My BMW fandom has ended.

With less than 34k miles, the '13 135 developed rod knock, only detectable at high RPM. All stock, never tracked, etc.

Confirmed by a third party. So now I have an '18 Mazda 3 touring with 33k miles in the garage. 

The oil leaks, DCT issues that took multiple reprograms to fix.....that was my fourth and last BMW.

So now I have a a boring commuter car for the next 18-24 months.

I have to say though, Mazda has upped their game. The interior in my 3, is nicer than the Coral Red leather I had in the E82. And even though it's not the BOSE stereo, it's not nearly as big of a downgrade from the HK in the BMW as I expected.

​​​

I decided to just admire the looks of bmw from afar after driving an 01 740iL

Shame you had such a bad time with your E82, but the Mazda 3 is a great car. My GF bought one new (Sport, 2.0L, 6MT) and has close 50k miles on it. No issues and a really good platform. We've done a few road trips in it and it's never been anything but excellent and surprisingly fun.

That sucks.  I assume it wasn't under warranty?

My family has made the switch from BMW to Mazda. Too many headaches for too many years.

docwyte said:

That sucks.  I assume it wasn't under warranty?

No, I bought is used. The finance guy (Falcone Subaru in Indianapolis is a great organization to worth with) told me he didn't bother trying to sell me an extended warranty because of the cost.

4300 for a 5 year powertrain, 6500 for a bumper-to-bumper warranty.

I think once I get the negative equity out, my girlfriend will take this car, then I'll get something fun again in 18-24 months.

Rod bearing issues on a car with less than 34k miles plus the oil leaks, that's completely unacceptable.

In reply to z31maniac 

Rod bearing issues on a car with less than 34k miles plus the oil leaks, that's completely unacceptable

Isn't that the truth! 

My mechanic told me it wasn't the first time he's seen a low mileage N55 with bearing problems. He said basically everything else is better than the N54s, except the bearings.

Floating Doc said:

In reply to z31maniac :

Rod bearing issues on a car with less than 34k miles plus the oil leaks, that's completely unacceptable

Isn't that the truth! 

And it wasn't tuned, had never been tracked (even though I wanted to at least once because how good the chassis, engine and everything else was.

I'm really sour. I had to take a bath on trade-in. But I wasn't willing to risk continuing to drive it.

Sucks that you had a bad experience. I haven't owned a "modern" BMW, so my experience has been a bit different. Drivetrains have all been quite solid, but suspension components have been the bulk of my repair budget.

I totally understand why you'd be soured on the brand, but I would still absolutely recommend you look at the older cars if you're looking for fun car down the road.

MTechnically said:

Sucks that you had a bad experience. I haven't owned a "modern" BMW, so my experience has been a bit different. Drivetrains have all been quite solid, but suspension components have been the bulk of my repair budget.

I totally understand why you'd be soured on the brand, but I would still absolutely recommend you look at the older cars if you're looking for fun car down the road.

Oh I have a big history in the E30 realm.

If I own another one, it will be another E30

The best BMW is someone else's BMW. 

Yeah, I liked my E46 and we seriously considered a ‘17 335i when we bought DW’s S60 (glad we didn’t). But this time it’s my turn and I’m not even looking at BMWs. 

Bummer about your experience. But congrats on the 3 - they are darn nice cars. 

There was a guy at my last job.  International sales guy.  He had a big BMW sedan, don't recall the number. 5 something?  One day I see him and he's driving a brand new, beautiful, black Avalon.  I asked him what happened to the beemer.  He said, well, it was his dream car and he was really excited to buy it.  But the last time the check engine light came on, he brought it to the dealer and it cost him, I think, three thousand dollars (might have been more) to get it fixed.  It was the gas cap.  He said that's it, he was done.  Drove to the Toyota dealer, was finalizing the deal on a Camry, walked past the Avalon, looked at it and said "Hey, this Avalon is cheaper than the Camry you're selling me." "That's an advertised special.  If I sell it, I won't make any money."  "I'll take it.  Write it up."

I know a girl with an E92 335is. She got it cheap because it needed an engine rebuild at 84k miles if I remember right. I like BMW but I'm thinking of staying E39/E46 or older if I ever actually buy one.

