Donkey hauls BMW 760iL in China

[Gurkha]

http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-09/07/content_372306.htm

[kamil]

picture for the lazy ones

[Marcb]

Incredible....!

[R Leo]

Every BMW driver deserves to have that same view out the windshield.

[R Leo]

"But I never expected that 11 more problems would crop up afterwards. Even the brakes just stopped working intermittently." Yanbao serviced the car several times, yet it still was so problem-ridden that it could not be driven, he said.

"The front door windows can't close now. The service center recommended I get a new central processor for the car, but I just want to know why a new car should require so much service."

Now that I think about this, that car probably isn't a real BMW, but instead is a cheap pirated copy.

[Hatterasguy]

Sure looks like a BMW, so thats what they do now when they can't fix them.

[DieselAddict]

Another example of new car electronic problems. Cars are getting so complicated that even the dealers don't know how to fix them. I really appreciate the simplicity and reliability of my cars, especially the W123.

[Benzcrusher]

Via my Indy's info the local dealer has bought back about 12 new BMWs under the lemmon law this year. The service techs apparently are not electrical engineers......

[sixto]

The 760 only has 3 HP?

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

[braverichard]

I think the Germans have completely lost it. All the time, people (and the media) claim that MB's, VW's, Audi's and BMW's quality issues are all related to recently developed electronic systems, but I've been reading stuff like "power windows won't go down," "trunk won't open" etc. These aren't recently developed things. Daimler-Benz for instance invented power windows in 1948!! So all of a sudden MB can't manufacture cars whose power windows won't fail after 900 miles. It is pathetic!!

Even I had some crazy problems with my BMW X5. I purchased it brand new, a Christmas gift for myself. At 450 miles (yes really!) the rear seat heaters stopped working. Got that fixed in an hour (excellent service by the way from the dealer). Then at 1,500 miles, the front passenger windows stopped working. Before I was able to take it to the dealership, I decided to just try and see if there was anything else that wasn't working, and like you may have guessed, the moonroof wasn't working as well. Had these fixed promptly too. Then at 2,100 miles I realized that my SUV was fishtailing a lot, so I became suspicious of the stability control/traction control/all wheel drive system. Back to the dealer I went, and indeed, the vehicle dynamics control unit was defective. That part controls the interaction between the stability control/traction control/all wheel drive apparently and cost $3,900. However it was replaced under warranty. I was surprised that such a defective part didn't result in any warning lights on the dash, such as the infamous "check engine" light.

But I completely love this car because that was the last repair job done on it! Seems to me that those parts were defective right off the assembly line. I've just had to deal with regular maintenance which is all free for the duration of the warranty (car is still under warranty).

The Japanese will continue to make HUGE gains on both the American and European automakers because for some reason that I can never ever understand, only they can manufacture cars that have ZERO issues!! Mercedes-Benz is the world's oldest automaker, yet its quality trails that of just about everyone else. It is shocking that MB invented power windows and door locks, however they can't seem to make them work in all their cars.

[braverichard]

Originally Posted by sixto

The 760 only has 3 HP?

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

438 HP I believe. 6.0L V12 Direct Injected.

[Gurkha]

Would rather take 3DHP ( donkey horse power ) than unrelaible EHP ( electronic horse power ), long live our fully mechanical OM 616/617, one of the last true efforts of German engieering and quality that all can be proud to own. Funnily the Toyota Land Cruiser have been getting electonic stuff but in a controlled fashion and no reliability issues have cropped up on them, one of the reasons they rule the vast lonely desserts of Australia where people depend their lives on it.

[speedy300Dturbo]

Originally Posted by Gurkha

Would rather take 3DHP ( donkey horse power ) than unrelaible EHP ( electronic horse power ), long live our fully mechanical OM 616/617, one of the last true efforts of German engieering and quality that all can be proud to own. Funnily the Toyota Land Cruiser have been getting electonic stuff but in a controlled fashion and no reliability issues have cropped up on them, one of the reasons they rule the vast lonely desserts of Australia where people depend their lives on it.

The new Toyota Land Cruisers with the turbodiesels are amazing pieces of machinery. There are more electronic controls than on previous models, but I would expect the vehicle to be FAR more reliable than a new E320 CDI.

[braverichard]

Mercedes-Benz introduced Common Rail Direct Injection in Europe in 1996 and has since been getting all the bugs out of the system. I believe the E320 CDI's diesel components will be more reliable that those of the Toyota Land Cruiser because it has been very well accepted in Europe with few issues. However, the rest of the car, the E-class, will generally give you more issues than the Land Cruiser which hasn't really changed for over a decade.

[Dervman]

A good friend of mine was a Sales Manager at a BMW stealer until about a year ago. He told me that BMW bought back many of the new 745 models when they first came out because of multiple problems that couldn't seem to be fixed. They were cycling them through their Service Dept constantly with software updates. The 745 has 9 seperate computers that all have to be re-programmed sequentially. It takes a tech with a laptop 9 hours to complete the task!!! Imagine having to pay for that after the warranty expires

Technology is wonderful....... as long as I don't have to pay to fix it