2000 BMW 3 Series 328Ci from Luxembourg - Comments

21st Jan 2001, 09:04

"Well behaving but over-rated heavy car"

What things have gone wrong with the car?

Radio and CD had a persistent cracking noise, dealer denied fault, acknowledged and changed the equipment after the 4th visit only. A pain.

Left front window makes a cracking noise when driving over not-perfect roads.

General comments?

Fine, smooth engine, which would be great in a smaller car.

Fine handling (I bought it because of the rear wheel drive) for such a heavy car.

Car is about 300kg too heavy for this engine (must be tedious to drive the ones with smaller engines, maybe that's why they call the diesel models 'TDS'... ).

Build quality is about average, outclassed in this price range by i.e. Audi. Optional leather is average quality too.

Original equipment radio (top-of-the-line option) is an INSULT. A fifth of the price buys an equivalent piece of equipment at the local supermarket. They should make the car a bit more expensive if they do not earn enough instead of fooling the client.

Both for performance and comfort alone there are better options in the market. Although it is a good car for longer distances on the highway, the much advertised 'driving pleasure' is somewhere else.

As for dealer service, general stages are: deny fault - client must be source of problem - client can get lost. I experienced this both in Luxembourg and in Switzerland. The company must be desperate to save money after the Rover episode. Heavy cars may be accepted in the US target market, the European level of service certainly is not.


6th Aug 2007, 05:53

I also bought a 2000 328CI from a main dealer.

Work performed on the car so far under warranty, all in first 8 months of ownership.

- Differential leaking and replaced (surprised it was not noted on the pre-sale check)

- Drivers seat seam gave way on the sport seat

- Cam sensor replaced.

- xenon lights needed adjusting down

- propshaft replaced following knocking noise when accelerating or braking.

- rear brake dust build up produced squealing from rear, cleaned and returned.

Erratic idle when cold not fixed- as two dealers so far have not seen it. I suspect they bring the car inside overnight or are just quietly ignoring it. Possible vanos failure or air sensor I suspect.

Glad I bought it under warranty and looks like I'll be p/xing as well.

Add another comment

Note: A Comments RSS Feed RSS Feed is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site

All BMW 3 Series reviews