I love the old bmws. Scared as hell to own a newer one. Too many stories like yours. 

I have never liked BMWs except for my own. I never want to own a BMW except for the one I already have. Good lord did they make some good looking cars in the 90s but otherwise it's a brand I'm perfectly happy staying away from. As I've often said, I only own a BMW because manual Mercedes are either rare or non-existant.

The best decision I think I made was not buying an 8yr Old e38 as a family car. Instead I got a 1 yr old Ford Flex, which could probably take it in any benchmark. 
(Got to 250k on It when she who will not be mentioned booped the snoot a little too hard. Replaced with a 2018 flex )

If you're wise lease a BMW.  Get a girlfriend then go buy an Avalon after 3 yrs of fine German steel.  Sure she might call you Gramps but she probably won't dump you.  Win Win. 

One of my coworkers is a full time tech at the local BMW dealer (part-time instructor at the school where i teach) and she has started to turn off the comments on her IG posts because of all the BMW reliability commentary. I thought that was funny.  

As a professional tech there isn't much i'm scared of but there are a lot of things that fall under a 'not worth the hassle' category, including most bmw's, most modern diesel pickups, and most modern VWAG products.  

I decided to just admire the looks of bmw from afar after driving an 01 740iL

I just worked on one of those! It didn't have reverse.   But i did replace the 40% of its ignition coils that were bad and diagnose some of its many, many leaks and spend a lot of time cussing at a 4" long door handle cable that shouldn't exist.

Congrats on seeing the light! 

"He said basically everything else is better than the N54s, except the bearings." I find that statement a little disturbing and funny at the same time.

NermalSnert said:

"He said basically everything else is better than the N54s, except the bearings." I find that statement a little disturbing and funny at the same time.

From what I can gather, the N55s, have an electronic control valve that controls oil distribution. How is that for introducing a failure point for absolutely no reason?

I spoke to a friend who owns an Indy shop in Tennessee. He has a theory based on replacing multiple N55s with bearing issues. His, and other friends that own Indy shops, is that somehow when having the Oil Filter Housing Gasket replaced (which mine was in February and about 500 miles ago), is that someone it creates air pockets that screw up oil flow, bearings get starved, then you're on borrowed time. 

Doesn't matter now, I ditched it. Just can't wait to get back into something fun!

z31maniac said:

NermalSnert said:

"He said basically everything else is better than the N54s, except the bearings." I find that statement a little disturbing and funny at the same time.

From what I can gather, the N55s, have an electronic control valve that controls oil distribution. How is that for introducing a failure point for absolutely no reason?

I spoke to a friend who owns an Indy shop in Tennessee. He has a theory based on replacing multiple N55s with bearing issues. His, and other friends that own Indy shops, is that somehow when having the Oil Filter Housing Gasket replaced (which mine was in February and about 500 miles ago), is that someone it creates air pockets that screw up oil flow, bearings get starved, then you're on borrowed time.

I'd be very interested to see some documentation on this system. I'll have to reach out to a couple of BMW techs I know and see if I can come up with anything.

02Pilot said:

z31maniac said:

NermalSnert said:

"He said basically everything else is better than the N54s, except the bearings." I find that statement a little disturbing and funny at the same time.

From what I can gather, the N55s, have an electronic control valve that controls oil distribution. How is that for introducing a failure point for absolutely no reason?

I spoke to a friend who owns an Indy shop in Tennessee. He has a theory based on replacing multiple N55s with bearing issues. His, and other friends that own Indy shops, is that somehow when having the Oil Filter Housing Gasket replaced (which mine was in February and about 500 miles ago), is that someone it creates air pockets that screw up oil flow, bearings get starved, then you're on borrowed time.

I'd be very interested to see some documentation on this system. I'll have to reach out to a couple of BMW techs I know and see if I can come up with anything.

Please do, it'd be interesting to see what you find out. I know many people on this board know by BMW fanboi tendencies, but this is too much. I just want something that works.

The maintenance to mile ratio for 135, great car to drive, but what i spent on maintenance over 18 months and only 6k miles. It's completely unacceptable for car with such low miles.