The Breitling Watch Source Forums

As some of you long term members will know I'm a huge BMW fan and they're all I've owned for the last 20 years. I've had 3 Series Coupes, Saloons, Convertibles, 5 Series Saloons and 7 Series Saloons. All have been great cars and I've loved owning them. My latest is an F10 5 Series M Sport, and once again it's been superb.

However, the other day I had the unfortunate incident of hitting a dog that was off it's leash and ran out in front of my car. The poor little fella hit my offside front bumper but fortunately there was no damage caused to dog or car. However, my car has a Pedestrian Protection System on it that causes the bonnet (or hood for all you Stateside guys) to lift up around 5cm in the event of the car detecting a person in front of the car when the car is moving at speed. Apparently it cushions a pedestrian falling onto the car, and is no doubt wonderful for pedestrian safety. HOWEVER, firstly it shouldn't have deployed with something so small as a dog of that size, and secondly BMW in their "wisdom" decided to make it work along the same lines as airbags, meaning that pyrotechnics basically "explode" the bonnet hinges and two rams push the bonnet up by 5cm. This means that the whole system cannot be reset by the driver. WHAT A TRULY BRILLIANT DESIGN THAT IS! Also, no independent garage or BMW specialist near me would touch it as it's too complicated a system, so that means a trip to BMW. And BMW have advised me not to drive it as the bonnet is unsafe in this position.....

As a result, and despite there being ZERO damage to my car, it's had to be trailered away from my home, and I am looking at being without a car for several days and staring at a bill that could range from "a few hundred pounds" if it's only new hinges required, to (and I honestly kid you not) "£4,000 to £5,000 if the bonnet has been bent by the pyrotechnics". AWESOME work BMW. Really really well done - you've managed to design a car that damages itself more than the actual incident! And people wonder why insurance premiums keep going up............

Incidentally Mercedes also have a similar system on their cars, but those smart lads managed to make their system fully "user-reversible", meaning that the driver can just pop the bonnet back down and away they go. But not good old BMW though, oh no. After all, that'd mean they couldn't fleece their loyal customers for several thousand pounds.

This really could be the nail in the coffin as far as BMW goes for me. They're just getting too complicated and thus too expensive to maintain and repair.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Bad luck we share your pain. That's pretty dire by any standards and a clear example of poor design and lack of forethought. We are long term BMW owners and currently have an X3 and a Z4 both of which are great cars. However, the Z4 has LED tail lights and recently required a complete light unit at a cost of about £350 due to an indicator light failure as the bulbs cannot be replaced. It also required a new high pressure fuel pump which is conveniently situated in the fuel tank, that cost over a grand. My pension can't take hits like that so once my X3 is out of warranty it's going before the big bills start rolling in,

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Breitling B-1 1999
Breitling Chrono Superocean 2004
Casio G Shock
Citizen Eco Drive AT4000-02E (for gardening)
Seiko 5 SNZG15J1
Hamilton X Wind LE

I hear you Zak. I also had a similar light issue on my BMW. The side repeater on the wing failed so I popped off to Halfords for a replacement. Price for two "traditional" indicator repeater bulbs? £4 for two. Of course, my 5 Series uses LEDs which you can't replace other than replacing the whole unit. No option than to buy from BMW. Price? £42 for one.

The funny thing is I'm not 100% certain if it's the unit or a wiring fault, and I'm loath to spend £42 only to find it wasn't the unit after all. Somewhat amusingly BMW offered to look into it for me.....at a price of £80 for the first hour of investigation, plus the £42 for the unit...... so potentially £122 to fix a side indicator repeater.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

I’m on my 3rd 5 Series bmw, I currently have a 2014 535xdrive M sport package, bought it certified pre owned with 27,000 miles on it, at 33,000 miles got drivetrain malfunction while driving on the highway, car had no power and was bucking on the highway, pretty scary had no pickup but I managed to drive at low speed for 25 miles to the bmw near my house I pulled in dealership garage and the whole place smelled of gas from my car, needed fuel injectors and spark plugs replaced on half the engine, I wasn’t impressed at only 33,000 miles, at 52,000 miles something again but no bucking this time but no pick up at all and had about 35 mikes to get to dealer, had to replace coils, fuel injectors, spark plugs, thank god the CPO is good till 100,000 miles, picked up car and 4 days later engine light comes on, took right to dealer and now they had to replace catalytic converters. Maybe end of the road for me also with BMWs

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5 Super Avengers
1 Super Avenger 2
1 Super Avenger limited edition
1 Super avenger night mission
1 Limited edition chronomat Boston Celtics
Navitimer GMT
Transocean Chronograph Unitime
2 Omega planet ocean chronographs
1 Tag heuer Monaco

Sounds like we’re keeping the BMW service departments in business, at least for now.....

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Breitling B-1 1999
Breitling Chrono Superocean 2004
Casio G Shock
Citizen Eco Drive AT4000-02E (for gardening)
Seiko 5 SNZG15J1
Hamilton X Wind LE

I picked up my first Rolex (Explorer II Polar 216570) and my first Bimmer late last year (2014 535d MSport). I am loving both. I know the Rolex is a keeper and I hope the F10 is too. I bought CPO and warranties as I am leery of issues. The build and the tech are amazing. I can see it being difficult to switch back to other brands unless she does me wrong. Time will tell.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Blackbird Blacksteel Chronograph
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And this morning the Z4 has a coolant level light warning so darling has gone off to work in the X3........while I investigate the Z4. I'm praying its not a head gasket.

