baggysound
Radioactive
Fumbling on Ecstasy said:
Have your windows gone out on you yet? $300 a pop to fix. First my right rear one went out, and more recently my left rear one just went out. Somehow the motor gets disconnected from the window. I think it's because the windows seal so tight. It makes for a quiet ride, but man does it suck to get them fixed.
the problems i've had with my windows were the following: a clamp to secure it in place broke two winters ago and the window "fell" into the door, staying open until i got it repaired..
of course this happened on a saturday afternoon at 20 degrees fahrenheit and the bmw dealer didn't open til monday
also the mechanism that opens the window a little (i guess thats only for convertibles, to seal the windows up properly) stopped working, so i had to start the iginition and let the windows down a little bit for being able to close the door each time or they'd hit the sealing/roof (when closed or with hardtop) and eventually even break the glass.. (one stopped working about 3 months after the other was repaired)
that was about 300 euro for each side for getting the windowmotors replaced
i also had to replace the whole cooling system, the whole breaking system, one of my shock springs broke (i still wonder how), i had to first seal up the gearbox, and eventually even replace it (that cost me about 3000 $ only hardware, not including the time of the mechanics) etc.
everytime it was at the bmw dealer i paid at least 800 euro (about 1000 US$) and i guess the max amount was at around 5k..
in the end i sold the car with approx. 140k km (approx. 87k miles) on it to a friend and he didn't have any trouble since (hehe, of course.. i already replaced more or less everything )
i still do have to admit, that the engine never had troubles and was running smoothly and fast (well, i did a little work on the EC) and despite of being a heavy convertible it took me 6.9 seconds from 0 to 100 kmh (60 mph) top closed and max speed of a little more than 250 km/h (about 160 mph) roof open (don't know the top speed roof closed or with hardtop.. probably a little more)
i actually think that the european bmw dealers are cheaper than those overseas, so i was even "lucky"
so.. no more bmw for me for the next few years, but i really loved the car!
here's a pic: click me (and yup, that's me in the reflection of the window making the picture)