BMW's response to my X5 almost killing my family and I twice
 

***This has been written to share my experience with the fellow community on how my BMW almost killed my family and I twice and BMW North America’s response to it***


*******For those of you who aren’t a fan of reading, here is a summarized version************

-Purchased a certified pre-owned BMW X5 while still under full bumper to bumper warranty
-car has a slough of problems from day of purchase
-vehicle in for repairs for a total of 75 days, 11 visits, in the past 1.5 years of ownership
-car went into limp mode twice nearly killing my family and I
-After discussions among BMW executives and a one-month investigation, BMW North America has waived one month’s payment and reimbursed me for a repair done recently (~$275) as final means of compensation. WHAT A SLAP IN THE FACE!
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On February 3, 2012., I decided to take my driving experience to a new level by purchasing my very first BMW. As a young family man, I selected a Certified Pre-owned 2008 x5 4.8i with the following factors in mind: luxury, style, performance, and most importantly, safety. Three weeks after taking delivery, my vehicle was back in the service bay for malfunctioning parts and missing goods that were not sold accompanying the vehicle despite being advertised.

As it stands, for the past year and a half of owning my CPO X5, it has returned to the service department for eleven (11) separate occasions with a total of seventy-five (75) days for repairs. Each visit did not only have one issue nor was any of these eleven visits for regular scheduled maintenance work.

When I initially shopped for this vehicle, my sales associate and pre-owned manager said there was no room for negotiations at all and the vehicle was priced higher than similar vehicles of the same make and model at other dealerships because it was part of the BMW Certified Series. According to the BMW website, this would have meant that my X5 has had to have undergone a “comprehensive 360-degree survey and reconditioning process”, “performed by factory-trained BMW technicians” followed by “rigorous checklist [ensuring] that everything is absolutely perfect before [customers] get behind the wheel”.

With 75,xxxkms on the odometer, 11,000 of which were mine, I have experienced the following failures: water pump failure, vacuum pump failure, water in lights, self closing mechanisms falling off, gaitors on the sun roof falling off, corroded wires, bad battery, broken trim pieces, squeaking components, coolant expansion tank failure, exterior window moldings detaching, cracked alloy rim, keys replaced, throttle body harness malfunction, new rear differential, transmission reprogramming, oil leaks from both valve cover gaskets, and oil leaks from both timing cover gaskets.

As mentioned above, I have put a total of roughly 11000kms on this vehicle only and with the extent at which this vehicle is requiring servicing, it is quite evident this X5 is not of quality and is definitely not fit for the service implied. On the contrary, I had $2000 worth of aftermarket audio equipment that was completely fried after having my vehicle serviced recently, but was told it was out of coincidence. When I had my vehicle towed in for repairs, everything was working flawlessly but now I am left with $2000 worth of paperweight and no compensation whatsoever.

Reiterating the reasons why I purchased this vehicle, it has not fulfilled my expectations at all. The build quality is delicate and fragile; performance is sub-par due to constant malfunctions, and the safety aspect became obsolete on June 6, 2013 when it nearly claimed the life of my family and I twice. My X5 went into limp mode twice, once while making a left turn against oncoming traffic, and once while in the fast lane along the high way.

The first error stated, “4x4 and DSC malfunction, reduced power” in the middle of a left turn against oncoming traffic. The reduction in power barely allowed me to execute my left turn completely. Had the vehicles moving towards me not applied their brakes hard enough while maneuvering to the next lane, my family and I would have been dead. After my first near-miss incident, I turned the vehicle off and turned it back on. To my dismay, the car was fine and all error messages were clear. The vehicle drove fine for a couple of hours. Then a second incident occurred, only this time, in a much more dangerous environment, the highway. I was driving in the fast lane on the highway, when suddenly, another error message displayed on the I-drive, “Engine malfunction. Reduced power”. The vehicle reduced speed so rapidly; vehicles behind me nearly rear-ended me. With every attempt to pull over to the shoulder lane, other vehicles behind me had to swerve out of the way to avoid colliding into my vehicle. As you may imagine, these incidents caused quite a commotion in the vehicle; moreover, the outcome of these two incidents could have easily been catastrophic for members of my vehicle or for other drivers on the road. To make matters worse, the tow truck driver dispatched from BMW arrived to tow my vehicle sixty minutes later and accidentally left my family and I stranded on the side of the highway as he drove off with my vehicle.

