my 2 cents.. (archive)

: 1. When you bought your BMW, what were your expectations of its reliability? Am I being naive in expecting the "best car BMW has built" to be extremely reliable?

Pretty high. I bought a 93 535i and it feels solid. It is solid. From the thump of the doors (especially the rear doors mmmmm..) to the stiffness of the door panels and the ease of use of the vent positioners - everything is in its place and it will be that way for (seemingly) ever. And that's just on the inside. The engine has never had any problems at all and I do try to stress it to the best of my abilities. The only things that show (gracefully for that matter) their age are the suspension and of course, the paint. At close to 90k miles, the original suspension still treats me nicely and I'm not too keen to invest in fixing something that still has about 20k miles to go. Oh, of course the lower control arm bushings are cracked, but I wouldn't call that unreliable. And the paint - being black 7 years of washing took their toll but it has depth and gloss.
That being the long version - this is probably the most reliable car I've driven, considering its age. I've driven Fords (euro Escort, Cougar), VWs (Golf I, II, Passat III) and while they never let me down in the middle of the road I have never had this strong feeling of solidity in any of them. I expected the 5 to be reliable (it wasn't the main reason to have it) and I don't have any reason to feel frustrated in any way.

: 2. I understand that a moderately high-performance car will need more upkeep and have more complex systems that an average performer but if you pay that much more for the BMW, shouldn't you expect proportional quality and reliability? Should performance and reliability be mutually exclusive?

It is proportional - IMHO. It's just that certain things, no matter how expensive, have similar life spans because of their specific - I'll take a very silly but descriptive example here : wiper blades. You can get ones 10x more expensive than a different set and they will last just as long. Or light bulbs. Or brake pads. Of course, all these are silly examples (again) but I think they make a point.
Now - why would I compare a 10:1 3.5l engine that spends most of its lifetime between 3k and 5k rpm with a 2l 4 cyl that's being automatically upshifted at 3k rpm ? Why would I compare the suspension of a 2t car designed to be a little tight yet suple enough with one that has to be mushy even when new, supporting a car 1000lbs lighter ? I have all the confidence that BMWs in general are very reliable. They might make you work on them more often, but they do not get the same treatment as the mainstream sedans.

: 3. If any of you have owned other similar performance cars, how would you rate the E34 against those?

what similar performance cars are there ?? heresy ! :-)

: 5. Incidentally, judging by the response I received, is mentioning a Japanese car a major faux pas on this board?

I don't get the Japanese cars myth that's going on on these shores, nor their huge following. A couple of years ago, in Europe the Japanese makers weren't doing great at all. Quite the opposite : bland cars, very expensive.. I was shocked when a friend of mine American told me the most reliable cars are Japanese.. At least back then, the general feeling about any Japanese product is that they were good until their first problem.
(It had to do with the fact that Japan has limited resources and they had to do as much as possible to as little as possible. Which led to very high hp/liter ratios - meaning a pretty stressed engine, or screws that were ment to be tightened once. I divagate.. sorry)
Here - they are pretty cost effective and the cost-aware Americans do not see any point in spending more for German irons that are 'less reliable'.. (and we hate them and they hate us and that's how we don't want to hear any h*nda/t*yota noises on our turf).

sorry for the long post and please be tough : don't think for a second your E34 is not reliable. it is but we have to be reasonable in what to expect.

best regards,
dragos

Follow Ups:

Re: my 2 cents.. John Feng 13:08 7/10/2000 (4)
- I stand by my opinion Dragos 14:52 7/10/2000 (3)
  - Re: I've never seen a Lexus on the race circuit. Bill S 15:02 7/10/2000 (2)
    - heh, Bill S, that's not fair :-) (e) Dragos 19:19 7/10/2000 (1)
      - Re: Sorry (more) Bill S 19:59 7/14/2000 (0)

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