[drmohitg]

Been extremely busy off late with work. The car is running absolutely fine. I just got the second service done last weekend with the odometer reading @ 12.5k kms. The car is finally seeing some running now that I am back in Delhi and basically doing Delhi-gurgaon run everyday.

Service experience was satisfactory with Bird Auto with the car being delivered the same day. Only the engine oil, fuel filter and AC filter were replaced and ofcourse covered under the active BSI pack. I did feel the initial urge on part of the sales advisor to convince me to change the AC filter even though the AC was cooling perfectly well. On getting to know later that the car was under BSI there was a feeble attempt at letting the AC filter run for some more time but later they replaced it nevertheless. The policy of not giving a record of things/wprk carried out on your car if its covered under BSI is still annoying as I fail to see its purpose unless BMW officialy admits at doing extra work on the cars without the service pack and vice versa.

[coolboy007]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Service experience was satisfactory with Bird Auto with the car being delivered the same day. Only the engine oil, fuel filter and AC filter were replaced and ofcourse covered under the active BSI pack.

Did they not change the air filter? 12.5k kms is a lot and am sure the filter must have been clogged by now or did they just clean and fit it back?

I did feel the initial urge on part of the sales advisor to convince me to change the AC filter even though the AC was cooling perfectly well. On getting to know later that the car was under BSI there was a feeble attempt at letting the AC filter run for some more time but later they replaced it nevertheless. The policy of not giving a record of things/wprk carried out on your car if its covered under BSI is still annoying as I fail to see its purpose unless BMW officialy admits at doing extra work on the cars without the service pack and vice versa.

This has been noted by many BMW owners on team bhp, once they come to know that car is under BSI, they start suggesting that the specific filter can go on for some time. Am surprised that they do not offer record of things or work carried out under BSI, did you shoot a mail to BMW about it?

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by coolboy007

Did they not change the air filter? 12.5k kms is a lot and am sure the filter must have been clogged by now or did they just clean and fit it back?


This has been noted by many BMW owners on team bhp, once they come to know that car is under BSI, they start suggesting that the specific filter can go on for some time. Am surprised that they do not offer record of things or work carried out under BSI, did you shoot a mail to BMW about it?

Too lazy to do that. They did change the filter on their own later. But I think BHPian flyingspur did involve BMW in this and after some effort was given a copy of the job card for his own record.

[drmohitg]

So much for the quality!!

The car has become my daily drive in the hell called as Delhi-gurgaon expressway, 6 days a week. Its completed 23k kms and is almost 2.7 years old now. To my shock and dismay, the horn pad has already started showing signs of wear and tear.





And before you say something, I use the horn very judiciously as I myself hate noise pollution and moreover no amount of honking is going to make a difference in the kind of traffic chaos I drive in everyday.

So going to take the car to the dealership to see what they have to say. BMW should hopefully rectify this and not pass it off as regular wear and tear as 23k kms is too less a mileage figure for such events.

[malgudi]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

So much for the quality!!

To my shock and dismay, the horn pad has already started showing signs of wear and tear.

From the Pics, to me it looks like dirt accumulation on the steering. I had a similar thing on my honda City and a good cleaning with Damp cloth restored the look to as good as new

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by malgudi

From the Pics, to me it looks like dirt accumulation on the steering. I had a similar thing on my honda City and a good cleaning with Damp cloth restored the look to as good as new

Sorry for the bad quality pics, took them randomly with my phone. But this is not dirt. It is clearly the material worn out. Not a big deal but it is not expected from the such a costly car from a leading brand.

[coolboy007]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Sorry for the bad quality pics, took them randomly with my phone. But this is not dirt. It is clearly the material worn out. Not a big deal but it is not expected from the such a costly car from a leading brand.

Sad to see such wear in a car which has only done 23k kms, i have read on international forums and BMW is weak when it comes to durable leather quality.

