How is your BMW reliability experience?

I had 2 of them, 325i and 540i, about 20 and 25 years back. I would never buy another BMW.
I can’t believe I bought the second one. I guess I was just being lazy at the time.

I loved that as (nerdy engineer, sorry) and the engine more. Well, as much as you can live a diesel.

Aside from a BMW straight six, I think Honda produced the best diesel engine ever for its refinement and almost petrol like performance.

I’m a big fan of Honda though. Great company and loved all of mine.

Haha, I have done that too. And sorry not doing it thrice.

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Our X5 diesel was a bit of a lemon. Nice to drive, and a high-quality feel, but it let down my wife so often that she didn’t trust it any more and we traded it for a Toyota.

More manly/ imposing.
Cultural thing. But the market it’s the biggest in the world ( and fast growing).
So, (ind)irectly they make the trend

Honda produces the best engines. Petrol or diesel. Period.
We all can argue that ( the brand) it’s soulless…
But it’s a romantic argument.
The Japanese when do a thing, do it right .
Historically they learn with the best ( I.e.: triumphs/ Norton’s/ BSA’s) and then they kill them afterwards . ( with improved engineering)

And on topic: I love the BMWs ( motorcycle) boxers

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Loved my 320i SE Individual, which I had from 2004 to 2013. It was a petrol 6 cylinder, smooth as butter and almost enough oomph when required. 325 would have been better but hey-ho! However, rear springs kept breaking and no end of “black. Box” problems.

I wrote it off in a nasty accident aquaplaning on the M1. 50 mph into the central barriers and the front end exploded into hundreds of parts, just as it should do. The suspension was left 50 yds behind us on the carriageway. Airbags went off as they should. Mrs. G suffered bruises, and I got broken ribs. But the main point here, is I could never ask for a better/safer car to have an accident in.

image !

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These days I drive a Vauxhall van, mainly to carry the mountain bikes in, and as a place to sleep on more remote adventures. Very reliable in the 5 years I’ve had it, but I would not want to have a serious collision in it.

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Even for their asymmetrical lights!

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I stopped driving BMWs because the lack of enough reliability made cost of ownership too high. It was fine when we leased and got rid of the car after three years, but now we buy, keeping cars past the warranty period. That puts BMW out of consideration. Now my wife drives a Subaru Forester and I drive a Outback 3.6R. They have been great to use and much more reliable.

I doubt I will return to BMW unless I get a windfall and buy a M2 for fun.

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This must be good news for Rolls Royce!

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I’d tend to agree. I’ve had 4 Honda’s and they’ve been brilliant. They also make the best manual gearboxes too, which are a dream to use.

The ZF auto in my old BMW was rather good but when you have a Honda gearbox an auto is virtually redundant IME. All personal though.

If I could live with the looks I’d quite like a Type R for the driving experience.

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I don’t have enough sample population to say this objectively. But my old Honda was manual and it was so painful to let go. I still miss it.

Please tell me these two series 1’s don’t make you think the second one is bitting its lips. :stuck_out_tongue:

The first one is sooooo happy it has dimples. But shame it wears a hitler moustache. :smiley:

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This is so much better. This is a driving machine. Handle with care!

Me neither to be honest, although I’ve driven a lot of hire cars for work. Therefore my experience isn’t exhaustive but I’ve driven samples from most mainstream manufacturers.

My feeling is that most don’t give gearbox feel much thought at all, which is a shame as it makes so much difference to the driving experience.

Toyota and Mazda come close but there’s nothing like a short throw Honda box.

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Haha yes. A face only a mother could love :joy:

Eveybody know this is a BMW. A much better statement than big kidney grille.

Hi,

First BMW was a 318d. I got hit by a lorry and crashed into a barrier at 70mph. Car written off with £22k of damage but I walked away unscathed. Car was less than 6 months old.

Then another 318d. No issues for 2 years

Then a 320d. Good for 180k miles with no issues

Then a 330i. Nice car to drive. Fault with air conditioning and rip off dealer. Took a letter to the whole of their exec board in the uk to get it resolved.

Now an X3 20d. Nice to drive but I think it will be my last diesel.

Here’s a photo of the front end. Rear looks similar.

The car did its job to crumble and kept you from harm. :+1:

Whilst heavier, larger cars are not so good on fuel. In the event of an accident, the relative inertia means it would probably come out better than smaller lighter cars regardless of what all these safety standards - euro ncap/ancap/iihs/etc say.