Why is it...?

[TonyRPH]

That I so often see the words 'BMW' and 'common problem' in the same sentence?

Is it just because I previously owned a few BMWs and was a frequent visitor to the BMW forums?

Is it just commonplace with BMW, but not so common with other marques?

[CraigyMc]

TonyRPH said:

That I so often see the words 'BMW' and 'common problem' in the same sentence?

Is it just because I previously owned a few BMWs and was a frequent visitor to the BMW forums?

Is it just commonplace with BMW, but not so common with other marques?

BMW owners commonly cause problems?

[BarnatosGhost]

CraigyMc said:

TonyRPH said:

That I so often see the words 'BMW' and 'common problem' in the same sentence?

Is it just because I previously owned a few BMWs and was a frequent visitor to the BMW forums?

Is it just commonplace with BMW, but not so common with other marques?

BMW owners commonly cause problems?

BMW owners have problems with commoners.

[R360]

Mapped?

[Hitch78]

BMWs are common?

[Evil.soup]

All of the above!

[varsas]

Pretty much every car has common problems...all the ones I've ahd anyway. If you want to avoid them get a Honda.

BMW's are pretty good really, except rusty arches on E36's.

[TonyRPH]

R360 said:

Mapped?

lol @ this and some of the replies above.

[rjnewman]

Funny you should mention Honda, had a CRV from new and it was the most unreliable car i have ever had. Honda could never replicate the fault and treated me as an idiot for 18 months. When the car finaly broke down with their mechanic in it on the motorway they agreed there was an issue.

I have a 3 series now, didnt break down untill I had done 1000 miles from new! Apparently you cant run 318i on 95 ron fuel, only 98! Costing me extra money every time I fill up.

Truth is all cars have issues, the more they sell the more issues will be reported. I think!

[RobM77]

Being front engined rear drive with neat balanced handling and reasonably powerful engines, BMWs attract a more enthusiastic following than, for example, a Mondeo, Vectra or other run of the mill wobbly front wheel drive saloon. Ergo, more people talk and share information about BMWs and as such, patterns emerge with common problems. Most Ford, Vauxhall or Honda owners aren't on Pistonheads talking about their problems, so the knowledge base never gets that big. You'll find a similar thing with Elises (HGF!), Porsches (leaky seals...), TVRs (electrics!) and other marques that attract an enthusiastic following. BMW stand out because they're both a car people enthuse over and an extremely common ordinary saloon, so they get the enthusiasts treatment, but it's spread over a much bigger sample size because they are so many more of them than Elises or Boxsters. In reality, I doubt BMWs are any less reliable or prone to common problems than any other manufacturer. I'm on my fifth BMW now, and haven't really had any major issues other than things wearing out on higher mileage examples. Same for the other makes of car I've owned.

[anonymous-user]

ALL types of cars suffer problems.

Common problems are good, you can look out for them and identify them easier.

Intermittent problems...don't get me started..

[frosted]

rjnewman said:

Funny you should mention Honda, had a CRV from new and it was the most unreliable car i have ever had. Honda could never replicate the fault and treated me as an idiot for 18 months. When the car finaly broke down with their mechanic in it on the motorway they agreed there was an issue.

I have a 3 series now, didnt break down untill I had done 1000 miles from new! Apparently you cant run 318i on 95 ron fuel, only 98! Costing me extra money every time I fill up.

Truth is all cars have issues, the more they sell the more issues will be reported. I think!

I don't believe none of that

[CraigyMc]

frosted said:

I don't believe none of that

So you are saying you believe all of it.

[frosted]

CraigyMc said:

frosted said:

I don't believe none of that

So you are saying you believe all of it.

or none of it , confused myself

[944fan]

You get the same if you go to VAG sitesm everyone has the same 'common' problem.

[anonymous-user]

Most of the 'common'issues relate to the diesels. Turbo's have proven to be not that reliable. As for the petrol engined versions I would think they are stronger, but then they shuold be really.

What is impressive is that so many people buy into the marketing hype surrounding them!

[RobM77]

yonex said:

What is impressive is that so many people buy into the marketing hype surrounding them!

What do you mean by that?

