[Nitronium]

Sorry for the late reply and update of this thread

I have much to share with the forum

Firstly flyingspur, the corona rings are visible when the parking light is engaged, but since my headlamps are halogen, they disappear when you turn the low beam on

My experience with the car has been a mixed bag. Lots of bad with some very good.

Give me time to gather my information. Shall keep you'll updated.

[ir458]

@Nitronium - Congratulations and Great Writeup !!
Waiting for your experiences, updates and more pictures.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by Nitronium

My experience with the car has been a mixed bag. Lots of bad with some very good.

Whoa. That's very unfortunate. Waiting to hear the bad and whether the minus is inherent BMW or hitting you because its 2nd hand. Really hope everything works out as best possible.

Originally Posted by GTO

Do upgrade to regular michelins when these wear out. The ride & handling will be far superior.

I've heard lots of people recommending this. One question. I'm not a big fan of run flats either but one question - since the boot has no place for a spare wheel, how would you manage running on "non" run flats? Is there some way around this that I'm missing or are people just living with the risk of running a flat?

[FlyingSpur]

Originally Posted by Nitronium

Firstly flyingspur, the corona rings are visible when the parking light is engaged, but since my headlamps are halogen, they disappear when you turn the low beam on.

Thanks for that.

My experience with the car has been a mixed bag. Lots of bad with some very good.

This, I'm waiting for. I hope the reliability of the car has been good.

[nirav]

waiting to hear the bad and good news... am seriously looking at a 3 for my father in india, so am keen to hear your experiences. so far i have heard few bad things about the 3 in india (be it car or ownership experience), so lets hope your views will shed some light on previously unreported aspects...

[Nitronium]

The 320d.

The good. The car has been wonderful. She makes heads turn and more importantly makes you feel like a bit of a Schumacher when you have an open road. We've learnt to live with the slightly uncomfortable ride and that being out of the way makes her near perfect.

Now the part most of you would like to know about. The car has been infuriatingly expensive to maintain and own.

First up, because of some complication that I have barely understood, we stand to renew the BMW Secure package only this March. As a result, all the repairs I am about to mention have been covered out of our own pocket.

The ABS warning light blipped on automatically (in red) and we panicked. We took her down to the service station and were told that it's merely a computer glitch. Relief. However, the problem persisted, and on further inspection were told that there was a problem with the FR brake caliper. 22 grand, gone.

There was an incessant squealing noise from under the bonnet whenever we started the car . Fan belt timing we assumed. Checked her up and they told us that the V belt was wearing out along with a few other mechanical component. Est repair costs? 33k. (To be done in April)

I wasn't in town when few other problems cropped up, and as a result do not have the bills to tell you the exact amount or details. Will do in a while though.

HOWEVER!!! I can understand that mechanical failures are possible given the difficult running conditions in our cities. But that is no excuse for the intreriors falling apart. 3 out of 4 AC vent knobs have fallen off. Seriously? On inspection I, with my Engineering student knowledge found that it was a simple case of snapping them back on, with the right tools though. We took the car to the service station and were told that they wouldn't repair the vents, instead, they'd have to replace the whole AC vent panel. Estimated cost. 30 grand. 30000/- ??? For a bloody AC knob falling off? BMW does millions of kms of testing and they give us shoddy two pence engineering on the inside?

It doesn't stop there. The Rear left door stopped opening from the inside. Another service center visit. (18 kms away btw).

The experience with the BMW Experience has been satisfactory at best.

We've lived in Chennai for a while, so Tamil isn't an issue with us. The service center employees though seem to know ONLY Tamil though. What about those who don't speak the local language? Pardon me for sounding like a bit of a prude, but we expect to be entitled to hassle free service. They call for the payment and ramble on in Tamil.
The sales team is as good as the service team is bad. The clot who was to deliver our car home got hit on the right door by a scooter. Thankfully because the service center driver was at the wheel, they covered expenses.

This car is supposed to rum 100000 kms without critical components wearing out. What have BMW given us then? Many a time we've thought twice about taking the car out because the absence of Secure scares us. Even so, our experience with the car has been mixed. We hope the car doesn't continue being a white elephant. Or else it may just have to find another home!

Feel free to post any queries. I shall respond to the best of my abilities.

