When I had to it was outstanding. We were driving from Sussex to Luton Airport and at 3am in the morning a deer ran into the front of our car and the bonnet (pedestrian protection system) fired into the air to protect the deer but now the car was damaged and I could only drive with caution. I called them and they said to meet them at the airport - at 5 am they were where they said they would be to meet us - I removed the kids and luggage and caught my flight, they took my car to a nearby dealer to start the repair process. On return to Luton a week later they had a limo waiting for us to take us home (car still in repair). I was very impressed. They also paid for my travel to collect the car after repairs.
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Thanks both - hopefully I won’t need to use it but interesting to hear of the differing experiences!
I’m sure it really helped make your mind up
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I had Assist on my last BMW and used it a couple of times. They were excellent
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Spoken to a few mates of mine who have BMWs and all have found BMWs to be reliable. 
Below are some stats obtained from a couple of online sources, some of which are surprising to me (such as Chevrolet). Some differences make sense if you take into account that many car makers have local manufacturing operations hence not all oranges are picked from the same tree.
In fact, some designs such as suspension differs depending on location / market and parts may be sourced from local suppliers based on parts availability for service over time. Appreciate sharing information you know. Thanks.
Based in these ranking, BMW is at least on par with the majority of Japanese car makes in terms of reliability. 
From best to worst:
UK America
Lexus 1 1
Toyota 3 3
Chevrolet - 4
Honda 8 18
BMW 9 7
Mazda 9 21
Subaru 12 14
Ford 18 17
Mercedes 26 13
Land Rover 31 30
Sources:
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I’ve owned a dozen or so BMWs and had a good experience with all of them. Periodic maintenance is key. Esp the boxers, they just go and go. Most of my bikes were GS air and oil heads. I was bored with the hex heads then they came out with the liquid cooled that got me back on them with a 12R. Then they did the 1250 with the improved cam and wow. The electronics are top notch and integrate well with my offroadish riding style. Love it. HP 1250.
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Wow, another asymmetrical headlight BMW, as much a shower as it is a grower. Amazing both on and off road, luxury and performance in one.
I wish they weren’t so ugly. I still prefer the looks of the old school rounds. But I’ll take function over form in this case.
I don’t take many pictures from the front. lol
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@ElMarko, rubbish, it is a beautiful machine and many don’t get to look at the front but only its back. 
Looks good. At least they can’t fit a massive front grille 
Our previous car was an X3 BMW. Started making knocking noises when pulling away. We took it to France on holiday and the front axle broke whilst taking a slow corner. Cue gendarmes rolling up and having to explain the situation in my pigeon French! Luckily our insurance cover got us home via a taxi to the ferry in Cean and a hire car from Portsmouth. They even got the car transported back to the UK, and straight to a local garage for scrap value! Now driving Vauxhall Zafira.
Really interesting.
I’ve owned:
1 Toyota
4 Honda’s
4 BMW’s
None of the Japanese cars ever gave me any problems in many years of ownership.
Every BMW has had a range of issues except my current i3. Radiators, suspension, roof leaks, build problems. They’ve been lovely and I don’t regret owning but I wouldn’t have kept any past the warranty.
However I’m keeping the faith with the i3 as I love it and want to convert it eventually . Either that or recycle the battery for home/solar use.
I reckon the massive discrepancies between the countries have to do with where they are made. In America, there is USD $750m settlement for Hyundai and Kia engine fire. No such thing reported in Australia and reliability of both are considered high. Guess Australia is close to Asian countries hence some Hondas and Hyundais are made in Japan and Korea respectively, not locally.
I’ve not long purchased a Kia so will be interesting to see how it gets on.
Although I should add that my own anecdotal evidence isn’t likely to be that representative. It’ll definitely shape my future purchasing decisions but UK wide, I’m not so sure.
BMW never seem that high on UK reports though.
I love to gain some insights why reliability of Honda, Mazda and Mercedes differ so markedly between UK and US. Is it because of:
- Poor service support?
- Where vehicles are made?
- Different tuning / configuration?
- Different range of models being sold in each country?
- Certain lemon models in one country not for sale in another?
- Road condition, driving habit?
- Climate difference?
- Better quality goods are sent to some countries while others get lesser quality?
All of the above
It’s puzzling but I would imagine that country of manufacture has some effect. You’d hope that production standards were identical but as an engineer myself, know this isn’t always the case.
I’m in no way suggesting that the UK is at the top as I really don’t know.
It is claimed some engines manufactured in the US develop metal shavings over time which build up and block oil passage in the engine resulting in fire. There is no report of the same issue from engines built in Korea.
Oh dear. I have the 99bhp 1.0 litre 3 cylinder in mine. A proper powerhouse
I can’t imagine there’s enough metal in there to come off but fingers crossed.
So far so good but have only covered 4k miles.