[10 Pence Short]

RobM77 said:

Being front engined rear drive with neat balanced handling and reasonably powerful engines, BMWs attract a more enthusiastic following than, for example, a Mondeo, Vectra or other run of the mill wobbly front wheel drive saloon. Ergo, more people talk and share information about BMWs and as such, patterns emerge with common problems. Most Ford, Vauxhall or Honda owners aren't on Pistonheads talking about their problems, so the knowledge base never gets that big. You'll find a similar thing with Elises (HGF!), Porsches (leaky seals...), TVRs (electrics!) and other marques that attract an enthusiastic following. BMW stand out because they're both a car people enthuse over and an extremely common ordinary saloon, so they get the enthusiasts treatment, but it's spread over a much bigger sample size because they are so many more of them than Elises or Boxsters. In reality, I doubt BMWs are any less reliable or prone to common problems than any other manufacturer. I'm on my fifth BMW now, and haven't really had any major issues other than things wearing out on higher mileage examples. Same for the other makes of car I've owned.

Come one, Rob. The 3 Series demographic is as dumbed-down, mass market as that of the Mondeo or Passat. I don't believe that the reputation for issues on a car like the 3 is purely down to their drivers generally being more beardy. I believe it's down to BMW having the same lax attitude as many other marques who have lived on a reputation for engineering, whilst really chasing savings and mass market sales, at the expense of that engineering.

Do I really believe a VW, Mercedes or BMW is going to be any more reliable then the equivalent Hyundai, Honda or Ford? Quite the opposute, to be honest.

[RobM77]

10 Pence Short said:

RobM77 said:

Being front engined rear drive with neat balanced handling and reasonably powerful engines, BMWs attract a more enthusiastic following than, for example, a Mondeo, Vectra or other run of the mill wobbly front wheel drive saloon. Ergo, more people talk and share information about BMWs and as such, patterns emerge with common problems. Most Ford, Vauxhall or Honda owners aren't on Pistonheads talking about their problems, so the knowledge base never gets that big. You'll find a similar thing with Elises (HGF!), Porsches (leaky seals...), TVRs (electrics!) and other marques that attract an enthusiastic following. BMW stand out because they're both a car people enthuse over and an extremely common ordinary saloon, so they get the enthusiasts treatment, but it's spread over a much bigger sample size because they are so many more of them than Elises or Boxsters. In reality, I doubt BMWs are any less reliable or prone to common problems than any other manufacturer. I'm on my fifth BMW now, and haven't really had any major issues other than things wearing out on higher mileage examples. Same for the other makes of car I've owned.

Come one, Rob. The 3 Series demographic is as dumbed-down, mass market as that of the Mondeo or Passat. I don't believe that the reputation for issues on a car like the 3 is purely down to their drivers generally being more beardy. I believe it's down to BMW having the same lax attitude as many other marques who have lived on a reputation for engineering, whilst really chasing savings and mass market sales, at the expense of that engineering.

Do I really believe a VW, Mercedes or BMW is going to be any more reliable then the equivalent Hyundai, Honda or Ford? Quite the opposute, to be honest.

Sorry, that's completely not what I meant. The OP was inferring (perhaps quite rightly) that BMWs seem to have more "known issues" than other more mundane marques, and I was suggesting that in reality, they probably have a similar level of issues, but it just seems that way. It's just that on Pistonheads, BMWs have more of an enthusiast following than these other marques, so they get chatted about more and issues summarised more often. Common issues on Mondeos or other yawn boxes don't get discussed with great enthusiasm, but I'm sure they do exist just as they do on BMWs! As I said in my post above, Porsche also appear to have lots of issues, but in reality it doesn't seem as bad as it may first seem. TVR aren't that great either, but from chatting to owners it doesn't seem quite as bad as you'd believe from reading things on the internet...

I wasn't trying to say that BMWs are more reliable than other marques, but if you are asking the question, then I have an answer! The honest answer is that I don't know. I have however read lots of reliability surveys and also people often come to me for advice when their car breaks, or at least chat to me about it. Ergo, I know that Renault, Ford and Vauxhall have got quite a bad reputation (in that order), and Toyota, Nissan and Honda have a very good reputation. Between those infamous triplets the other manufacturers, such as BMW, Merc (avoiding the funny period around the Chrysler merger...) and VW lie, but I don't know where exactly. To be honest, I don't care a great deal, because personally I just buy the car I like driving the most, and then repair it if and when it breaks down. I don't think any modern car is bad enough reliability wise to cause me concern, so I just concentrate on the driving experience and whatever else I need out of a car (boot space, mpg, roof rack access etc).

[10 Pence Short]

Completely agree with you, Rob.