[FlyingSpur]

First up, thanks a ton for updating and responding to the PM. Needed all the ownership info. Helpful to prospective buyers too.

Originally Posted by Nitronium

First up, because of some complication that I have barely understood, we stand to renew the BMW Secure package only this March. As a result, all the repairs I am about to mention have been covered out of our own pocket.

BMW Secure is the insurance bolt-on for accidential damage, right? Common knowledge that bodywork is really expensive on these cars.

The ABS warning light blipped on automatically...there was a problem with the FR brake caliper. 22 grand, gone.

That's pretty steep.

...V belt was wearing out along with a few other mechanical component. Est repair costs? 33k. (To be done in April).

This sounds fishy !! Especially for a not-so-old car.

By the way, isn't the car covered with BSI? That would have taken care of most of the above problems.

3 out of 4 AC vent knobs have fallen off....30 grand. 30000/-

This is surely the worst of the lot. Utter rubbish. Whatever happened to German engineering?

By the way, owners in the know, would something like this be covered in BSI?

It doesn't stop there. The Rear left door stopped opening from the inside. Another service center visit. (18 kms away btw).

Finally. Atleast ONE bizarre problem that you share with my Corolla

Pardon me for sounding like a bit of a prude, but we expect to be entitled to hassle free service.

Perfectly justified. Whatever happened to training?

Feel free to post any queries. I shall respond to the best of my abilities.

How old is the car now? I'm really starting to wonder about the reliability of the 3. Of course, one bad report doesn't sentence 'em all, but it still raises questions. Hopefully the other owners will update their threads too, and have better experiences.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by Nitronium

1) The car has been infuriatingly expensive to maintain and own.

2) First up, because of some complication that I have barely understood, we stand to renew the BMW Secure package only this March.

3) The ABS warning light blipped on automatically (in red) and we panicked. We took her down to the service station and were told that it's merely a computer glitch. Relief. However, the problem persisted, and on further inspection were told that there was a problem with the FR brake caliper. 22 grand, gone.

4) There was an incessant squealing noise from under the bonnet whenever we started the car . Fan belt timing we assumed. Checked her up and they told us that the V belt was wearing out along with a few other mechanical component. Est repair costs? 33k. (To be done in April)

5) HOWEVER!!! I can understand that mechanical failures are possible given the difficult running conditions in our cities. But that is no excuse for the intreriors falling apart. 3 out of 4 AC vent knobs have fallen off. Seriously? On inspection I, with my Engineering student knowledge found that it was a simple case of snapping them back on, with the right tools though. We took the car to the service station and were told that they wouldn't repair the vents, instead, they'd have to replace the whole AC vent panel. Estimated cost. 30 grand. 30000/- ??? For a bloody AC knob falling off? BMW does millions of kms of testing and they give us shoddy two pence engineering on the inside?

6) It doesn't stop there. The Rear left door stopped opening from the inside. Another service center visit. (18 kms away btw).

7) We've lived in Chennai for a while, so Tamil isn't an issue with us. The service center employees though seem to know ONLY Tamil though. What about those who don't speak the local language? Pardon me for sounding like a bit of a prude, but we expect to be entitled to hassle free service. They call for the payment and ramble on in Tamil.

8) The sales team is as good as the service team is bad. The clot who was to deliver our car home got hit on the right door by a scooter. Thankfully because the service center driver was at the wheel, they covered expenses.

9) This car is supposed to rum 100000 kms without critical components wearing out. What have BMW given us then? Many a time we've thought twice about taking the car out because the absence of Secure scares us. Even so, our experience with the car has been mixed. We hope the car doesn't continue being a white elephant. Or else it may just have to find another home!

1) Well, its true. As you go higher up the segments, the cost become so high one tends to think what material they use. After reading the figures, I always think that somebody is extracting profit in huge amount by selling parts that are very very expensive.

In March 2009 issue of ACI I have read that in some cases the bonnet is less expensive than OVRM. Now isn't that fantastic way to eat money ? I wonder if the standards are similar for developed markets.

2) May be the BMW secure is non transferable.

3) Not supposed to happen so early in its life. Its just disguisting to read this. Its still understandable if the car has covered 70-80K kms.

4) Will this be covered in BMW secure ?

