European Car Ownership

[Pew]

Our iDrive is very easy to use--it has touch screen + hard buttons + the scrolling wheel as options to use it. Large clear graphics, clear and intuitive menus, all very easy (and I'm not a tech person). My understanding is that the later versions of iDrive are receiving generally solid reviews from users.

I'd say it's responsive and easy to read but the menus are cluttered.

 

[edyvw]

Oh, I don't know. My ZF trans and my iDrive are humming along just fine. Maybe it's just the Stockholm Syndrome, but I actually like the iDrive. I'd never, ever use it for actual navigation, but the layout is actually intuitive and it's handy to have its map up on a wide area while I use my phone for actual nav. Zoomed in and out at the same time, if that makes sense. Only issue has been when the Sirrus receiver died and took out the MOST network. Cost $25 to fix.

I had X5 with iDrive. Never had an issue, or with ZF transmission. My point was one gets simple version of a vehicle and reliability is on par if not better. I never had on my European vehicles issues like poor quality of rotors like on Toyota Sienna or Land Cruiser, or overall quality of suspension parts etc.

 

[The Critic]

overall quality of suspension parts etc.

Err, BMW suspension parts seem to be utter garbage from a lifespan standpoint. VAG is a little bit better, but not by much. Common to see bushings torn or completely separated between 50-100k.

On the other hand, MB suspension parts seem to be pretty good in comparison.

 

[edyvw]

Err, BMW suspension parts seem to be utter garbage from a lifespan standpoint. VAG is a little bit better, but not by much. Common to see bushings torn or completely separated between 50-100k.

On the other hand, MB suspension parts seem to be pretty good in comparison.

I know what you referring to BMW suspension. It is design and position of control arms, especially front one. Compromise in order to handle the way it does.
Still bushings do 100K easily, unlike 10-15k on my Land Cruiser.

 

[Racecarfan2]

His delivery is a little candid but I get it. I sell Heavy Equipment parts. Caterpillar in particular. The "value" is found in durability over a long time and ability to rebuild and reuse the equipment. People who buy the Equipment new understand that and get good value for their money. We often have customers pop up that bought something at auction with 25k hours on it to build terraces on their farm and replacement parts send them into a fit. The same goes for expensive European cars that are over engineered and designed for a different type of customer.

 

[cos]

I get the guys video completely. He probably gets the crowd of people in there who buy a beater BMW or euro car, and drive it with little to no maintenance, until something forces them into the shop.

They balk at the price of the BMW dealer, then they take it to an INDY shop, and balk at that price.

They eventually cough up the money to pay the indy mechanic, then going forward everything that goes wrong with their euro car is the mechanics fault, and they move on to blaming and threatening the shop.

When the real picture is, they bought a car they can not afford.

+1