Needless to say, I am not happy with my BMW and doubt the integrity of the automaker as a corporation. I did not expect to be driving a courtesy car every few weeks, be limited to my travels over fear of being stranded, and certainly not have my vehicle jeopardize the life of my family. I have been very patient with BMW throughout this ordeal and all of the inconveniences and stresses this vehicle has brought upon me. In light of the recent near death experiences, I have contacted BMW Canada Finance Department, BMW North America, CEO of BMW Canada, the owner of the BMW dealership I purchased the vehicle from, and the only compensation I have been granted is one months of payment waived and a reimbursement to a programming issue I had with my transmission recently despite still being qualified for the CPO warranty. This was the best solution BMW North America came up with at their executive level and have made it very clear to me that my case is considered closed as there is nothing more they can do.

I am sure some of you have had much better experiences out there with BMW than I have had and some may have had it worse, but I think many can agree that when it comes to building automobiles, safety aspect is a high priority to any consumer and when it is compromised to the point where it throws you into the line of fire, an automaker would really need to step up the game to retain the integrity of their name if not the client themselves. With an insulting compensation presented, I have moved to another automaker and will never consider buying another BMW. My Ultimate Driving Scare is officially over!

Which dealership did you buy this from? who was the salesman who guaranteed it to be BMW Certified? I would like to know because I am considering buying a BMW Certified pre owned vehicle soon.

Before you purchased the vehicle did you do a mechanical check yourself or by a mechanic you trust? You shouldn't expect any dealership to do this for you even they are required. Always do your due diligence prior to purchase.

Nonetheless if you feel you were screwed and you don't accept the compensation than contact a lawyer.

Should've bought a Lexus or Mercedes'

Haven't had a single problem on mine, I think the build quality is amazing. However, sounds like you got a lemon, no idea how that car made it on the CPO list, I would contact a lawyer and see if there is any course of action that can be taken. You pay more for a CPO, it should be flawless IMO.

Sounds like a lease end car... :lawl:

Never buy those pieces of shit; they deserve to be recycled.

BMWs, drive a courtesy car for a week every year. :troll:

Lemon law.

I purchased it at Brian Jessel BMW. I am pretty sure it was a leased returned vehicle and no I did not take it to a mechanic (wasn't even aware you could do that, lesson learnt) because I would expect a company as big as Brian Jessel BMW to be honest with the vehicles they sell.

Redlines_daily, you are blessed!

Before I bought mine, I quadruple checked the service history with almost all the dealerships in BC... in person, email and on the phone. Then I did carproof and carfax myself even though the seller showed me a report that was updated a day before.

After test driving the car, I got 2 mechanical inspections done. One by BCAA, and one by a trusted indy. I never did this for my g35, only did it for this one because its a euro car and it is turbo'd. It costed me close to $500 to get all the reports and inspections done, but avoiding headaches and problems like what you are having right now... it is more than worth it. Besides, the car was way below market value.

If you checked the service history of the car and it already has a bunch of mechanical problems, you probably shouldn't have bought the car.

I was pretty worried when buying my BMW due to the amount of problems I've heard about them, but I haven't had a single problem since the day I bought the car besides having the previous owner spill coffee into the idrive controller right before we signed papers and I didn't notice till I got home as he wiped it down. Was quoted some crazy numbers by BMW to fix it, but I took it out and cleaned it like no tomorrow and it was covered under warranty since there were no signs of spills.

+1. I haven't bought a used car from dealer myself, but I always thought BMW and other luxury CPO cars garnered the premium BECAUSE you didn't have to worry about taking it into a third party mechanic and all the other hassles of buying a used car private.

^lol! good job!! Most of my repairs were covered under warranty but the time, inconvenience, and the just down right embarrassment of spending so much money on a car that spent so much time at the shop...

my last straw was when it almost killed my family and i twice...that's where i drew the line. that was repair visit number 9...in a span of two weeks, it went back for transmission issues. (it required programming. $477 not covered by CPO but BMW is in the process of reimbursing me that after putting up a fight. Then the dealership scratched one of my wheels so they had to refinish it a few days after I got the car back..

