Don't buy this car. Quality and reliability is a joke

[UnhappySwede]

Yep, it's sad. This car is pleasant to drive and I really do enjoy it the few moments of trouble-free driving I get, but it never lasts.

Within my family, we had all kinds of cars, used and new ones, and they just run. Maybe a minor fix now and then, but pretty much too few to even keep track of them.

Then I got my 2016 X5 25d, and I figured I would be safe as BMW had a few years to get the bugs out of the F15, and while BMW isn't known to be as troublesome as VW or Audi.

Well, guessing Im eating that up now. Picked up my car in january 2016 and within two weeks, the whole car was pretty much shattered from the gravel on Stockholm winter roads. Every single hit on my windshield made a hole or cracked it, so it almost looked like a crashed one. I replaced it after winter and only the next day, Another tiny rock made Another hole in it requiring Another work shop visit. I also had to replace the fog light and the radiator looks 20 years old from all the damage tiny stones done to it. Last time we had a glass repair on other cars in my family was 10 years ago.

Then there was chassis. My suspension pretty much didn't work the first 7000 miles, making everyone in the car nauseus. I had to drive around with Concrete in the back to make the dampers work and now it softened up tremendously. While this is a good thing, I question the reliability of the chassis aswell.

So then there's the runflats. It ruined a Euro roadtrip for me as these Wheels seem to lose their balance without the weights slipping off. They were balanced, lost their balance, I had them rebalanced, it got better, then worse, then better...after 10 000 miles of agony, it is quite driveable, right now.

And while enjoying that quite driveable sensation, I suddenly got "drivetrain malfunction" on Another road trip causing the Engine to limit its output. Back to the work shop again, turns out the EGR valve was done after just 5 months. Despite driving and working with diesel cars for 10 years, I had no idea what this was as it was never a problem, but a brief search of the net showed that BMW had this issue for more than 10 years without paying attention to it. Talked to two collagues of mine who drive BMW and they both had these valves replaced. It's quite costly outside of the warranty too. It appears to clog up after a while, so Im waiting to get the same issue again next year.

Well, I got it replaced, vacation was closing in and I was planning to drive off again. But no. Now the thermostat failed. The car struggles to reach and keep decent temperature, so I guess its wide open any time. There's however dangers with running Cold diesel Engines, and the failed thermostat may aswell get stuck closed when I need it the least.

So, a quick replacement and Im off for my planned trips? Not really, my workshop closed up for the vacation and the other avaliable one is flooded with people so bad that they can't help me either. It's not easy to change this one yourself either as there are 4 thermostats in the Engine, and any work on it by unauthorized workshops cuts the warranty.

And yes there goes my vacation. It won't be a BMW for me ever again, I spent more time in the work shop last 6 months than the 10 years before that combined. I look forward to buying something Asian again. I might even put a Japanese flag up in my home.

[Diper]

I'm sorry to read all your unfortunate malfunctions. In fact I'll be cruising throughout Sweden in 3 wks time. I had one of the first 30d delivered to the Netherlands and the car is almost fully spec'd besides the active cruise control.

If I where you, I would write a email to BMW Germany. Just a factual one, it worked out great for me one time before delivery.

[MysticBlue]

And then there's me... 15000 miles, 2 winters (Intermountain West) and 2 summers (plenty of 100* days). Not a single complaint. Not a single problem. Nothing. Nada.

[ikheetleon]

Wow that sounds like you got a "bad luck" car. Allthough gravel hitting your windshield is not something you can blame the f15 for. But if you add all this stuff up, I would probably feel the same.

[Terp335]

I've been reading your posts for a while now and I know you've had a tough time since you bought your X5. Your experience is painful and a reminder that some bad vehicles will get through quality control. I hope you continue to seek support from BMW and they respond appropriately.

[viperdoc]

It doesn't sound like a quality issue for the most part. All windshields are made of glass. With the right amount of force they will crack. Sounds like you have a lot of rocks on the roads where you live? You also may be following too close to the people in front of you? Just a thought.

As a comparison to "industry standard for reliability and comfort", try driving some Lexus cars. If you want a bad suspension drive the Lexus RX. Absolutely horrible. Lexus has no idea what they are doing with that car...or the GS sedan either. Drove that too and went away with a horrible headache from all the road impacts felt in the car. And the transmission issues I had with my RX were ridiculous. Not that it broke....which would have been better. it was actually the throttle lag and very poor gear ratios that made the car drive LIKE it was broken....every day. I had that car in the shop trying to figure out why it drove so badly multiple times only for me to be told....that's the way it is supposed to drive. Huh?

Anyway, I know all Of this doesn't help you, but I thought I would at least mention it to show that cars sometimes don't work as we hope. For my BMW I specifically looked for one that was minimally optioned....the more options, the more likely something will break.

[UnhappySwede]

Originally Posted by ikheetleon

Wow that sounds like you got a "bad luck" car. Allthough gravel hitting your windshield is not something you can blame the f15 for. But if you add all this stuff up, I would probably feel the same.

