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Thats just simply not true. I can name your probably 10 people off the top of my head who purchased brand new BMWs and then had serious reliability and quality problems right after purchase, some of them getting new cars from BMW and some of them selling the cars themselves within a matter of months after purchase. My dad has a client that had an LS400 and traded it on a 750iL. He had so many problems he sold it 3 months later and bought an LS430 at a substantial loss. I'm not saying ALL BMWs have these problems, but they definately have more reliability and quality issues than Lexus, Acura, Infiniti, Cadillac, or Lincoln. I believe they're still rated higher than Mercedes though. This has been proven through comparitive owner surveys. *disclaimer* (again) Everything I say applies to older BMW's, perhaps only older BMW's. I have little or no experience with models less than 10 years old. However, I also can name 10 people off the top of my head that have had no problems with their new BMW's. I know families that drive nothing but new BMW's. electrical gremlins caused by corrosion because of improper winterizing procedures on the part of the owner aren't really a good example of unreliable.:chairshot: I mean come on, that 7 series we were talking about was made in the early to mid 80's, and was/is many years older than your lexuses. Cars don't last forever, and I think it is unfair to compare a 20+ year old BMW that wasn't properly looked after to a newer lexus that has had good maitenance its entire life. But they are reliable cars, if properly mantained. I can tell you this from personal experience with them, not just from things I've heard from other people. Thats another thing BMWophiles always purport, that they are the only true enthusiast and owners of "lesser" vehicles like Lexus, Mercedes, whatever simply aren't enthusiasts or car people. Thats simply rediculous, like I said before, look around these and other Lexus forums and you will find PLENTY of tuners, PLENTY of DIYers, and PLENTY of people that track race their cars. Thats not unique to BMW owners and they don't corner the market on car enthusiasts. Never said that other cars were lesser, and never said they cornered the market on anything. I only said that their products are (or at least used to be) marketed to a different demographic, a more performance oriented one. Niether has my Ford Explorer, but I'd never call it well built or reliable. ah ha, but our ford explorer went through 4 transmissions, 3 radiators, numerous power steering pumps, and other things, leaving us stranded more than once. It eventually died of a cracked head at 184,000 miles, running on just 5 cylinders. We were the original owners, BTW, and had mantained it well, it was just a terribly designed car. The BMW, however, was reliable.

And I have heard of every one of those models, could point them out in pictures and could give you a breif general timeline of their lineage. Again, please stop talking to me like I'm not a car enthusiast because I don't have a BMW. ← Just my .02 but all those BMW's were rust buckets also...I sold lots of replacement panels for those cars.... ;) ← far from it, most were only rust buckets if the owners paid them no attention.

I want the window sticker. A few days ago I could buy it for $9, what happened to that? I was gonna try to order one today.

See thats the whole point you're missing, as a BMW owner you have to be prepared for that sort of thing. I drive a Lexus, my car runs. Everyday. No being broken down on the side of the road for me. ;) When I push a button, it does what its SUPPOSED TO DO! I can drive it in the salt, I can drive it in the rain, it runs the same regardless, I can drive it for 250,000 miles and my biggest complaints will be a clunky suspension and a sunbleached dashboard. I know BMW owners that can't say that after 60k miles! ← The BMW owners I'm talking about are the enthusiasts of the older BMW's. ie, the e30, the e30 m3, the e28, the e28 m5, the original 6 series, the m6, the bavaria, the 2002, the 1800, the 3.0's, and all the antiquated models that you have never heard of, including the motorcycles. I am one of these. Granted, owners of new(er) BMWs are, more often than not, completely oblivious to all things mechanical. But when you find someone that has an classic BMW that is in near showroom condition, then you know you have found who I am talking about. This may not be a fair comparison, but it is the group of BMW owners that I am most familiar with... Besides, in 10-20 years, the BMW's that are new now will be in the hands of the classic bimmer enthusiasts. BMW's are only unrealiable if you neglect them. They are not unrealiable vehicles, they are high maitenance vehicles, and were designed to be as such. HUGE difference, and maintaining our own car is part of the satisfaction that us classic BMW drivers get from our cars. They are very reliable and will last a long, long time without ever breaking down if properly mantained, and keeping them mantained is not such a huge task, either. PS: my BMW, in 163,000 miles of life, did never once leave its owner on the side of the road. :)

$50 is a little steep for me at the moment :(

Meh, you people are obviously a different breed than am I. BMW owners want good performance and good handling in a sexy looking package. They (at least older BMW enthusiasts) are the type that want to get their hands dirty working on their own car, they want to know what is going on inside that engine. They install their own suspension, they work on their own engine, then they drive the contraption around the course at speeds of sheer insanity. Why? I have no idea. But its a lot of fun. From what I can tell, you lexus people are the ones that just drive it. You want a comfortable seat on a machine that only your mechanic knows about. You're the ones that ask for more sound deadening material, not caring about the extra weight. We're the ones that rip out the carpets just to peel off the foam sprayed underneath. After all, if you stripped the whole car of the stuff, you could save a couple tenths of a second off your ET! :P So I guess a BMW isn't for everyone. :D Although if either of us ever breaks down on the side of the road, I'll be up and running within the hour using stuff in the trunk, and you'll still be waiting for roadside assitance :P

So I take it you don't know how to upgrade a camshaft? :P

:chairshot: every car owner needs to know troubleshooting skills! I guess to own a classic BMW you have to be a do-it-yourselfer.