I pick up my new ride tonight and am stoked =)

that's exactly what I thought. I figure the fancy foot work would be ironed out for you and that was what the salesman highlight when they sell you a CPO.

" you have nothing to worry about! this car is covered for another two years after the bumper to bumper warranty"

You soon find out it covers SOME things only....NOT ALL so make sure you get them to outline it all out to you first should you choose to go with a CPO.

^ Who's your service advisor? I got a few things to claim on warranty :troll: :fullofwin:

*me and my family

Sucks that BMW is giving you the shaft. Hopefully a better resolution will come of this.

Not to sound like I'm bashing you or anything, but to be fair, it is a used car. And regardless of if it's a CPO from BMW or a random off of Craigslist, it's ultimately your responsibility to check up on the maintenance record. Things like the water and vacuum pump may be fine upon inspection, but there's no guarantee on how long they'll last. Not only that, but the maintenance history will give you a rough idea on how the previous owner treated it. If he/she was fastidious with oil changes and kept a log book for every mile travelled, chances are you wont have to worry so much about future repair bills hitting you within the first year. If, on the other hand, there's not so much as a receipt for an oil change, then it's time to look closer at it. A CPO inspection doesn't involve tearing apart the engine to look for worn out parts.

Don't get me wrong; it sucks that you've had to go through all that hassle, and believe me, I know exactly where you're coming from, but at the same time it is a used car. It's not really BMW's problem if a particular car had a bad previous owner who didn't take care of it. That's what the warranty is for. :p

Did you get it fixed after the first limp mode? did you find out what's malfunctioning ?

And really... it might be a little overly dramatic to keep saying over and over "THE X5 TRIED TO MURDER MY CHILDREN!!!" In fairness, your CPO comes with free roadside assistance (read: towing) and if you were really that shooken up after the first time, why not have it towed and have a loaner instead? Cars do break and they warrantied everything exactly as they promised to as best as I can see...

Mark

Thanks for everyone's contribution to the thread and you are entitled to think what you want. Cars missed me by meters at a pretty high rate so I would say it's pretty near death.

Car was running fine while waiting in the middle of an intersection to make a left turn. When i proceeded to make the left cause I had sufficient room, the moment I stepped on the accelerator, car went into limp mode and I was already into the first lane of oncoming traffic. I put the car into the sport mode and manually downshifted and gassed hard but there wasn't any torque. As soon as I completed the turn, I turned the car off and turned it back on. All the codes were clear and the car ran perfectly fine.

I went to Autowest to talk to the service dept and they said it does that sometimes since there is so many electronics in the car and that there wasn't much they could do until another code pops up anyway and sent me on my way.

The car drove fine after the first incident for a few hours, then did it again while i was on the highway. and that's when the second incident occurred.

Something to do with the throttle body harness is what caused both problems. I think BMW is starting to do a recall in the states cause more and more 4.8 x5s are seeing this problem.

This is simply not true. Every time that a check engine light or any fault code at all goes on, it is stored in the DME. I had an intermittent issue with my 135 and my friend who is a tech at Brian Jessel had no problem seeing the code in the system despite the light no longer being on when I drove it in for the appointment.

ummm...we don't live in the USA and we don't have a lemon law :badpokerface:

so what did you replace your lemon x5 with OP?

I went with a Lexus isf. Different but miss the sporty feel:)
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I have a few friends with BMW's (e90 and e92 though, not an x5) who have had similar problems. When my friends e90 had a failing water pump his car kept losing power on him and dying in the middle of intersections, similar to your situation. His car was at around 70k km. My other friend's e92 also had a dead waterpump at about 80k km. I don't know too much about BMW's but it seems like this is a common problem around that age?

If it was that extreme, after the first time your car almost got you and your family killed in the left turn, I think you should have stopped driving it and taken it in to see what was wrong instead of continuing driving

huh? you miss the sporty feel? My ISF sure feels more sporty than any SUV i've driven.

my gfs x5 does some fucked up shit too, twice on the fucken highway the tranny like went into N, but it was in drive. revs just kept shooting up to rev limit and the shit wouldnt move. had to turn the truck on and off for it to move again.