Gravel has been hitting all three of my family's cars for 10 years without any of them requiring any repairs. My BMW was broken everywhere 2 weeks after it's maiden voyage. Fog light too, and the radiator is in an unacceptable shape too. People in this forum wrote about their leaks in pretty new F15s.

I did read up on this and it appears that several brands have these problems nowadays, and the reason is simple: the glass manufacturors realised that they would make more money by Selling thinner glass that breaks easy. From what I understand, there's only two or three major glass manufacturors on the market and they work more like partners than competitors.

This is a win-win for everyone but me - BMW buys their glass cheaper and the manufacturer gets to sell more replacement glass. The same principle as with the BMW EGR valves I guess.

Now, this would almost be acceptable on a Dacia, but I paied premium money and got budget products. I'm going to go totally nuts if my windshield breaks again the first time they have to sand the roads around here.

I Went to Toyota today in anger, looking at the Land Cruiser. The salesman said that the car is uncomparable to BMW in terms of handling, but that he recently did have a customer who traded a new 5-series in for an Avesis, stating that he "didn't buy a BMW to become best friends with their mechanics".

Diper - welcome to Sweden! I always tell everyone that there are just two decent looking countries in Europe - Sweden and The Netherlands. I admire how you perfected every inch of that land without exception.

As for Sweden, I recommend going far up north, leaving civilization behind and heading towards rural, Sami lands. It's not for everyone but for me, thats when it really starts to get exciting.

[IvanLZ]

I have to agree with the windshield easily cracking with just about any tiny piece of rock since i have had a crack within 6-8 months of ownership. Right now driven around 17000 miles and still got no issues. You problaby got a very unlucky car or maybe its because i have the 35i?

[coolidge]

Unfortunately our pal the government is driving much of this with ever increasing MPG requirements and pollution regulations. Thinner lighter less durable materials and gobs of half baked pollution control crap. It used to be a diesel engine would run several hundred thousand miles now I wouldn't even consider a diesel engine.

[UnhappySwede]

Originally Posted by coolidge

Unfortunately our pal the government is driving much of this with ever increasing MPG requirements and pollution regulations. Thinner lighter less durable materials and gobs of half baked pollution control crap. It used to be a diesel engine would run several hundred thousand miles now I wouldn't even consider a diesel engine.

True that. The start/stop function is an example...said to reduce pollution but it reduces the lifetime of batteries so rapidly that pollution from manufacturing new ones is in excess of that gas we do or dont save by traffic lights.

And the fact that more and more new cars can't carry a spare Wheel. Is it more enviroment friendly to have tow trucks driving your car back to town?

I doubt my car was just an unlucky unicorn one. BMW had this EGR issue for ages and still struggle with it. According to my mechanic, whom I meet more often than my girlfriend, you cant replace it yourself either without that BMW plug-in computer without risking damage to the Engine. So if it keeps failing/clogging up like it did, Im looking at a 1000$ cost each year. And then Another few hundred for the annual fog lights and windshields.

[coolidge]

Originally Posted by UnhappySwede

True that. The start/stop function is an example...said to reduce pollution but it reduces the lifetime of batteries so rapidly that pollution from manufacturing new ones is in excess of that gas we do or dont save by traffic lights.

And the fact that more and more new cars can't carry a spare Wheel. Is it more enviroment friendly to have tow trucks driving your car back to town?

I doubt my car was just an unlucky unicorn one. BMW had this EGR issue for ages and still struggle with it. According to my mechanic, whom I meet more often than my girlfriend, you cant replace it yourself either without that BMW plug-in computer without risking damage to the Engine. So if it keeps failing/clogging up like it did, Im looking at a 1000$ cost each year. And then Another few hundred for the annual fog lights and windshields.

Fully agree, so many of these government mandates are so damn half baked stupid ideas that have no or worse impact. Like electric cars, manufacturing the batteries for them is toxic as freaking hell, really nasty stuff and then there is disposal of these batteries. But government pats themselves on the back for being 'green'.

Here in the US big 4x4 diesel trucks were getting north of 25mpg then they slapped the pollution control crap on them and your lucky to get 16-20. Supposedly the spew less pollution but they burn significantly more diesel doing it how the hell is that 'green'? And mark my words they will find some toxic pollution ramification for this DEF fluid in 10 to 20 years.

When you have major manufactures programming emissions cheats on diesels that tells you how bad it is. Some level of government standards is a good thing, the problem is they can't help themselves from running amok and going overboard.

[artem123]

Just to clarify... You got the car in January, right? It is July and you have 10.000 Miles on it? If i factor in time which car was sitting in the shop and was out of the service due to shop being closed.... The remaining time car had to be driven all the time, without stop, on gravel covered roads? LOL...
Of course i am saying it in jest, however, it does look to me that you squeeze every little bit of a juice out of it.

[UnhappySwede]

10 000 miles? I passed that after about 4 months, then spring came and I picked up the pace so I'm hitting 20 000 miles (or ~30 000 km) any day soon.

Now vacation just started so I was planning on getting some serious miles on it, but I'm stuck here looking for that thermostat to be replaced...