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Breitling B-1 1999
Breitling Chrono Superocean 2004
Casio G Shock
Citizen Eco Drive AT4000-02E (for gardening)
Seiko 5 SNZG15J1
Hamilton X Wind LE

That's why I keep driving my E91 330D from 2005 as long as possible...nearly 260.000k's on the clock but no issue's - touch wood!
I had my faire share of costs - Steering lock failure requiring replacement of steering column, airbag computer failure, active steering computer plus another bunch of items due to the higher mileage. Love to upgrade to a new(er) 330 or 530d but then I will be forced back to the BMW dealer while now I try to do all by myself where possible. I am sick and tired to be ripped off by BMW...just compare how much they charge for engine oil. A lot cheaper when you buy the oil yourself although its exactly the same oil!

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2002 Breitling Montbrillant Datora
1997 Sinn 903 Lemania 1873
2016 Seiko Solar X

That's why I still keep what I can fix myself.

Ah the good old E34! I had one of those myself and it was basically bulletproof.

The best one I've ever had though was a 1998 E38 740i. Built in what I consider to be one of the best eras of BMW car-building, I'd have one again if I could pick up a mint low mileage example for decent money. Super solidly built, plenty of power, loads of torque and enough gadgets to be useful but not so many as to warrant a second mortgage to fix!

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Have to make sure those early V8's have had the timing chain guides done otherwise they detonate unexpectedly. My mechanic buddy makes a living out or replacing E38 engines with used pieces which get all new timing chain guides, etc, before install.

You might like this one. It's my DD 525i w/E36 M3 engine and automatic. Dog hauler. Had it longer than any other car I've ever owned (12 years).

I've been an avid BMW owner since the 1970's when I bought my first one, an 1800ti. I've had nothing but BMW's and Volvo's (primarily for wife) since as primary transportation (a few muscle cars sprinkled in as hobby cars). Last year I decided it might be time to part with the Touring and M5 since my knees don't like getting in and out of them anymore so, I thought, might be time for something else. Now I hate SUVs as they're just not something I thought I would enjoy driving but they're definitely easier to get in for the old knees. I worked at the local BMW dealership for close to 13 years before retiring in 09 (they still give me an employee discount for service and parts). So, I thought I'd look for a pre-loved X3 or X5 as a possible addition to my BMW family (I kept the two E34's). After multiple trips and many hours of scanning online ads for possible purchases, I came to the conclusion that people beat them to death and most lack proper care and maintenance. Not to mention that most of them had airbag recalls courtesy of Tanaka. While looking at another ragged out X5 on a used car lot one day I spotted something else that caught my eye and ended up driving it home. First time in over 30 years I bought main transportation that wasn't a BMW or Volvo.



I've been very happy with the vehicle, love the 350hp V8, and no air ride to worry about, build quality as good or better than the same age X5. I didn't need, or want, the trailer hitch and made an appointment with the local dealer to get it removed. I showed up as scheduled and the service writer says "they did tell you that's going to be $450 to take that off right?" (Three hours labor quote) I thought here we go again trying to rip off a newbie. I declined, took the vehicle home, broke out my hand tools, removed the trailer hitch, cleaned up, and went back to the dealer. Took me slightly over an hour to remove and get back to the dealer. Told them if I can do it being 67 years old why does it take their 23 year old tech three hours? The look on their faces was priceless. Now they know I'm not a rube so they don't try that again.

Oh where too start.

The only BMW I've ever owned was a 645ci. Only 17,000 miles on the clock, bought from a BMW dealership.

Stupidly good looking vehicle. but it was stationary way more than on the move.

I'd be happily cruising at just below the speed limit on the M25.... Yes really. The radio would suddenly turn off, then the iDrive display went blank, then the car decided to go into idle, and turn off the power steering.

I had the car in and out of BMW Seven times. Once for 10 weeks. I got it back, and 3... THREE miles on the road and it failed again. Exactly the same fault, and they tried to charge me for recovery..... My words were kind, but in my mind they were less... Well you know.

Never EVER will I buy a BMW again.

The only positive was it looked good stationary.



Davey.

reminds me of my spooked 735 in the early 1990s ..... my last BMW after many

I had the car in and out of BMW Seven times. Once for 10 weeks. I got it back, and 3... THREE miles on the road and it failed again. Exactly the same fault, and they tried to charge me for recovery..... My words were kind, but in my mind they were less... Well you know.


It's one thing to have a fault, and quite another when the supposed experts can't fix it. I haven't experienced many faults with my X3 (both front window regulators replaced after one stuck open, a recall issue) but my partner's Z4 is causing some worries. I like a 4x4 so maybe a Korean heap with a 5 or 7 year warranty may be the way I'll go...........

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Breitling B-1 1999
Breitling Chrono Superocean 2004
Casio G Shock
Citizen Eco Drive AT4000-02E (for gardening)
Seiko 5 SNZG15J1
Hamilton X Wind LE