Quote:
Originally Posted by Straight6r
Was over a clients house today and the guy is a huge German car nut. He has 4 Bimmers and 3 Mercs. We started to talk about the Bimmers I have owned and I told him of my respect for the 135 in relation to his M6 in terms of performance for $$. He agreed but then proceeded to point out that in his dealing with most 1 series owners, all we do is bitch. "Cry like babies" was a term used more then once. He wasn't trying to insult myself as a 1 series owner, but he brought up a good point. Most 1 series owners I have meet tend to fit into this group. Instead of focusing on what a great car the 135 is and why true car guys like myself bought one in the first place, they just complain over and over about the same things. At the risk of being outed, this site is a prime example. There is so much negative on this forum ( Except for the hatchback section which seems to be pretty positive as a whole ) it just starts to wear on a person.
I love the 135 and joined the forum cause I thought others would be on here as well expressing what a great piece of engineering it is for the money you pay. Instead I am usually greeted by the same posts over and over about fuel pumps and rattles and resale value. I get it, the car is not perfect, anyone who knows anything about any BMW will tell you that. The arguement that is always made is that for what you pay, it shouldn't have these problems. I call BS and anyone who makes that statement knows very little about what they are actually talking about. You can run a minivan up to 40K, so it's not a ton of money. Talk to anyone that has a Ferrari or a Lambo. These cars are rittled with problems, yet most people buy them anyways because they enjoy the car for what it is, not every little problem the car has.
Point is STOP BITCHING! We all know that any one of us could be next to have a HPFP go on us, but I wont run on here to post how upset I am and how BMW sucks........... I am smart enough to know that it's not news and nobody needs to log on to the forum just to see another thread about it.
Anyways, thanks for letting me rant and I realize that not everyone on this forum fits into the group I just mentioned. There just seems to be quite a few on here that constantly complain and it just makes me wonder if any car they could buy would truely impress them.  |
The first and most obvious thing is that there are simply a LOT more 1 and 3 series owners than there are 6 owners, and especially Ferrari, Lambo and other exotic owners.
So, a larger potential for whiners.
I've noticed over the years that cars like the 1, 3, A4, A3, C series, tend to have a lot of first time "luxury" brand buyers. There is a perception from many of these buyers that a "premium" brand automobile should be MORE reliable than the lower cost Honda's, Nissans, GM's, Fords, etc....
So, they are expecting their "premium" brand to be more reliable than lower cost vehicles.
The reality is, "premium" brand's have the moniker not due to their "premium" reliability, but more towards their inclusion of current technology, better materials, performance, and design.
Education before the purchase should easily and quickly reveal that most premium Euro automobiles do not top the list of reliability.
When I bought my first premium German brand E46 325i, in 2003, I too suffered from an elevated expectation of reliability.
I got over it. Overall that car was pretty darn reliable. There is nothing unique or different in how a BMW can fail or have problems. We just happen to get a bit more of them. Couple that with high expectation, and it's no wonder we have a lot of "cry babies".
My expectation is that the dealer and manufacturer fix the problems when they happen. That is important to me.
Automobiles are complex, and premium vehicles excel in their use of complex technologies, so the possibility of failure is higher. Yes, Lexus is high tech and they are more reliable, no question.
But, they are NOT infallible either, they just happen to have less problems per car, not 0.
My 135i, I still LOVE to drive it, and it brings me great pleasure in driving and owning it.
If BMW improves the next 1 series, I'll get it based on performance.
