[Kolyan2k]

Originally Posted by BravoJohny33

Oil leaks would not piss me off if the Indy shops around here did not want 1200 to fix an oil pan leak and 800 to do a VC gasket. Screw them I am just letting it leak.

Indy shop here wanted $1200 for carbon cleanup in 335i lol. It's usually a bitch to find a honest, skilled mechanic. I have 1 number to a forum tech guy who does Lexus IS and N54/55 work, but I haven't used him yet.

[NYBulldog]

I've never had any engine problems. A lot of other stupid problems. I've had at least 15 BMWs. Only 3 were non-M.

[JamesGames]

I personally think the article errs on the extreme side of things, but it does have some points to take away as well... I've owned both japanese / german ONLY and so here is my small sample size opinion

In the last 20 years, my cars have been
1995 Nissan Maxima (168,000 miles, still own)
-Only things I had to replace outside of regular maintenance was fuel injectors, CV axles, CV boots and control arm. Currently leaks oil, and suspension feels like it's a frail old lady.
2000 BMW 328i (90,000 miles, SOLD)
-This car was a nightmare. 6+ window regulators broke, a/c sensor broke, intake / exhaust camshaft sensor faulty, water pump blew out at 60k, fan speed sensor broke, rear shock mounts torn, front control arms x 2, and some weird electronic issues.. I let this car go and was damn happy to rid this POS.
2003 Nissan Altima (100,000 miles, SOLD) No issues in 100k besides feeling like a cheap econobox and minor coolant leak that never leaked enough where I had to add some coolant.
2007 Nissan 350z (65,000 miles, SOLD) An axle had to be tightened and lubed down in 65k. Otherwise no issues..
2007 BMW 550i (98,000 miles, still own) Replaced valve cover gasket, thermostat, mechatronic leak at 50k, and changed out something in my DME that was causing my car to not start / throw random transmission faults. (This is my daily now)
2008 Mercedes E550 (102,000, SOLD) Leaking valve cover gasket, leaking coolant by radiator at 102k. Nav LCD screen had broken pixels. Sold it before I fixed issues.
2008 Toyota Sienna - (105,000 miles, SOLD) not a single issue..
2016 BMW M4 (current) - Delivered with adaptive headlights malfunctioning, and also my over the air updates don't work, as well as the apps. Will take it back to dealership on next oil change.

I have to admit, on the german cars I was much more anal and changed things out. On the japanese cars (minus the 350z) I didn't really care as long as the car took me from A to B.

On that note, I'd still say the japanese cars were cheaper and more reliable to own. My maxima I have been expecting it to die for the last 9 years (only maintenance I've done is give it cheapo oil changes @ 20-30 dollars each change) but it continues to run and won't die..

The engines on all my german cars have been fine though. But none of them were Ms..

[Kolyan2k]

^ I have nothing but good to say about pre 2000 Maximas. I had 95 and 98 and both were rock solid. 95 had 160k, 98 had 125k. Had some minor issues but also didn't care about any fluids besides engine oil that I replaced at 5k intervals for 20-30 bucks.

[JamesGames]

Originally Posted by Kolyan2k

^ I have nothing but good to say about pre 2000 Maximas. I had 95 and 98 and both were rock solid. 95 had 160k, 98 had 125k. Had some minor issues but also didn't care about any fluids besides engine oil that I replaced at 5k intervals for 20-30 bucks.

agree..my battery died on it and I let it sit for 14 months.. swapped a battery in, started that bad boy up and after a few ticks from the engine from not starting up it went back to being smooth as butter and purring.. quite amazing actually for the amount of neglect it's taken

[pz619]

Originally Posted by Kolyan2k

Oil starvations in S2000 are due to human error, need to check dipstick and read it correctly. Older cars used to burn some oil on top of that. On my 2006 I didn't even check oil for 7k miles until I changed it. Many older Japs have oil light that's usually called a "death light", it could light up when it's already too late. BMWs now days lack dipsticks but have oil light that warns you when u need 1qt added.

Now Cayman engines for example do have oil starvation problems due to design flaw, you cant even track them in stock form (at least pre-2009 models).

