[JamesAC83]

maybe its me, but a window regulator, battery, water pump(do the other models share the electric pump), starter, and an o2 sensor don't strike me as all that bad in a 6 year old car.. I mean yea, sucks it happened, but other than the regulator and starter I don't really see anything that suprises me. What I am curious about is the amount of the miles on the car at the time of the last problem.

[paddy335]

Originally Posted by 7daysaweek

In the last two years:
Two window regulators
Valve cover gasket
Oil filter housing gasket
Oil pan gasket
Broken suspension bushing
Bad rear wheel bearing
Water pump
Emergency brake issue
I'm sure there's a few I'm forgetting...

Currently:
Steering angle sensor
Random seatbelt and airbag lights
Windshield washer fluid pump

I did some of the work and paid to have some done to the tune of roughly $5k.

I love driving the car but I have a feeling I won't have it much longer. As fun as it is unfortunately its getting near the point that it won't be worth it anymore.

It really sucks.

Yeh that REALLY sucks. I would hate that car by now and it would be gone.

[J38]

Originally Posted by JamesAC83

maybe its me, but a window regulator, battery, water pump(do the other models share the electric pump), starter, and an o2 sensor don't strike me as all that bad in a 6 year old car.. I mean yea, sucks it happened, but other than the regulator and starter I don't really see anything that suprises me. What I am curious about is the amount of the miles on the car at the time of the last problem.

Its not just you.

It doesn't sound like much of a horror story to me. Just a car needing things.

[bmw325i]

Originally Posted by J38

Its not just you.

It doesn't sound like much of a horror story to me. Just a car needing things.

I agree. A few people have actually sunk some money into it but most of these things are just something you'd expect. The only reason anybody's complaining is because of the price for parts and to have the work done, but that's just something you have to live with if you want to drive a BMW. Like for example having a water pump replaced on a BMW would be about $700-over $1000. On a Honda it would probably only cost like $50-$100. So far I've either been really lucky or my 325i is a very reliable car.

[NGEE]

I recently had to replace ALL FOUR tires. At once.

[_Sinister_]

A lot of it depends on who is doing the work in repairing the problems. I will never take my 335i to the BMW dealership here since they Fd up my buddies E46 nothing but horror stories from him. Plus if a dealership cant put a door on the right way, what else are they mistakenly installing. Best advice: Find a reputable mechanic or start becoming your own I trust my own hands and sleep better knowing that any parts that needed to be replaced got put on the right way.

[kevin711]

Originally Posted by JamesAC83

maybe its me, but a window regulator, battery, water pump(do the other models share the electric pump), starter, and an o2 sensor don't strike me as all that bad in a 6 year old car.. I mean yea, sucks it happened, but other than the regulator and starter I don't really see anything that suprises me. What I am curious about is the amount of the miles on the car at the time of the last problem.

Agree, hardly a nightmare.

My "reliable Japanese" Subaru went through more than this in 9 months and when it was driving ok, it still drove like a tin can on wheels.

[smallseafishie]

Drive unreliable beaters that are in need of constant upkeep and repairs all your life and you'll think your 07 335i is bulletproof like I do.

[_Sinister_]

luck of the draw some cars are made differently than others.

[J38]

Originally Posted by _Sinister_

A lot of it depends on who is doing the work in repairing the problems. I will never take my 335i to the BMW dealership here since they Fd up my buddies E46 nothing but horror stories from him. Plus if a dealership cant put a door on the right way, what else are they mistakenly installing. Best advice: Find a reputable mechanic or start becoming your own I trust my own hands and sleep better knowing that any parts that needed to be replaced got put on the right way.

This.

Originally Posted by edrive90

I recently had to replace ALL FOUR tires. At once.

I know what you mean. I had the front two showing cords, and the rear two were thin, I went ahead and replaced all four (baller!!!!!!!!!!1111one111), and kept the rear two. It's a good thing... I bought another BMW and lo and behold, it needed two rear tires. Talk about dodging a meteor of expense! I hate to think of the impact to my household, nay, my friends and family, nay, everyone I will ever meet in the future!

[Miller335]

You can help offset miles keeping repair costs down by driving a lessor car like an older honda.

Thats what I do.
After driving my honda for a few days and getting into my 335 on a nice friday makes me grin ear to ear the entire work day.

[NorthernCAE90]

All dependent on mileage but if under 80k miles (which most of the stories are) water pump failing and a starter is prematurely dying. I would consider that Regular Maintenance at or around 130-140k. But then again everyone says bmw motors are there own thing.......

Also bushings on the control arms go out insanely early!!!!! Im at 54k and I need to replace the front control arms which is insane at this mileage, but its a VERY common thing I guess.

[N54B30A]

Why would you take your car to the dealership if you're not under warranty and if your dad has a shop? All the problems you're experiencing are small and inexpensive as long as you can install basic parts yourself. I understand that not everyone has the time, money, and knowhow to do these jobs but don't complain when a shop or stealer ship charges you an arm and a leg. All of the issues you're experiencing are easily repaired in a garage, take it from the guy who swapped turbos on nothing but jack stands with basic tools

[MetsFan]

I hear you. I'm at 65k miles and just had to have the water pump, thermostat, and belt tensioner replaced for close to $1,700. Back in May, I spent about $3k in new tires, oil change, brakes, brake fluid flush, and alignment. Granted, $1k of that was in new wheels. It's definitely been an expensive year.

