I gotta go with Shagnasty here. I’ve had one 3 series and two 5 series BMWs, and never had any significant mechanical issues. On the newest one, the first 4 years of scheduled maintenace was FREE. I never paid a dime, and the dealership gave me a loaner for every service visit. When I bought the car, it was only after driving every single other car in the category – Lexus, Mercedes, Audi, Nissan, Cadillac, Acura. Some were cheaper, some more expensive, none came close to driving as well.
Also, as to Mercedes making “truly great cars”, I just gotta say, maybe once upon a time.
I know I’m an asshole, but I also know I don’t drive like one. Well, unless you’re in a motor home on Highway 1 south of Big Sur. Then I’ll cut you off like a tired bartender at 2:00 am.
I agreed with that line in “Sin City”, where what-his-name who’s been framed steals a Mercedes or “what passes for a Mercedes these days.” They just don’t look anywhere as good as they used to
And haven’t they taken a tonne of grief for having poor poor build quality of late?
However crappy a BMW is, it can’t be as bad as a Mazda. I had a second-hand 929, very flash looking, but utter shite under the bonnet. *Then, I went and bought another one * - again second-hand. Same thing happened. Kept overheating. Both pegged out at little more than 50,000 miles.
Then I saw sense and bought a Toyota Echo aka Yaris. Nearly three years and not a problem.
Some cars would surprise you, in over 80 000 miles of learner driving on country roads my Mum’s old French hatchback only threw the briefest of strops in our entire ownership and is still on the streets of our town at what must be over 100 000 miles of motoring. Being small and French made me think it would break down a lot more than it did.
Well, as an asshole (but not one who ownes a car, let alone a “Beemer”), I can tell you that other assholes buy BMWs, Lexus (Lexi?), Porsches, and Hummers because they are “fuck you” cars. The only people who turn their nose down on them are people who you wouldn’t care about anyway. In fact, you might like the fact that those people hate your car.
But as someone who gre up in an upper-middle class environment, it’s fairly common for people to own BMWs and so on so it’s not really that big a deal.
Last night I went to what’s perhaps the best movie I’ve seen in a theater this year, and one of the characters (a cop) provided his own personal strategy for dealing with asshole BMW drivers:
Pee in the keyhole. His reasoning: it’ll stick, it’ll stink, and it’s something the insurance won’t touch. It makes for a couple funny moments in an otherwise splendid, riveting thriller.
My brother-in-law drives a BMW and my boyfriend drives a Benz.
They’re both nice guys…my sister and I maintain it’s the freaking CAR that turns them into asshole drivers at least. There’s some sort of feeling of “it’s a Benz/BMW/Whatever so I can drive with impunity” type attitude that goes along with purchasing a luxury car when you’re really young (and both my BIL and bf bought their own). On the other hand, my parents just purchased themselves a lovely Lexus and they drive it in the same way they drove their Camry…I think the younger you are when you purchase your first luxury car the more likely you are to drive like nimrod, everyone’s MMV.
It is true that the only real thing wrong with BMW’s is that it costs a lot to fix them. I think that is mainly to keep the riffraff out though. After all, a gloriously beautiful stallion costs more to keep in shape than an old nag but the world would be a sad place if people always went for the more plebian options.
I really like BMWs and I don’t think I’m an asshole :o
I went to a BMW Ultimate Driving Experience last week and got to drive the new 3 series. It feels so much better put together than any other car I’ve driven–the important parts of the car, the steering, acceleration and brakes, are predictable, communicative, and just plain fun. Wish I could say as much for the new styling. I need to get myself an e36 325i.
Old lady Beemer owner here. Didn’t buy it for the image, etc. I wanted to replace my 5 speed 4-Runner, which I still love and have, couldn’t bear to trade it in. :wally But, Toyota in its ever-loving logic stopped making the 4-Runner with a manual tranny. So I go looking for a cushy SUV (I am short and like the added height of an SUV–what sold me on the 4-Runner in the first place) replacement with a manual transmission. What do I find–zip except for the X-5. Compared to the 4-Runner it drives like a dream and can even get out of its own way on the highway.
My 5 speed (wish it was a 6) X-5 has 74,000 miles on it and I haven’t had any maintence done on it but oil changes (every 15,000 miles) since it was new. Still has original brakes, clutch etc. Oh, and it cost less than my brother’s atrocious mini-van.
I used to think BMW owners were pretentious too, but damn I do love X.
I’m not a World-Class asshole, only a National A-Class asshole. I do hope to move up to a World ranking someday. Four months ago I traded my Camaro for an Audi wagon, which may seem to be a lateral move (though Camaro means “Asshole with a shank in my boot”). Got it because we needed more space but didn’t want an SUV and we liked it better than any of the station wagons we tested. Plus, you don’t see many Audi’s around here and we value novelty.
(slight hijack: We test drove a Magnum, but the main thing that turned me off was the salesman. Every time I called it a wagon, he would say “Chrysler doesn’t make station wagons, it’s a sport SUV.” Which is stupidly redundant, since SUV is “Sport Utility Vehicle”. I know someone in the marketing department decided that station wagons don’t sell and SUV’s are hot, but if it looks like a wagon and your customer keeps calling it a wagon, then drop the sport SUV line already.)
BTW, I’ve heard BMW = Bavarian Money Wagon, or (when talking about their motorcycles) Bikes Made Weirdly.
You may have gotten the only two badly built Mazdas ever. Aside from the 626 automatic transmission (a Ford component), piston-engined Mazdas are freakin’ invincible.
Honda and Toyota accumulated a great record for reliability in the late 80s and early 90s, but how many 13-17 year old Hondas and Toyotas do you see now, compared to Mazdas of a similar era? Mazda was the little guy… they sold less than 1 626 for every 3 Accords then… and now you see a lot more “box” 626s than you see early '90s Accords or Camrys.
It only costs a lot to fix them if you take them to a dealer. Turn your own Snap-Ons and they’re dirt cheap to fix. At least apart from the cost of the Snap-Ons.