Agree. Oil starvation is generally human error. I did need to top mine off every so often.

The only issue my S2k really had was that it would eat timing chain tensioners every 25k miles or so. It just became a maintenance item for me.

[Beartato]

Originally Posted by Kolyan2k

Supra, NSX, S2000, ISF, Type-R those cars have zero issues.

Ok buddy, whatever helps you sleep at night.

[Kolyan2k]

Originally Posted by pz619

Agree. Oil starvation is generally human error. I did need to top mine off every so often.

The only issue my S2k really had was that it would eat timing chain tensioners every 25k miles or so. It just became a maintenance item for me.

Yeah, earlier models problems too. Should have bought modified tensioner, they are more solid.

[Chihuahua]

Originally Posted by NYBulldog

I've never had any engine problems. A lot of other stupid problems. I've had at least 15 BMWs. Only 3 were non-M.

On average, how long are you keeping your cars for?

[P1]

Jalopnik is the Buzzfeed of the automotive world.

[zx10guy]

I find this discussion interesting. I think many of us were attracted to BMW because of how the company designed the cars to be a driver's car. Granted the cars aren't meant to compete against super/hyper cars but they're not your high fuel economy grocery getters either. When you push performance, you can expect some sort of "maintenance" with that package. If this specter of reliability is such an issue, the simple fix to this to hedge your bets and buy an extended warranty.

If you all want to know about temperamental and what it means to deal with higher than normal upkeep, try getting into a Ducati. The older engines in the family of the 748/749s had chrome plated rocker arms. The chrome would eventually wear/flake off causing the particles to float around in the engine not to mention the accelerated wear from the rocker arms contacting the cam lobes and the valve stem. This is/was a known problem and it's not a matter of if but when you had to get your top end rebuilt. That in addition to mandatory 7000 mile maintenance cycles to do valve lash adjustments and you have one high maintenance super model. Yet people still overlook these types of "issues" and flock to the brand in a cultish fever.

[David70]

Odd to me that the "BMW engine's are pieces of...." has turned into showing what one Honda engine could do that stopped production 8 years ago.

[bd307]

I stopped reading Jalop regularly for almost a year now. They have become an Amazon deal central for earning some affiliation cash. And who would pick and choose what messages you can post on their articles if they are open to opinion (they don't).

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by David70

Odd to me that the "BMW engine's are pieces of...." has turned into showing what one Honda engine could do that stopped production 8 years ago.

Not that odd as bmw and honda were mainly the only ones that made high revving performance engines that where obtainable for mortals. (some exeptions excluded)

[TS135i]

Trust me, modern Porsche engines also have their issues, however most of which are easily dealt with.

[Chihuahua]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

If you all want to know about temperamental and what it means to deal with higher than normal upkeep, try getting into a Ducati. The older engines in the family of the 748/749s had chrome plated rocker arms. The chrome would eventually wear/flake off causing the particles to float around in the engine not to mention the accelerated wear from the rocker arms contacting the cam lobes and the valve stem. This is/was a known problem and it's not a matter of if but when you had to get your top end rebuilt. That in addition to mandatory 7000 mile maintenance cycles to do valve lash adjustments and you have one high maintenance super model. Yet people still overlook these types of "issues" and flock to the brand in a cultish fever.

This is of course assuming it starts up at all.

[abeardo83]

Originally Posted by Kolyan2k

Yeah oil level alerting didn't make it to most Jap or Korean cars until later. Oil burning is very common on all cars, Germans are notorious for that (maybe due to turbos) That's why both Audi and BMW state that 1qt per 1k miles is normal burning.....which is BS.

AP1 S2000s are sensitive to oil brand and viscosity, with ton of miles on them now they see oil burning but its still no where close to Audis. AP2s don't have any burning at all. There is a dipstick issue as well, some read it wrong and end up with less oil then needed + burning and you have oil starvation on track.

Ps. With S2k being relatively cheap car (although some stock ones cost as much as 2014+ M235i lol) many ricers buying and mod the hell out of them which results in blown engines. (Even cold air intake can cause hydrolock on s2k) It's 100% impossible to blow a stock S2k motor and even a properly tuned boosted one.

