car and engine coolant temp increased forcing me to turn off car. I can't take car to dealer tomo cause they are closed but I'm guessing it's gonna take another month to fix this. the car is spending 90% of it's time in the garage or thr auto shop. I think I should have bought a v6 TSX. I saw a lowered one on the road today with aero kit and it looked really good. if I had a tsx I could have driven it more and saved a lot of money. I know it's no 135 but its still powerful in straightline and looks better.

Costco

speedemon90

sucks to hear man, sometimes its just bad luck that you picked up the car that will always have problems.

dallison

Lemon law since it was at the dealer for more than 30 days?

PsychDoc

As a current owner of an '09 TL which has been 100% trouble free from the day I got it (now has 30,000 miles on it), it's stories like this that scare the hell out of me and make me rethink whether I really want any German car.

pttl

Do you think you got a bad example? What are the reports on the BMW boards?

Can you Lemon the car? 30 days in the shop for the same thing, etc...

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

Wow, that's messed up.

VQPower37

sux man ... i would hate to have my new car at the dealer all the time for repairs, i would probably lose all faith in the car

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

sorry to hear man

15k down for a leased car....?

black label

Putting 15K down on the lease does nothing to lower your residual. That just lowers your payment, your residual value (buy out price) is a percentage of MSRP, it does not change regardless of how much you put down. The only thing that lowers your residual is a lease with more miles factored in.

Your buyout at the end of the lease will be the same as it would have been if you put nothing down.

Sarlacc

Well, not everyone chooses to live life like a sopping wet vagina like you do either.

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

if you had the intention of buying it out, you should have just financed it...good thing it is a lease tho, then you can return it as soon as you can...

did i miss something here?

Street Spirit

The constant problems sound frustrating, but the individual issues themselves don't sound all the complicated ---- what would be more upsetting is that it's taking the dealer between 1-4 weeks to fix what should be relatively quick repairs!

Have you been taking it to the same dealer for all of these issues? Perhaps try another dealer to see if they have a (much!) faster turn-around time. ?

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

My 04 TL seems to have a solid amount of things I have to fix constantly...but 1st year production car, it's over 7 years old, what can you do. Plus, being modded, doesn't help my cause.

Like in a relationship with a woman (or a sopping wet va*ina), it's a love hate thing that keeps it interesting.

PsychDoc

What a class act.

Reported.

007Acura

See how it is by the end of the lease and make a decision if you want to keep it or trade it in and start over.

It also won't hurt to write a letter to BMW NA expressing your concerns.

dallison

The duct tape over his mouth does nothing for his fingers.

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

ignorant

CocheseUGA

Dude needs to stop trolling.

Sarlacc

WILLDOGS

Oh Boy Sarlacc, You are in trouble now. Run for the hills.

PsychDoc

RRIt's ignorant to want a car that actually works?

akertulis

well first off man who puts 15k down for a lease and second why did you lease if you intend to buy your wasting money

black label

Sometimes it is cheaper to lease and buy out in the end if the money factor on the lease is extremely low and there are no subsidized finance rates. It would also give you option to bail out on the car after 3 years if it didn't make sense to keep it at that point (if it had been in a big accident, had lots of issues, or just no longer fit your needs 3 years down the road).

I highly doubt this is the case here, people who find the loopholes to save themselves money don't typically go and do something silly like put 15K down on a lease thinking it will lower the residual.

03tLsNBP

iTrader: (9)

yikes 15k down...

KillerG

Thats why you buy a dodge instead.

Reliability issues = living life on the edge

Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

SuperTrooper169

iTrader: (2)

What a weird situation. I've never heard of someone putting $15k down on a lease and I've never heard of so many problems so early on in a car's life. I'd check out the lemon law as well. You might be able to recover your losses.

bigman

This is not bad luck. I have multiple customers with X5/6 M's, 1/335's, Turbo 5/7's, that have nothing but issues like the ones the OP is posting about. Bad turbo's, fuel injectors, fuel pumps, and coolant issues are just some of the problems BMW is having with their turbo motors.

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

I know 335 owners that have had their cars for well over two years and they've had nothing wrong with them. I also know one that has had his car in the shop for a fair amount of time. Some cars are good, some are bad, depends on a lot on how they're driven. Just because a manufacturer typically is a 'reliable' car manufacturer, doesn't make the car reliable. Depends on the owner, maintenance, etc. Not saying that the OP abused the car, but to expect a car to be perfectly reliable for all types of driving conditions, maintenance, etc. is, IMO, unrealistic.

Carraway

That's rough. Like Street Spirit, I'm wondering why it takes so long for the problems to be fixed. Did they say they needed to order parts? That they had a backlog of work, particularly with the fuel pump recall? Speaking of which, the fuel pump issues on the 135 and 335 have gotten a lot of attention, so I'm surprised it took the dealer so long to fix the problem. I believe the iPod connectivity issues are fairly well known, as well.

I'd be particularly worried about any issue where the engine coolant got that hot. Make sure they do a thorough inspection when deciding what needs fixed.

As for the V6 TSX, have you driven one of the current generation? I think driving enthusiasts will much prefer the first generation, even with the smaller engine. Now that I mention it, I think enthusiasts will prefer a lot of cars over the current TSX.

neuronbob

I can only say that all manufacturers make lemons.

Sorry to hear of the OP's experience.

black label

There is another fishy issue with this story. I don't know for sure because I never worked for BMW or BMW financial services but with all the companies I have worked with you are capped at 20% of MSRP as a cap cost reduction (technical term for lease down payment).

Is the MSRP of a 135 $60,000 plus in and does anyone know where BMW caps you on the down payment?

loulinjai

BMW's are a risk. There are some that run trouble free for over 100k miles, and some that are a headache since day one. That being said, I LOVE BMW's, I think the N20, N54/55 are amazing motors, but it's issues like the ones you are facing that keeps me from owning one.

You never know if the one you get is a reliable one or piece of garbage. I hope you get it fixed soon, and try to get your lease extended for loss of use (add on number of days in the shop to your lease)

Sarlacc

At least I had the balls to dive in knowing their past.

18 months and still loving it.

Pete2010

15k is pretty risky on a lease. I haven't leased in a long time, but if you were to total the car, they just end the lease (which means you lose your 15k).

Anyone know how that works?

Sucks to hear about the BMW, I say go the lemon law route if you can.

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

I would buy a Challenger or Charger today, if I had the money. Maybe I should whore myself out.

renedcruz

iTrader: (8)

This thread makes my head hurt!

KillerG

the mark of a true man.

pttl

What models are left? The 328 and 528? Isn't BMW moving to a predominantly smaller, turbo motor line up?
I guess soon, they won't have a single car in their line up that will work.

Are you a service tech at a BMW dealership?