Had to replace brakes and rotors at 55k miles. Dealer said they replaced them at 30k, so why did I have to replace brakes after 25k miles? This is the only car I've ever owned with under 85k miles that I had brakes replaced twice.
I really enjoy driving it; it's very comfortable and has a lot of nice extra features. I don't care for the slow response in first gear; my Honda Civic did a better job off the line than my 3 series.
Also, the bluetooth phone set-up is not user-friendly at all. It will load your phone book, but you can't voice dial unless you manually enter them into the car's phone system. I finally bailed on it and have gone back to using a bluetooth headset in the car instead. What a waste of what could have been a very cool feature.
This car is on it's second set of brakes/rotors at 55k miles. I drive both normal highway and city; mostly commuting, so I don't understand why brakes/rotors wear out so quickly. I've owned other cars up to 85k without having to replace brakes.
After owning the car for 18 months, the windshield washer motor quit working. I live in Phoenix and although the warranty paid to have a new motor put in, I was shocked to hear the dealer tell me that the heat dried out the washer and caused the failure. I've lived in Phoenix for 30+ years and owned many cars here. This is the first washer failure I've ever experienced, so I'm very doubtful this was correct. Either that or the washers they're using are substandard.
Tires were a bit of a pain; they had to be special ordered along with the brake sensors. I know this is a luxury car, but they're not uncommon, so it seemed odd that these were not in stock.
This is my first BMW purchase and have to say that I'm disappointed that it's parts aren't built to last longer than what I experienced with a Honda Civic. I'm very tempted to sell it and go back to a Honda with a larger engine.
Take a look at the late e36 models instead, if you're having problems.