Driving is fun.

[teodorjelev]

Buy BMW and lose the joy of life!

[Kzang]

Yeah BMW sucks ass!!! Yet I'm still here on this forum actively posting.

[teodorjelev]

However the chip to put the same hearse will stay, you want to go but BMW that's life could so!

[teodorjelev]

For your ways buy Toyota or G-Class, BMW is the only asphalt is not for the jungle!

[Baunton]

Originally Posted by UnhappySwede

Yep, it's sad. This car is pleasant to drive and I really do enjoy it the few moments of trouble-free driving I get, but it never lasts.

Within my family, we had all kinds of cars, used and new ones, and they just run. Maybe a minor fix now and then, but pretty much too few to even keep track of them.

Then I got my 2016 X5 25d, and I figured I would be safe as BMW had a few years to get the bugs out of the F15, and while BMW isn't known to be as troublesome as VW or Audi.

Well, guessing Im eating that up now. Picked up my car in january 2016 and within two weeks, the whole car was pretty much shattered from the gravel on Stockholm winter roads. Every single hit on my windshield made a hole or cracked it, so it almost looked like a crashed one. I replaced it after winter and only the next day, Another tiny rock made Another hole in it requiring Another work shop visit. I also had to replace the fog light and the radiator looks 20 years old from all the damage tiny stones done to it. Last time we had a glass repair on other cars in my family was 10 years ago.

Then there was chassis. My suspension pretty much didn't work the first 7000 miles, making everyone in the car nauseus. I had to drive around with Concrete in the back to make the dampers work and now it softened up tremendously. While this is a good thing, I question the reliability of the chassis aswell.

So then there's the runflats. It ruined a Euro roadtrip for me as these Wheels seem to lose their balance without the weights slipping off. They were balanced, lost their balance, I had them rebalanced, it got better, then worse, then better...after 10 000 miles of agony, it is quite driveable, right now.

And while enjoying that quite driveable sensation, I suddenly got "drivetrain malfunction" on Another road trip causing the Engine to limit its output. Back to the work shop again, turns out the EGR valve was done after just 5 months. Despite driving and working with diesel cars for 10 years, I had no idea what this was as it was never a problem, but a brief search of the net showed that BMW had this issue for more than 10 years without paying attention to it. Talked to two collagues of mine who drive BMW and they both had these valves replaced. It's quite costly outside of the warranty too. It appears to clog up after a while, so Im waiting to get the same issue again next year.

Well, I got it replaced, vacation was closing in and I was planning to drive off again. But no. Now the thermostat failed. The car struggles to reach and keep decent temperature, so I guess its wide open any time. There's however dangers with running Cold diesel Engines, and the failed thermostat may aswell get stuck closed when I need it the least.

So, a quick replacement and Im off for my planned trips? Not really, my workshop closed up for the vacation and the other avaliable one is flooded with people so bad that they can't help me either. It's not easy to change this one yourself either as there are 4 thermostats in the Engine, and any work on it by unauthorized workshops cuts the warranty.

And yes there goes my vacation. It won't be a BMW for me ever again, I spent more time in the work shop last 6 months than the 10 years before that combined. I look forward to buying something Asian again. I might even put a Japanese flag up in my home.

UnhappySwede I appreciate the real issues you have had with your F15. I haven't had anything to that degree but to blame the car for the state of Swedish road's and chips/breaks in your windscreen is laughable. It ain't an issue with the car it's an issue with your roads.
I've had chips in my windscreen but its not the car's fault, that's life!

Your alias is spot-on. Bet you never had stone chips when driving a Volvo!

[UnhappySwede]

Yea, and its not BMWs fault that my radiator is partly trashed, and that my EGR valve failed, and the thermostat and so on. If I just put it in my garage when it was new and never took it out, neither of this would had happend.

Newer windshields are often thinner and extremely fragile, but also cheaper.

BMW chose to put in a fragile one in the car instead of a decent one. Our other cars dont break, this one breaks straight away. Simple as that.

[Kzang]

In unhappyswedes defense BMW recently has been using softer glass for their windshield. This has been a known issue for quite some time. I've experienced more chips and small cracks on this car than any other car I've owned as well.

[alphaod]

Sounds like some bad luck, sorry to hear. My car has been mostly good. I've driven all over the country, on road, off road, hot, cold, dry, wet. It's been doing quite well. I agree the windshield is quite soft. I have many small pits. I did get two major strikes that seem to have left another two small pits but fortunately did not cause more damage than that.

[coolidge]

Originally Posted by UnhappySwede

Yea, and its not BMWs fault that my radiator is partly trashed, and that my EGR valve failed, and the thermostat and so on. If I just put it in my garage when it was new and never took it out, neither of this would had happend.

Newer windshields are often thinner and extremely fragile, but also cheaper.

BMW chose to put in a fragile one in the car instead of a decent one. Our other cars dont break, this one breaks straight away. Simple as that.

You should go all Mad Max and weld a heavy steel mesh over the top of your windshield, maybe some chariot spikes sticking out from your wheels. Its not a problem, its an opportunity