M3 (and M4?) Recall - engine replacement!

[Trikster]

Well I've had my new M3 for 10 days (was about to start a thread on thoughts etc) and had a call from the dealership today - basically do not drive the car!

They'd found a batch of pins (holding the conrods?) that were too short and mine was one of the cars impacted (early Nov build) - could toast the engine

So, two hours after the call and BMW collect the car to return to the dealership for a whole new engine - but with no idea how long it's going to take as no engines showing as available on the system (GT3 debacle anyone???)

Enterprise have dropped off a 320d, so have expressed my displeasure and am having something from the BMW experience centre delivered instead

And to top it all off - when the guy who came to collect the car was checking it over, found someone had keyed the nearside this afternoon (wasn't there at lunchtime)

First world problems, but had better days.....

Had hoped to bring it to the Sunday Service - ho hum will bring the Spyder so not a real hardship!

[James_G]

If that were me I would mightily p***ed off on all three accounts. The keying particularly. Low life scum.

[mad ferret]

This is bad news and you must be gutted, I would be.

I have a deposit down on a stock car which I haven't paid for yet. Do yo have any further details regarding the recall? Specific build dates etc

[NORTS]

Sorry to hear the bad news, hopefully it will be sorted soon but doesn't sound a quick fix. They give you expected duration? BMW are certainly not having the best time with this new M3/4, bad press reports (mostly) and not the best owner reviews. Plus you only have to look at all the stock cars available.

[spunko2010]

They'd sell a whole lot more of them if they dropped the price to a reasonable level. £55k is crazy.

[Trikster]

Well just heard from the dealers - BMW have released an engine and they should have it by the middle of next week. Question is if it will have all the gaskets etc as looks like there is a back log on the exhaust manifold gaskets....

Engine fitting time is a scheduled 15 hours... would be interesting to see it naked

[NORTS]

spunko2010 said:

They'd sell a whole lot more of them if they dropped the price to a reasonable level. £55k is crazy.

Look around. Some stock cars are being advertised for £51k. Maybe with a bit of haggling that will come down further.

[Trikster]

%age wise I got more than that off a factory build - so there are deals to be done....

[krallicious]

What deals are being offered? An M4 built to my spec comes to 70k plus!

[Trikster]

I struggled to get more than a couple of percent off an M4, but then decided I really needed a 4 door - will have to recheck the maths but think it was 12%ish

[spunko2010]

12% isn't too bad , the only finance deal I've seen is £2.5k deposit contribution. It works out cheaper to get an M5.

[Charlie1986]

Your lucky 4 cars in Germany have let go in a big way, BMW had all 4 cars forensically inspected to find the root of the problem.

P.s If I was you I would be asking for a workshop tour when its naked its just an amazing piece of engineering

[fishballs]

krallicious said:

What deals are being offered? An M4 built to my spec comes to 70k plus!

I can see why you wouldn't pull the trigger. Bloody hell that's a lot for a mid size GT car. If you can stomach a £40k loss in 3 years no problem but I can't help feeling it's about 10k over the odds.

[jayemm89]

Perhaps you could suggest to BMW that they could repair the keying damage as a compensation for having an unusable car for a while?

It will have a much greater cash value to you than it will cost to them - plus they're gonna be having the car for a while at some point no doubt.

[krallicious]

fishballs said:

krallicious said:

What deals are being offered? An M4 built to my spec comes to 70k plus!

I can see why you wouldn't pull the trigger. Bloody hell that's a lot for a mid size GT car. If you can stomach a £40k loss in 3 years no problem but I can't help feeling it's about 10k over the odds.

Just double checked, 97,000€! For an M4. I can get a fully specced, lightly used M6 for that.

[Zod]

spunko2010 said:

They'd sell a whole lot more of them if they dropped the price to a reasonable level. £55k is crazy.

Are you aware that the list price of the £46 in 2001 was £38k? My first cost £44k that year. My second, 18 months later (after the first was stolen) cost £49k.

[snowley]

I was going to say the same thing regarding the price of the E46. Relatively, not much has changed in 10+ years price wise.

[fishballs]

snowley said:

I was going to say the same thing regarding the price of the E46. Relatively, not much has changed in 10+ years price wise.

Except the car is cheaper to produce

[Lucozade]

Getting back on topic.

Does anybody have any details regarding the recall?

A service bulletin for example.

I've spoken to my dealer who are unable to find any reference to the problem.

I'm beginning to think with the lack of information this is a hoax.

[Trikster]

18 cars in the UK impacted - only hit a very small number, in the UK, which have been individually identified - given the timing I think the majority of them had yet to be delivered (my dealer had turned the car round very quickly when they received it due to other issues in the sales process)

Still no sign of my new engine though - but they've now given me a 330d X-Drive, which i have to say is a pretty decent steer... no traction issues at all, as you'd expect