Do not worry about it much, send a strongly worded mail to bmw about it and they would not create a fuss about covering it under warranty, this wear n tear is not possible on a car which has done such low mileage. Such niggles do come up in german cars, gto also had his seat/headrest leather of his 530D repaired if am not wrong.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by coolboy007

i have read on international forums and BMW is weak when it comes to durable leather quality.

. My driver's seat is definitely looking more worn than it should for 25,000 kms / 3 years of use. In comparison, my C220's seat was in superb shape at the 50,000 kms mark!

Such niggles do come up in german cars, gto also had his seat/headrest leather of his 530D repaired if am not wrong.

Not the car's fault there. My man messed it up while attempting to remove a stain.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by malgudi

From the Pics, to me it looks like dirt accumulation on the steering. I had a similar thing on my honda City and a good cleaning with Damp cloth restored the look to as good as new

Originally Posted by coolboy007

Sad to see such wear in a car which has only done 23k kms, i have read on international forums and BMW is weak when it comes to durable leather quality.

Do not worry about it much, send a strongly worded mail to bmw about it and they would not create a fuss about covering it under warranty, this wear n tear is not possible on a car which has done such low mileage. Such niggles do come up in german cars, gto also had his seat/headrest leather of his 530D repaired if am not wrong.

Originally Posted by GTO

. My driver's seat is definitely looking more worn than it should for 25,000 kms / 3 years of use. In comparison, my C220's seat was in superb shape at the 50,000 kms mark!



Not the car's fault there. My man messed it up while attempting to remove a stain.

Hi guys,

I'm attaching some pics of my car as well (October 2015 and run about 3,600 kms). I was surprised to find this pointed out one fine day. I have no clue how this happened since the car key is used without key chain and has no sharp edges. My best guess is maybe the car cleaner caused this while carrying keys but I really don't know. The fact that its more than one tear is even more surprising.

Do you think this could be a quality issue or plain mishap by driver / clearner (belt, keys, don't know)?

Would BMW be able to fix this whether gratis or otherwise? If not BMW any other suggestions on who I could approach to fix this issue?

Many thanks.

[Turbanator]

Would BMW be able to fix this whether gratis or otherwise?

Yes, they can ship the lower part and dealer will get this fixed mostly from someone outside who does regular work for such dealers. If these are due to wear and tear they will surely replace else might charge. But I will suggest you to continue with original seat unless these get bigger in future.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Yes, they can ship the lower part and dealer will get this fixed mostly from someone outside who does regular work for such dealers. If these are due to wear and tear they will surely replace else might charge. But I will suggest you to continue with original seat unless these get bigger in future.

Hey thanks for that input.

Do you mean completely replace that part of the seat? That feels a bit overkill to me for a small cut. Is there a simple classy "patch it" solution that anyone might be able to offer?

[Turbanator]

Is there a simple classy "patch it"

They have upper & lower leather upholstery, complete with sensors / wire etc. Given the location of cuts , better leave and stop thinking about these.

Just try to find route cause for this and see what BMW dealership has to say.

[bhp]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Would BMW be able to fix this whether gratis or otherwise? If not BMW any other suggestions on who I could approach to fix this issue?

Many thanks.

Try applying some leather cream a couple of times, the mark should fade off a bit.

BMW wouldn't honour this in warranty. And if its really bothering, you are better off changing the upper leather part of the seat from the service center or Stanley/Orchis.

[Axe77]

Thanks guys. In an unrelated query, I was also wondering if anyone has toyed with the idea of completely changing upholstery. I'm told it is so elaborate / expensive that its almost undoable.

So if I wanted to change my current beige seats and interiors to an all black finish using much superior leather from Stanley or comparable, is that something that's doable in the aftermarket? Or is that a pipe dream?

Thanks

[The Rationalist]

Hi Axe77,
What about the side airbags in the seats? I have changed the interior of my car ( it's an Aspire) to full black from beige. There is a team called Colorglo who can do that. They have shop in Bangalore and Kochi. You can contact them to find out whether they have started in Mumbai. Their FB page is Color Glo Kerala and mobile no is 09446046002. They can fix the tear that happened.

Regards,
The Rationalist.