5th Mar 2011, 08:41

Mine was so bad, I got a refund from the dealer after three months (and the second flywheel failure).

27th Sep 2011, 00:29

I love my 2008 318iSE as a car, but the reliability observations tally with my own experiences. Coil failures, suspension bush failures, soft paint, easily marked interior trim, transmission whine; you name it, I've had it.

If this is the best quality out there, Heaven help us all.

A lovely car, which drives better than pretty much anything at the same money, but anyone who thinks the BMW badge gets them a superior level of engineering integrity and bulletproof reliability, is frankly living in the past. 10 years ago, perhaps, but not any more.

30th Sep 2011, 01:52

The E90 3 series and its derivatives don't seem to be as well put together as their predecessors. In confidential off the record conversations I have had with service department staff from more than one dealership, the consensus seems to be that these models drive well, but are rather fragile.

18th Jun 2023, 02:19

What I can say is that I am now 70 and have had Merc and BMW and more recently Jaguar all of my life.

1. I am a bit of a perfectionist and would want my cars to run perfect all of the time.

2. Maintenance / repairs are two different things. Maintenance involves engine oil and oil filter changes, tire rotations, brake pads, and replacing other parts that wear out regularly ON TIME! I am an engineer and we call these consumption parts.

3. Now truth is that to start with, few car owners do that. And what I noticed is that even approved dealers go out of conformance with the original plan or close one eye sometimes to save time or have mechanics that are short of experience and so on.

4. All of this means that abuse is automatically induced in the life time of a car, like it or not, unless you do it yourself.

NOW comes the truth which is quite simple really, and this is evident from my friends cars too.

BMWs tend to have smaller, more efficient, more powerful and faster engines than their Mercedes competitors. Without going technical, the best I can say is consider them to be a bit of a racing engine. Mercedes are more conservative, and although they can be easily made to run as fast, they tend to never overdo this.

The result is easy to notice in 2 ways.

A. BMW, if you drive them prudently (i.e. not for speed) they also give better MPG than Mercedes.

B. Also generally speaking, a Merc will tolerate a degree of abuse quite easily and rarely develops into a major repair. By contrast, this is not so true for a BMW engine. It can tolerate far less abuse by drivers that are racing enthusiasts on normal roads too - and unless serviced on time you are asking for expensive troubles apart from the excessive wear which is echoed in a much reduced engine useful life.

This is also why BMW have a reputation for being expensive to repair. It is also the reason why used BMW prices drop so significantly apart from supply (which is plenty) versus demand.

So you can buy BMW as long as you are prepared to service it on time and preferably using a good mechanic or authorised workshop.

And here is a classical example of how true the above is: using my Jaguar 2006 S Type SE 2.7 diesel which is neither a BMW nor a Merc.

I decided to take the plunge, my first ever Jaguar - and the 2.7 diesel reviews based on what some drivers say is that these have exceptional pulling power to spare, but not encouraging at all when you read that the 2.7 can destroy itself.

Well it now has 169K miles. With maintenance on time, it still runs like a dream and the only repair/part replaced to date is the heater valve.

I also learned that although Jaguar have that kind of racing engine which we have come to expect from a Jaguar - (same as BMW), it is damn reliable if you maintain it properly.

SO MY CONCLUSIONS ARE THAT ANY CAR CAN BE AS GOOD AS THE LEVEL OF MAINTENANCE AND TECHNICAL EXPERTISE WHICH IT WAS DESIGNED TO RECEIVE.

And so my advice is buy any car. But don't buy BMW or Jaguar if you are not prepared to give these cars the best maintenance including the best oils, and so one, on time.

You would be on the safer side buying a Mercedes if you are always pressed for time and/or not prepared to pay for the periodic maintenance these cars are supposed to receive, which is not cheap either.

Or even better, buy a Toyota.

18th Jun 2023, 21:51

I've had my E90 320i 2009 LCI now for over four years (bought used at 50K km, now around 113K km). I would tend to agree, the car has had little "fragile" parts, mostly cosmetic, whose plastic clip parts tend to break off: all the front vent tabs (I'm the only one using the car, no kids), the ticket holder on the mirror visor, even the blacked chrome rearmost rain channel trim fell off (held by double-sided tape!), the front headlining starting to sag (true - my hatch unusually didn't have sagging headliner!)

This all happened early in my ownership. I've never had anything remotely like this in my previous E46 hatchback, sold at 19 years old. I really didn't have high hopes for this new car, if they can't even do vent tabs right, what else will suddenly break?

But... the car has proven itself more reliable and dependable than the old hatch. I have not even had a coil issue (on the hatch, had the first failure in 3 months, the next a year after), has not broken down or left me stranded at all, all the electrics are working fine including the climate control, the seats (non-sport, no lumbar support, base cloth) are exactly as supportive on long drives as the old car.

Maybe in many ways, it is a better car. Will see.