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Re: NewBie Needs Advice (archive)
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Posted by M Hitch on January 01, 2002 at 09:47:44:

In Reply to: NewBie Needs Advice posted by oge on December 31, 2001 at 20:37:44:


Am just about to purchase my first BMW which i want to be a 1996/1997 740i /740il, but i keep reading about all these problems with 7 series? For most of you who've had 7 series for a while, are they really a lot of Headache?
What is the 740i like on fuel consumption?


I have a 1996 740IL. Purchased it used and certified from BMW Dealer. I use it as my business car and have put high miles on it. I now have 105,000. Previous to the BMW, I traveled in S body turbodiesels. 3 of them for a total of 600,000 miles. I enjoy the BMW much more and it's operational costs have been less than the MB's. Who would have thought that a gas 8 cylinder could be opperated cheaper that MB Diesels! The extra 50,000 mile warranty offered on top of the initial 50,000 is great for me. I highly recommend these BMW Certified Vehicles. Problems have been minor and mostly covered under the extended warranty.

I will relate one recent problem. I purchased this BMW with about 20K mile. At about 90K I began having a small problem with the transmission. On business trips to the mountains the transmission failsafe program came on everytime I reached the top of the long climb. This happened at the same place on every trip. I would pull the car over and shut it down. Everything was fine once I restarted. This was not a big problem for me since I make this trip only 6 times a year. However I reported it to the dealer and they called BMW and decided to replace the eprom chip in the transmission under warranty. I noticed improvment in the smoothness but on my next trip up the mountain, the problem reoccurred. I casually mentioned it to the dealer not expecting anything since the car was now out of warranty at 104K. It truly was not a major problem to me. A couple of weeks later my service guy called and asked me to bring the car in. "BMW wants to put a NEW transmission in at NO CHARGE" What a great Christmas gift from my new BEST car manufacturer. Sorry for the length of this narrative, but it's a great story. Advice? Buy Certified, get to know your BMW Dealer Service People and enjoy!


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