Update on Air Suspension , sat nav and other issues, my 4.8is

[CondorX5]

For those of you interested in my Xes latest main dealer visit (its taken a week so far -at least the end is more or less in sight now!)

1. BMW extended warranty (Mondial) covered replacement of  the sat nav DVD drive with a new one - cost was ridiculous new, will get the figures later today, but approaching £2K !!!  Crazy for an aged technology sat nav and definitely not something I would have done if I were paying - would have looked for one at a breakers or on ebay for about £200 instead!

2. Oil leaks were repaired fully covered by warranty as well - crankcase cover gasket and somewhere else as well.

3. Front airbags and diagnostics covered by the warranty as well - expensive again, would definitely have gone down the coilovers if I was paying this air suspension issue in full.

4. Warranty refused to cover the sensors- I believe all 4 were cracked and there was water ingress, which seems a bit strange to me, but I suppose £400 out of the £££££ bill (labour is a crazy 15 hours or so for the warranty stuff plus all the expensive bits listed) isn't too bad, so didn't argue about it - dealership had actually tried very hard with warranty company and managed to get most things paid for.

5. I had the Oil Service done and the 2 yearly brake fluid change as they were imminent or already due - cost was just over £300 for both. Expensive but the car does have a very complete main dealer history and BMW did a goodwill repair based on this a while back, so I thought I would just keep it that way.

Sytner Sutton have been pretty good about all of this - the workshop supervisor phones me with regular updates, and they gave me an X6 loan car after I said the brand new 2 series was very small and cramped for me.  The X6 is a 63 plate and great to drive - this one has white leather interior and Monaco blue (if its still called that!) in colour,  but in the longer term I don't think I would buy one , I prefer the body shape of the X5 and its more spacious interior and boot space  I seem to bump my head getting out of the X6 due to seat placement I suspect, plus the seatbelt rides high up against my neck with no way of adjusting downwards.).  Still, nice loan car. 

So for the naysayers about the extended warranty - like Turks, the warranty has worked out pretty well for me. I will continue with it for the time being. This visit to the dealers has recouped everything I have spent on the warranty and more, and that is without taking into account all the work done in previous years - bluetooth replacement, parking sensor replacements, rear light cluster replacements, gearbox oil leaks, oil cooler replacement, sun roof cassette replacement, and a few other bits I have probably omitted.    I do enjoy the car - that list makes it seem as if its always in the garage, but it isn't and its a great performer which I hope to keep for a few years yet.

Just a warning to anyone who thinks that maintaining a 4.8is is a cheap and easy affair, it really is not, so make contingency plans, warranty or otherwise, if you want one so you are not shattered when major things happen.  Having said that, changing the suspension to coils is definitely the way to go to avoid all the expensive stuff, I might just do that in the near future to avoid all this hassle and expense in the future - if it had been any more than the £400 the dealer is charging to replace the sensors and recalibrate, which includes the labour, I would be going down the coil route now.  As for the sat nav, well a replacement used drive or a £150 repair of the laser would have been much cheaper than the silly £2K replacement from BMW, but I'm not complaining as I. Am not paying it.    This main dealer visit is likely to have cost over £4K so far, excluding the service, so the £400 which was not covered seems ok in the big scheme of things.

[X5Sport]

How on earth can anyone justify that kind of charge just for a DVD player with a GPS interpreter in it!  I really do wonder at some of the costs that any (not just BMW) official dealer feels it reasonable to try an charge for certain spares.  More so when a number of these 'new' parts are in reality remanufactured.

I suppose having to pay 10% of the overall bill is not too bad! but I can see a number of owners without warranty cover either deciding to live without something or scrap the car.

Interesting about the X6 as I have the same issue with the door aperture.  Being 6'4" won't help, but I find the Mini easier to get in and out of.  My wife complains about the seatbelt system that BMW and Mini now use as it cuts across her neck too.

Glad you are well on the way to getting back on the road, and .i also decided to go with the BMW extended warranty as it seems to cover almost everything - something none of the other policies I looked at would.

Richard