2000 BMW 3 Series 318SE from UK and Ireland - Comments

Brake Sensor failed after 2 weeks.

Brakes developed severe vibration.

Driver Side window sticks.

Passenger rear door leaked water.

Expansion bottle cracked.

Thermostat failed.

Warning light for headlamps comes on intermittently.

And that's the stuff I can remember...

IF YOU ARE THINKING OF BUYING A BEEMER READ THIS!

I have never owned a car that has had some many faults in the year that I've had it I must have been back to the dealer about 7 times.

It drives quite well and is comfortable over long distances. In fairness it has never failed to start and is fairly economical.

The truth is, however, that component reliability is appalling. This car has lost its water three times. Once through the bottle cracking, another time through the thermostat dying and the third time - well we can't work out why that happened.

It thought that buying a BMW would mean relatively trouble free motoring, but it has been anything, but that.

My boss has a three series and has suffered from similar problems.

In truth I can't recommend them. They are not as reliable as they should be.

This is not the first time I have heard this. A friend (who owns a Mercedes C-class and is therefore to my mind, biased) tells me his neighbour has just rejected his 320i after four faults culminating in two breakdowns in the first month of ownership. I never paid it much attention until two friends had problems with late model 3-series recently.

One was a 320Cd bought new in mid 2004. Not only did it break down on the way home from the showroom, but it had to be recovered on a trailer and spent three weeks in the workshop, before the dealer relented and offered to exchange the car. My colleague accepted, and was shocked to see that when he took the replacement in for its first service some months later, his original car was still there in the corner of the compound, dash ripped out, and seemingly being cannibalised for spares (or simply dissected and abandoned). The car must have covered all of 10 miles!

The other was my neighbour who rejected her 318i at six weeks old because of a persistent trim rattle, a coil failure, an engine management fault and a suspension noise which the dealer hadn't fixed at the fifth attempt.

They are arguably still the best cars in the class to drive, but quality and reliability, it would appear, is not what it was! Perhaps it's something to do with ramping up production volumes???

Sadly, B.M.W. stands for "Big Money Worries'! So much for overrated German technology! Mercedes these days are not much better. The Japanese e.g. Nissan, manufacture a far better product than these two marques. Even the Koreans are coming out with some brilliantly innovative and technologically advanced vehicles! Hyundai, for example, is VERY big in the U.S.A. today. Times are a changing!

Thanks for the comments.

I'm inclined to agree that the Japanese make very reliable cars.

I've just booked myself a test drive of a 350Z so I'll see how that goes.

The Beemer will be history soon...

I'm surprised to read about reliability problems. I've had my 318i SE for nearly two years (I bought it second hand from a main dealer) and have had no problems of any sort.

It's a lovely car to drive and with care returns 37-39 m.p.g.

It's a job to keep the black upholstery clean though - the kids can't seem to help dropping all sorts of food over them!

I've still got the Beemer and new faults to report:

Fag lighter packed up so my Road Angel is out of use.

Heater matrix is playing up so unable to change air direction when required.

Still I'm hoping to off load it to a dealer in a couple of weeks.

BMW - You should be ashamed!!!

I guess its true then. I was actually thinking of picking up a cheap used 325i as a project car. So far I've had a Hyundai Elantra and the new Hyundai Coupe. So far in the 4 years of these cars the Hyundai repairs only amount to 400 dollars for both (Washer motor and door lock)

Can't imagine that the beemer really sucks up thousands in repairs! Maybe I have to consider an Audi instead?

If you check Consumer Reports and other rating agencies the 2000 323i/328i for 2000 in America are very highly rated.

Audis have always had bad reliability and I would always choose a BMW (3, 5 series NEVER a 7 series or any SUV) over an Audi.

I cannot agree with the preceding comments. I have owned several BMWs and have found the overall reliability to be excellent - certainly they have never broken down and have required routine maintenance. As these cars get older things will invariably go wrong. Bushings, sensors and some problems with the cooling system, such as the expansion tank cracking, are known weak points and can be avoided by a little preventative maintenance. The build quality and engineering integirty in a BMW is evident and excellent. The engines and transmissions are very long lasting and the fit and finish very robust. The 3 series scores very well in all of the usual reliability surveys.