"RightFootDown" (rightfootdown)
06/03/2015 at 11:40 • Filed to: None
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"RightFootDown" (rightfootdown)
06/03/2015 at 11:40 • Filed to: None | 7
| 15 |
If you have been following me on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! or !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! you would know that I purchased my CPO’d (Certified Pre-Owned) BMW F30 328i back in mid-May and may have been surprised not to have seen any follow ups since. Well, there’s a reason for that.
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
The day after driving it home I had to return it to the dealership for what I thought would be a simple fix. There I go figuring again. The problem, you ask, was something called the Auto Start Stop feature. The idea behind ASS , giggggggity, is that the engine will turn off when the car comes to a stop in order to conserve fuel.
On the tachometer, where 0 would normally be now reads Ready and below that reads Off. When functioning properly the engine shuts off and the needle goes to Ready. Then the engine will restart when you take depress the brake to take off. While not perfectly seamless, it works well. Well, I mean it worked well. What I really mean is that I only drove my car long enough for the feature to active twice. The first time it worked. The second, it did not and a check engine light came on. The good news is the Auto Start Stop feature can be disabled. But this is a CPO’d car! I want it working regardless of if I use it or not.
So I drop off my new-to-me 328i and received a 320i loaner. The 320i was the bad news. A week later I get a call that my car is ready for pick-up and was so beside myself that I raced over to the dealership as quick as 180 horsepower would manage. Twenty minutes of shuffling my personal garbage from the loaner back to my 328, I was finally off. Only to stop and turn around. Auto Start Stop was not working.
“Did the technician even drive the car after fixing it? Cause the paperwork shows a completed road test!”
Things were about to get disorderly.
“Calm down, J.”
Now I’m back in the service lane explaining to the service advisor that the problem persists. She tells me that all vehicles returned for continuing symptoms will be escalated to the shop foreman. In my head I’m screaming, “ Is that supposed to make me feel better???” But to her I’m as cool as the other side of the pillow. It was nearly 7 PM. All the technicians were gone and I knew nothing was going to happen that day. I might as well just take another deep breath, repack the loaner car and go home.
Lucky for me, my loaner car this time around was a 328i… which I still have in my possession. As for my 328i? I’ve nearly forgotten what it looks like. To my dealership’s credit, my Service Advisor has been calling me daily at 4:30 PM on the dot to inform me of the status. The latest is that the usual parts replacements haven’t resolved the problem and that they are in contact with BMW directly to further troubleshoot.
I just looked at the weather. Today and tomorrow are going to be cold and rainy. No doubt that’s when I’ll get the call that it’s ready for pick up.
//Follow Josh on Twitter @JoshTaylorUSA
Click here to read the full story on RightFootDown.com
Nibby
> RightFootDown
06/03/2015 at 11:57 |
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I have your 328i.
Meet me under the Eldin Bridge at 2AM tomorrow morning. Don’t bring anyone.
nermal
> RightFootDown
06/03/2015 at 12:00 |
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I get the frustration involved, because you want the stupid car to work properly like stupid cars with warranties are supposed to.
You need to give a bit of credit to their customer service though. Providing a new BMW as a loaner car while they work on your BMW, along with regular communications is commendable.
Tapas
> RightFootDown
06/03/2015 at 12:04 |
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I don’t blame you, I wouldn’t want a car without a functioning ASS either :D
A lot of BMW drivers may compensate by being the ASS in the car themselves. But like you, I’d prefer their in-built feature ;)
Rico
> RightFootDown
06/03/2015 at 12:11 |
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Josh first the 5 Series and now this. I think it’s a sign to leave to roundel for the 3 pointed star.
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Rico
> Rico
06/03/2015 at 13:03 |
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*the dammit.
The Dummy Gummy
> RightFootDown
06/03/2015 at 13:12 |
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This right here is why I’d never own another BMW. My experience was way worse though with the service advisor/BMW HQ. Good luck. I hope they fix it.
Svart Smart, traded in his Smart
> RightFootDown
06/03/2015 at 15:23 |
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So what’s the problem, exactly, with your stop-start? Does the engine turn off and not come back on, or does it not turn off at all when the car stops?
Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz)
> RightFootDown
06/03/2015 at 17:09 |
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I will say this, that start/stop feature drives me absolutely insane, even when it’s not the car I’m driving. A few years ago our E550 was in the shop, our loaner was a C class with the “Eco” feature (their term for the Start/Stop feature). I drove it home from the shop, then walked everywhere for a week before driving it back to pick our car up. Even hearing cars do it now at stop lights annoys me. Not really sure why, but it does.
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RightFootDown
> Svart Smart, traded in his Smart
06/03/2015 at 17:41 |
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The engine turns off but doesn’t restart, instead the needle goes to OFF and then the Check Engine light illuminates. At that point I have to physically press the Start button again to restart the engine.
