A year with the beemer
Indeed, its been months since I posted anything, the last post having been about this very same vehicle, at the 3-months mark.
As I am writing this, I am getting ready to sell this vehicle. I made this decision after I realised just how much it costs to maintain this vehicle. Since it is no longer under motorplan, there is no safety net for me. The cost is such that I could buy a newer vehicle, albeit a little less luxury in nature, and spend no more than I already do.
At the moment I do not really know if my experience is indicative of BMW vehicles in general, or if my vehicle just turned out to be a "Monday" car. On the one hand, a few of the problems I had are listed on several BMW fan sites as "common problems", so it does seem to be a general BMW issue. On the other hand, perhaps other people with other makes of car suffer from similar problems and running costs, just not anybody I know (who all drive Toyotas or Hondas).
In general I am a little disappointed in BMW. Considering the effect of inflation, this wasn't the most expensive vehicle I ever purchased, but it sure was the most expensive to maintain. Because I am not afraid to repair things myself, wherever I can, I saw quite a bit of what goes on under the hood. And while it is all beautifully put together, some connectors are just a little bit too small for the current they have to carry (tail lights), the plastic brackets on the window regulators is just a little weak to deal with any dirt buildup on the rails, and the blower resistor had to be replaced twice, four months apart, because it has insufficient cooling. This was also the first vehicle I owned where the window washer motor sprung a leak and a handbrake cable broke. It seems like some materials engineer did the math to the exact decimal and made those parts EXACTLY as big as they needed to be, and somehow forgot that maybe the materials used to make these things might need some margins in order to make them reliable. Or perhaps they are designed to last no more than a few years, who knows. One particular theory I heard is that if parts fail often enough, you never have to do a recall. Just wait for the customer to come to you, and fit the uprated part.
But you also learn a lot about yourself. I have previously blogged about the image that goes with BMW drivers. This is very apparent when you're blasting down a highway at just a tad over the speed limit: people tend to get out of your way almost like it's protocol. But at the same time they resent you for it. I know this because I used to feel that way, I'd get out of the way just to get "this damn bmw driver" off my rear. I don't think I ever quite got over this, seeing as I come from a farming background where Toyota pickups are the rule. I never saw myself as the kind of business "executive" who should be driving an executive vehicle. Or as a colleague of mine puts it: I never felt like I deserve this kind of vehicle.
This also started to become clear one evening while driving the other car in our family, a 2001 Toyota Tazz, with the window down, the music nice and load, and the cool cape wind in my hair, and realising that for some reason I feel happy. It would seem to me that I do not need an executive car to make me happy, and in fact it only makes me less happy because of the cost.
Then our first-born arrived in December, 6 weeks ahead of schedule. Suddenly I found that this car really doesn't fare well as a family car. The boot (or trunk as the yanks call it), though ample in space, is long and narrow, not exactly suited to a pram. Even the smaller stroller we purchased would only fit diagonally across the boot. At this point in time I decided that this vehicle was becoming impractical and I probably need to replace it in the next six months or so. On a certain level I was sad: I had invested a lot into this vehicle, it is a real pleasure to drive, it looks good, and its incredibly fuel-efficient.
It was round about this time that the second blower resistor needed replacement, which also coincided with a financial year end. At this point I realised that this car, be it this one in particular or out-of-motorplan BMW's in general, is a financial disaster.
I am now replacing it with another Toyota. If my own experiences and those of my family is anything to go by I will soon be back to boring, reliable motoring, just the way I like it.
As I am writing this, I am getting ready to sell this vehicle. I made this decision after I realised just how much it costs to maintain this vehicle. Since it is no longer under motorplan, there is no safety net for me. The cost is such that I could buy a newer vehicle, albeit a little less luxury in nature, and spend no more than I already do.
At the moment I do not really know if my experience is indicative of BMW vehicles in general, or if my vehicle just turned out to be a "Monday" car. On the one hand, a few of the problems I had are listed on several BMW fan sites as "common problems", so it does seem to be a general BMW issue. On the other hand, perhaps other people with other makes of car suffer from similar problems and running costs, just not anybody I know (who all drive Toyotas or Hondas).
In general I am a little disappointed in BMW. Considering the effect of inflation, this wasn't the most expensive vehicle I ever purchased, but it sure was the most expensive to maintain. Because I am not afraid to repair things myself, wherever I can, I saw quite a bit of what goes on under the hood. And while it is all beautifully put together, some connectors are just a little bit too small for the current they have to carry (tail lights), the plastic brackets on the window regulators is just a little weak to deal with any dirt buildup on the rails, and the blower resistor had to be replaced twice, four months apart, because it has insufficient cooling. This was also the first vehicle I owned where the window washer motor sprung a leak and a handbrake cable broke. It seems like some materials engineer did the math to the exact decimal and made those parts EXACTLY as big as they needed to be, and somehow forgot that maybe the materials used to make these things might need some margins in order to make them reliable. Or perhaps they are designed to last no more than a few years, who knows. One particular theory I heard is that if parts fail often enough, you never have to do a recall. Just wait for the customer to come to you, and fit the uprated part.
But you also learn a lot about yourself. I have previously blogged about the image that goes with BMW drivers. This is very apparent when you're blasting down a highway at just a tad over the speed limit: people tend to get out of your way almost like it's protocol. But at the same time they resent you for it. I know this because I used to feel that way, I'd get out of the way just to get "this damn bmw driver" off my rear. I don't think I ever quite got over this, seeing as I come from a farming background where Toyota pickups are the rule. I never saw myself as the kind of business "executive" who should be driving an executive vehicle. Or as a colleague of mine puts it: I never felt like I deserve this kind of vehicle.
This also started to become clear one evening while driving the other car in our family, a 2001 Toyota Tazz, with the window down, the music nice and load, and the cool cape wind in my hair, and realising that for some reason I feel happy. It would seem to me that I do not need an executive car to make me happy, and in fact it only makes me less happy because of the cost.
Then our first-born arrived in December, 6 weeks ahead of schedule. Suddenly I found that this car really doesn't fare well as a family car. The boot (or trunk as the yanks call it), though ample in space, is long and narrow, not exactly suited to a pram. Even the smaller stroller we purchased would only fit diagonally across the boot. At this point in time I decided that this vehicle was becoming impractical and I probably need to replace it in the next six months or so. On a certain level I was sad: I had invested a lot into this vehicle, it is a real pleasure to drive, it looks good, and its incredibly fuel-efficient.
It was round about this time that the second blower resistor needed replacement, which also coincided with a financial year end. At this point I realised that this car, be it this one in particular or out-of-motorplan BMW's in general, is a financial disaster.
I am now replacing it with another Toyota. If my own experiences and those of my family is anything to go by I will soon be back to boring, reliable motoring, just the way I like it.
posted by ispburger at 10:43 pm
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