[Eddien123]

Originally Posted by sahyoun

Why would you take your car to the dealership if you're not under warranty and if your dad has a shop? All the problems you're experiencing are small and inexpensive as long as you can install basic parts yourself. I understand that not everyone has the time, money, and knowhow to do these jobs but don't complain when a shop or stealer ship charges you an arm and a leg. All of the issues you're experiencing are easily repaired in a garage, take it from the guy who swapped turbos on nothing but jack stands with basic tools

Well 1 the shop isn't for cars it's for huge tractor trailers and they're all diesel mechanics. Also he has a business to run he can't give up a lift for my car when no one knows how to work on BMW's. Also if you get bmw to do your work they will warranty that work. The pump wasn't inexpensive at all. My dads cts has a $80 pump and my brothers e46 has a $125 pump. This damn electric bullshit is $500 and will most likely fail again.

[///M3NACE]

Its unfortunate but all bmws will run into those problems. I really wish they didn't and were built like Japanese cars. This is why I got an extended warranty and paid for itself already and I have two years left on it. I had issues as well adaptive headlights, 3 coil packs, tensioner pulley, 3 door actuators , thermostat and thats what I can think of as of right now. I have 61k on my car. Tensioner and thermostat were done because I had the car in for the actuators and found those things wrong but never threw a code. I hope my water pump my starter give out soon!! lol

[alexwhittemore]

I'm on board with most of you here that I've had to have a totally silly dollar value of warranty work done but don't really care. In my case, it's been:

-both tail lights
-drivers seat cover
-front and rear windshield gaskets
-battery cable recall
-headlight misalignment
-cracked drivers door seal
-both keys replaced
-wiper blade holder broke
-maintenance.

The dealerships claim somewhere around $3k worth of stuff done under warranty. That said, fully half that cost was covered free maintenance (I mean, oil changes, brakes, etc -non warranty items), so eh, how can I complain?

Mostly it doesn't bother me because most of these things I only bothered with because BMW would do them for free. One of the tail lights had an internal cosmetic issue. One of them legitimately broke and would have cost me $200 or so in parts to fix. The seat cover wore on the side - I expected it to last longer, but also not a critical item to replace. The front windshield gasket, fair. The rear was just falling off because I guess they use crappy adhesive. It's mostly cosmetic anyway, and as a DIY, it's just a matter of finding the proper caulk. Battery cable was a recall, so I'll ignore that. Headlight misalignment was due to carelessness replacing the bulb (service records show the previous owner had had it replaced). The driver's door seal was cracked because you tend to rub it every time you get in. I try to avoid that behavior now. One of the key fobs had actually broken, but I'm sure the fix would have been as simple as finding an appropriate replacement battery on Mouser and cracking the case open. Granted, that is only easy for me because I'm professionally trained for it. The other key only required replacement because the SA handling it was an idiot and sent back to BMW my one functional key instead of the broken one. Wiper blade holder broke, but the blade holder is part of the OEM replacement item anyway.

In general, I'm not worried because I'm technical and have a full suite of diagnostic and mechanical tools. If I weren't willing to do most of the work myself, though, it might be a different story.

[JamesAC83]

Originally Posted by Eddien123

Well 1 the shop isn't for cars it's for huge tractor trailers and they're all diesel mechanics. Also he has a business to run he can't give up a lift for my car when no one knows how to work on BMW's. Also if you get bmw to do your work they will warranty that work. The pump wasn't inexpensive at all. My dads cts has a $80 pump and my brothers e46 has a $125 pump. This damn electric bullshit is $500 and will most likely fail again.

first off, water pumps fail. And when you consider the electric pump does at times still continue to work after the car is shut off, its really not a massive suprise that they go out early. The cost sucks, but the install work is incredibly simple.

[gds52]

Originally Posted by Dark_Knight_335

If you think a 2007 328 is a horror story...try a 335 buddy

[gds52]

A used car always have some kind of issues, minor or big. You never know how your car was driven and maintained by previous owner.
Sorry about your car's problems. I had to spend some money on my car as well.
You have to keep in your mind that you ll need to spend more money on this car as compared to Honda, no matter what.

I can understand your frustration about getting stuck somewhere.
I'm more of a proactive guy, I got my car's battery changed when it started showing some weakness.
Next, I plan to change the water pump/t-stat at around 80k miles because I like to take my car on long road trips and don't want to wait for the water pump to fail.

[_Sinister_]

Originally Posted by sahyoun

Why would you take your car to the dealership if you're not under warranty and if your dad has a shop? All the problems you're experiencing are small and inexpensive as long as you can install basic parts yourself. I understand that not everyone has the time, money, and knowhow to do these jobs but don't complain when a shop or stealer ship charges you an arm and a leg. All of the issues you're experiencing are easily repaired in a garage, take it from the guy who swapped turbos on nothing but jack stands with basic tools

AMEN BROTHA

[Miller335]

You guys realize that the water pumps on other cars get replaced every 60K-90K when the timing belt is replaced?

I bought an 01 Tahoe 5.3 in 04 and soon after the "lifetime" water pump had to be replaced and they are not cheap.

Lots of future Honda/Toyota owners in this thread.