Faults:

Had to replace brakes and rotors at 55k miles. Dealer said they replaced them at 30k, so why did I have to replace brakes after 25k miles? This is the only car I've ever owned with under 85k miles that I had brakes replaced twice.

General Comments:

I really enjoy driving it; it's very comfortable and has a lot of nice extra features. I don't care for the slow response in first gear; my Honda Civic did a better job off the line than my 3 series.

Also, the bluetooth phone set-up is not user-friendly at all. It will load your phone book, but you can't voice dial unless you manually enter them into the car's phone system. I finally bailed on it and have gone back to using a bluetooth headset in the car instead. What a waste of what could have been a very cool feature.

This car is on it's second set of brakes/rotors at 55k miles. I drive both normal highway and city; mostly commuting, so I don't understand why brakes/rotors wear out so quickly. I've owned other cars up to 85k without having to replace brakes.

After owning the car for 18 months, the windshield washer motor quit working. I live in Phoenix and although the warranty paid to have a new motor put in, I was shocked to hear the dealer tell me that the heat dried out the washer and caused the failure. I've lived in Phoenix for 30+ years and owned many cars here. This is the first washer failure I've ever experienced, so I'm very doubtful this was correct. Either that or the washers they're using are substandard.

Tires were a bit of a pain; they had to be special ordered along with the brake sensors. I know this is a luxury car, but they're not uncommon, so it seemed odd that these were not in stock.

This is my first BMW purchase and have to say that I'm disappointed that it's parts aren't built to last longer than what I experienced with a Honda Civic. I'm very tempted to sell it and go back to a Honda with a larger engine.

Faults:

I bought a 4-year extended warranty for the wheels/tires of the car. When BMW sent out a "service bulletin" (a fancy way to say "recall") on the tires about a year later, they didn't honor the extended warranty, which defeats the purpose of getting a warranty.

The onboard computer is also very finicky, I have had brought this to BMW service at least three times because it just won't start with a "red steering wheel lock" on the dashboard. Sad to say, but this is NOT an isolated problem (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1038819). My dealer's service center is not a pain to deal with (so far), but they could not explain why it is happening; they would just "reset" the computer, hoping it would be OK.

I am getting rid of this car, not because it doesn't perform as advertised, but the reliability is questionable. It almost feels like that once the 4-year warranty expires, the headaches will start pouring in.

BMW USA is also not very helpful. After the pains I've gone through to own this beautiful machine, one would wonder how the company can survive with such arrogance.

General Comments:

Drives and handles like a dream. BMW designed the AWD in such a way that handling is not compromised. One should really get this car with a MANUAL TRANSMISSION, otherwise you will not going to get its full potential... and to be honest, the AT is very sluggish (this from driving the "loaner cars" when my car is in service).

The cabin design is OK but not GREAT. It's quite apparent that BMW had to cut corners for more profit margin (this is compared to the previous generation E46?)... oh I said "more profit margin", because the 3-series hasn't gone cheaper. ;-)

I know the new styling is love-it-or-hate-it... but I personally love the new design, it's an evolution in the right direction... that said, the designer (Chris Bangle) probably took his unique design a bit too far for the other models (the Z series is kinda over-the-top).

But, alas, having all that said ... it's not enough reason for me to keep the car... I believe owning the Ultimate Driving Machine need not suffer such compromise.