Jayvincent
> RightFootDown
06/03/2015 at 20:17 |
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I’m pretty sure the problem can be permanently corrected by jamming a stack of 2 or 3 euros on top of the start button and epoxying in place. Permanent auto-restart. Of course actually turning off the engine will now require you to pull the ignition fuse... /s
Good luck. Electrical gremlins can not be tamed by mere mortals, even German trained ones.
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RightFootDown
> The Dummy Gummy
06/04/2015 at 11:12 |
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Care to share?
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The Dummy Gummy
> RightFootDown
06/04/2015 at 12:06 |
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Bought a brand new 2007 X5. Saved a ton of money on my own, first brand new car ever. I had a car for 7 years prior to that so it was an exciting time, or so I thought. Within the first few month’s the transmission was acting up and having trouble changing gears (auto). I brought it in to which they ‘took a look at it’ and within a half hour said nothing was wrong. I drove home and then called the next day because it was occurring again. I took it back again and same thing no result. A day later I took it back and this time they were going to take a more ‘in-depth look’. This would require me to get a loaner car, except they wouldn’t give me a BMW loaner because I was under 25. They put me in some POS Versa, bottom of the barrel no options. In the contract of getting the car it stated it would be a BMW loaner and no where does it say there was a restriction on age. They had the car in the shop for a month. I called at the end of each week to check up, but they didn’t give me much detail on what they were doing. I’m not sure what they did, but nothing was resolved. It actually was much worse when I got it back.
I tried for two days to drive it because they said it just needs ride time to break in and it should straighten out. Bullshit. The transmission exploded (not literally, but got locked into first gear and wouldn’t go higher) and I ended up taking it to a different dealership because I had enough with the other one. They pretty much said that there was a major failure in the transmission and it would have to replace it. This is after multiple trips to the other crappy dealer telling me there wasn’t anything wrong with it. This dealer was actually shocked that the other dealer couldn’t find the issue wrong with it. It took two months to replace the transmission (no car mind you). I lost my fucking shit and called HQ because I was tired of the games and wanted them to know their product was absolute rubbish and the service was even worse. There was some success from this call, but that comes later. I finally got the car back and a month goes by and new technical issues arose. At this point I’m furious because it was a brand new car and over a 6 or so month period it spent 3 months+ in the shop. I returned it to the other dealer I used because they at least fixed the transmission issue and were competent. This time, I guess due to my call with HQ I got a BMW loaner. This time I didn’t have to sit months on end without a car. But at this point I’m beyond my breaking point and I go in to the original dealer that worked on the car to tell them I want them to either give me a new car or refund on this one because I put less than 2,000 miles on this car and haven’t had it for the majority time of ownership. They refused. I tried to go through HQ same thing, straight refusal and wasn’t helpful. When I got the car back the final time I told the dealer that fixed it to buy me out. I was done with it, even if I was going to take a massive loss. The pain of owning that car was just too much. Oh and to close it out, selling this car back took multiple hours. I wanted to just get rid of it and be done, but I was stuck in BMW dealership hell while they sorted it all out.
The experience with the first dealer and being treated like trash by HQ (the call about getting a new car/refund) put me over the edge and I will never buy a car from the shitty brand again.
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RightFootDown
> The Dummy Gummy
06/04/2015 at 16:32 |
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Sorry I asked! Think you would still be in a BMW if you had taken your X5 to the second dealership the first time around?
Side note, I also had the transmission in my X5 replaced. I bought it from a CPO’d shop in Manassas and they threw in an additional 100k miles warranty. It had 98k when I bought it but was showroom mint and drove every bit as much... except for the transmission which started acting up a few months later. It would skip back and forth between 3rd and 4th.
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The Dummy Gummy
> RightFootDown
06/04/2015 at 18:05 |
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Ha, no worries. I know I’m a bit salty still. That first dealer is just so sleazy. Worst part about it the owner owns multiple dealers in the area (Audi/Jaguar/etc.)
That is a good question about the first dealer. Maybe. Talking with their Corporate HQ people really upset me too, but if I didn’t have such a bad experience with the first dealer maybe I wouldn’t have called them. All I know is for how much money it was, it not only has turned me off from BMW, but I don’t see myself ever buying another luxury car. It just isn’t worth the cost due to the high failure rate across the board. I’ll just stick with my Subaru’s. I’m not a fancy guy haha.
That stinks, but at least you had the warranty to support it. They are beautiful cars and they ride really really nice, but man that one time was rough.
NoneOfYourBiz
> The Dummy Gummy
06/07/2015 at 07:37 |
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Thanks for that.
This reinforces my decision to buy used and let someone else eat the depreciation; “new” doesn’t guarantee anything.