All cobblers - I've owned a prefacelift and post facelift S2000.
Honda state 1000miles / litre of oil useage is perfectly fine too, so it's not just BMW.

I've seen a fair few stock S2000's that have had blown engines (I've helped replace two for two friends... so that's 2 S2k's out of 9 (so translating to a 22% fail rate).

Honda changed that valve retainers in the facelift because earlier ones failed with use. The cars themselves have issues - blown shock absorbers, siezed alignment bolts, catalytic converters that fall apart, crappy imobilizers and alarms, prematurely wearing CV cups... do I really need to continue??

ALL car companies end up having faults with their stuff - that's called engineering.

Personally, I have no idea where this myth of German reliability came from... WW
showed that German equipment whilst being advanced, was horribly unreliable (2days to replace a Panther gearbox anyone??). Tell you what though, I wouldn't swap my 335i for another S2000...

[BLuRRYM3]

I think every car has an Achilles heel. My CLK 350- radiator would fail, causing glycol to mix with transmission fluid. My G35, master and slave clutch cylinders would just give up. So you could be cruising at 60, go to downshift, and not be able to.

The only problem with BMW, is that they are expensive Achilles Heels. I had way more problems (quality wise) with my first car, an Acura CL, then my m3. Great thing on the CL, every thing was cheap. So repairs didn't hurt. M3, everything is in the 4 digits.

On my m3, I had the rod bearings done. This car has 65k miles
On my x3, I had my coolant system replaced. And repaired the AC evaporator. This car has 180k miles

[Draper]

Originally Posted by Kolyan2k

At the end of the day you are driving a Honda that use to beat Ferrari for like 12 years in its own game of race engines with high redline and 123.5hp per 1 liter. S2000 feels more solid to drive then M3 that I used to have. That's why many buy them over and over again, and many Porsche owners have 1 for track use.

Now a days they make a killer mini van.

[NeoGeo]

Originally Posted by Kolyan2k

I don't believe that for a second, no offense. I heard all those bs stories before. Post here when you don't change 1 thing in a motor, transmission, or electronics in 200k+ miles and run on original clutch

I've spent $100 bucks on my S2000 in 80k miles in and out of warranty work. Buddy of mine replaced shocks and 2 control arms on his at 190k miles, everything else is original

I'm a Honda fanboy myself, but i dont believe for a second that Hondas are any more relable than BMWs. For every horror story I hear about BMWs I hear one for Honda.

Point in case:

https://hondaquality.wordpress.com/h...ows-otherwise/

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/auto...da-accord.html

What about the transmission issue with the new crop of Acura sedans?

Flip side, I know lots of people that own e92 m3s and have never even heard of the rod bearing issue because they don't feequent internet forums.

It's the internet, of course you are going to hear people complaining. What did you expect?

An engineer's perspective: when you push the limits of technology you should expect reliability issues. If we extend model cycles reliability numbers will increase, but then the forums will be full of posts bitching about the fact that it takes BMW eons to release a new car that is not simply a repeat of the last generation.

[IndotagSwizz]

This article is so stupid, BMWs are not built to be reliable, they are built to be a great driving performance experience, if you want reliability you should buy a Toyota or a Honda, which I had plenty and they are built to be reliable. Dumbest thing I have ever read, it's like writing an article explaining that Flip flops are the worst and completely unreliable for running

[David70]

Originally Posted by IndotagSwizz

This article is so stupid, BMWs are not built to be reliable, they are built to be a great driving performance experience, if you want reliability you should buy a Toyota or a Honda, which I had plenty and they are built to be reliable. Dumbest thing I have ever read, it's like writing an article explaining that Flip flops are the worst and completely unreliable for running

No chance anyone at BMW would state any of the above (unlike the flip flop manufacturer and running in them), and yes they have whole departments dedicated to making them reliable.

My daily is now not a BMW partially because of reliability and my plan to keep it until 150k miles. Not the only reason to buy a car but anything that adds cost and irritation to the experience is something I considered. I would be interested in buying a used Ferrari (less than $100k) if the reliability, maintenance, repair weren't so crazy expensive and the "it wasn't built to be reliable", doesn't change my outlook on owning one.