5) German Quality. Sorry for crude language, but AC vent knob falling off cannot cost Rs. 30K. If its designed that way ( which I believe is impossible ) then this is design and engineering fault. Again high price of parts, specially true with German manufacturers. This is height of robbing customers.

6) I this can be a safety concern also. What if one has to quickly escape out of the car ? Wont normally happen, but then door not opening from inside also does not happen. Reminds me of old Ambassador and Padmini days.
Is the problem traced ?

7) Some sort of Ego I suppose. Things are supposed to be better.

8) This is serious. I wonder if the employees of the A.S.C. know how to drive. Things can also get worse in this case. And after all your car took the hit without any reason.

9) These are not workhorses, but delicate show pieces. This is not the first time I am hearing of a knob falling off. I think somebody else had a similar issue in A4 and he had to wait for sometime before that part arrived.
One certainly expects higher level of quality in cars that do cost high. Even GTO had some issue with his earlier C. IIRC, somebody did complain of some suspension part breaking off when the car hit bump at 40 kph. in 5 series.

If you have to think twice before taking the car out only because of Secure pacakage being absent, then IMHO, it defeats the purpose of spending so much on a car.

Call me paranoid or any thing, but sometimes I feel that high end German manufacturers did not test their cars here and thought that their engineering standards are good enough for any country. And then priced the spares insanely.

Also I think Japanese and Korean cars Below Rs. 10 lakh are more reliable. Yes, its very difficult to make a straight comparison like that, but that is what I have read on TBHP and on the net.

I hope your car get back into good shape and does not eat into your wallet.

[FlyingSpur]

Originally Posted by Axe77

I've heard lots of people recommending this. One question. I'm not a big fan of run flats either but one question - since the boot has no place for a spare wheel, how would you manage running on "non" run flats? Is there some way around this that I'm missing or are people just living with the risk of running a flat?

I was also hoping someone would have an answer to this query brought up earlier.

[Sahil]

Nitronium- It is rather shocking to hear of the complications you have faced. Fortunatly our BMWs are seeming rock solid up until now. I haven't even heard of any major complaints from other owners.

However, let me clear one confusion that has been repeated on this forum several times. BMW SECURE is NOT BSI+R ! IMO, BMW secure is a waste unless you are prone to accidental damages and do not care about NCB. Secure includes only accidental damage repairs NOT regular repairs.

Most of the problems you have faced will be covered under BSI+R as that includes all repair related issues NOT accidental damages.

There is a big difference and dealers always push the Secure package since they make a lot more money on it. As you have to take insurance from them at a hiked price plus their commision on the package. On the BSI+R plan the dealership earns barely few thousand rupees as all the money goes to BMW directly.

[FlyingSpur]

Thanks for clearing that up, Sahil. Won't all the problems he's faced till now, be covered under BSI ? I mean, it's supposed to be a comprehensive bumper to bumper warranty right.

[BeamerBoy]

There is more to it than meets the eye. Reading you post makes the whole experience quite Unpalatable. Fortunately my 5er has stood its ground. Absolutely hassle free & a pleasure to own.

It would be interesting to understand how much kilometers you covered & the amount you had to pay. Just trying to have the cost of ownership (maintenance cost/kilometer) for a used BMW. If it is as bad as you put across like fan belt 33K, AC Vent 33K ...then it would be good that you get it formally clarified with the dealer or the parent company. Wonder why did you not pick up a BSI+R when buying a used car. It could have saved you all the fuss.

Nevertheless, seems to be a case overcharging and under repairing by the dealer. IMO The machine still seems to be performing its duties.

[redsfx]

Man..I am this close to picking up a 3'er and I read this. As I have found a almost new 3'er with hardly any kms on it I was planning on picking it up. Can I go for the BSI+R for the same? What will the BSI package cover?

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by redsfx

Man..I am this close to picking up a 3'er and I read this. As I have found a almost new 3'er with hardly any kms on it I was planning on picking it up. Can I go for the BSI+R for the same? What will the BSI package cover?

BSI must be taken on or before the 1st service. It will cover everything including consumables like oil,brake pads,etc. But will NOT cover accidental damages.

[princemanatt]

The Rear left door stopped opening from the inside. Another service center visit. (18 kms away btw).

just a doubt. Does the door have the child lock engaged.

Sorry to hear about the cost of maintenance.