Huh. Thats odd... I've never specifically dealt with the e23, so I'd have to see it in person to fix that. From the pictures of the interior that I can find, I'm not sure what would cause that problem. Did the tempature control knob turn freely with no resistance? I think that car used a mechanical connection to control the temperature. As for the buttons, thats an electrical issue. It could easily be related to those stripped wires behind the radio, although it could also be other things, such as a bad ground somewhere (less likely, but possible), or a loose connection in the fuse box or something. I'd have to get under the dash with a flashlight and a screwdriver to figure it out, although I'm reasonably confident I could have fixed it with some elctrical tape and needlenose pliars. :D You, my friend, need to learn some troubleshooting skills :P

I'm not sure why BMW cut the M coupe. Usually their marketing decisions aren't driven so much by sales as by design and technology... They are one of those companies that are ALWAYS switching around their lineup, though. It might also have been dropped because in '99 (I think it was '99) their old designer retired and was replaced by an American named Chris Bangle. That is when they started the radical makeover of the 7 series; the new 6 series and the remake of the 5 series are also his handiwork. From what I have seen of the up and coming 3'er designed by him it will be rather ugly as well. I am looking forward to the 1 and 2 series, though.

Probably a loose connection in the engine bay, possibly a bad ground. I could likely have fixed it in an afternoon. That would probably be a bad sensor. Easy fix. You mean the fan controls wouldn't work? Probably bad resistors on the fan. Also fixed in a weekend with a few parts off ebay. They're supposed to do that on your model. If they don't do that, then you have a bad relay, but fortunately yours were working correctly :D Bad thermostat. comeon, you gotta give me something at least a little harder! :) Yes, it probably had been in an accident, and yes, it was a good car, and yes, I could have fixed all of its problems given a week and a voltometer. :P

The only minor annoyances I had with my 17 year old, high mileage bmw that had been totaled twice and been in 2 other accidents was that the radio quit working. (The frame was still straight too, even after so much damage!) I suspect that there was simply a loose connection inside the radio. Everything else functioned perfectly. And as long as you have a voltometer, the internet, and a set of metric sockets, any fool can chase down electrical gremlins, of which I had none. What problems did you have? I could probably tell you what was wrong with it. Also, do they use salt where you live? Salt can wreak havoc on BMW electrical systems.

I would also say that you should return to the train tracks where it happened and take some pictures to show what condition the road is in.

*cough* BMW!!! *cough* feel free to consider me the resident expert on all bavarian vehicles. :P

I would've never noticed that in a million years. I'll do that tomorrow.

lol, thought so, but I wasn't sure if you were exagerating or if you just had no sense of distance...

my ls400 came with 4 keys. 1 wireless entry one, 2 normal ones, and 1 credit card one that goes in your wallet.

← holy damn. you're supposed to change timing chains more than that.

Never done this myself, but get several estimates, from the dealer and elsewhere, and include them with a letter stating what happened and why they should pay for it. Do your research and if you can do so with a good chance of winning maybe you could threaten legal action or something. Anyone else care to give advice? 5 inches below 0? umm... 5 inches is about that much. Its that far below 0???

:o :o :o How is it even physically possible for a timing belt not to break when it is TWO-HUNDERED-THOUSAND miles old?!?

why did you post this in an existing thread about something else? oh, and back to the original post, of course the dealer will want you to buy a new car. Perhaps you could try suggesting that if they won't do the work for you, you have a "friend" at "another dealer" that said he would be more than happy to do it for you, and if they won't do it, you'll just take it there. :P

partly serious and partly joking It may work, it has worked for other people. If you start to get red tape and run arounds, do your research and take them to small claims court. I would think it would be the city's job to mantain the area around railroad crossings.

send the city the repair bill <_<

HAHA! It was repairable, and it wasn't a warped seat frame. You know how the power seat reclines back? Well, the mechanism that does that wasn't working right. Turns out only one side (left side) of it worked, leaving the other side always in that position. I took apart the seat, and with much grief and a few &#33;Removed&#33; knuckles, realigned the two sides and slid the little turning bar thing back into place and superglued it there. Hopefully the superglue will hold so I won't have to take it all apart again to epoxy or JB weld it. Am I really the only one with this problem?

My drivers seat tilts to the right. See the pic. How on earth can I fix this?