A massive long rant on the G11 LCI and BMW Sydney (Dealer) - looong write up

[DoNotPause]

Hi guys, this is going to be a massive rant regarding my experience with BMW Australia, BMW Sydney (dealer) and the G11 LCI 730d. I now find myself genuinely hating the G11 and BMW, this would most likely be my 6th and last BMW. I just can't make up anymore excuses to tell myself that BMW builds reliable quality cars and provide great customer experience.

Bought the 730d w/ M sport package brand new at the start of covid in April 2020 at BMW Sydney and the nightmare with the car and dealer had been endless since then. Firstly, I have to say it's a nice looking car, Donington Grey, shadowline, black 719M wheels. Also, the car was very efficient as I do around 1000km per tank in city driving. We've had multiple dealing with BMW cars and this dealership as I've purchased 3 different X5s from them over the years and referred friends to them. Unfortunately, that's the only good things about this car and BMW themselves. My conclusion was that I've spent a whole bunch of money on some German industrial trash and a chance to experience the most terrible customer experience.

Just a bit on background info, BMW Sydney is BMW's flagship dealer operated directly by BMW Australia. It is the largest and only factory-owned BMW dealership in New South Wales. One would expect proper and top customer experience and technical knowledge and workmanship from this dealer. Oh boy, was I wrong…

Over the 3 years, nearly 4 years of ownership I've had the following repairs done on the car.
1. Front left air suspension leak around 3 months after delivery
2. Extremely loud squeaky front brake requiring new front disks and pads
3. Laser headlight flashing by itself like strobe lights which required new headlight control unit and headlight control panel
4. Rear right outer brake light as it would randomly give fault warning despite it being fully functional
4a. They handed the car back to me with a loose tail light trim on the new tail light which required replacing at a later date since they have to order from Germany AGAIN.
5. Rear centre console storage lid and lock, as it wouldn't lock shut
6. Rear right seatbelt buckle as it was squeaking and creaking like floorboards in a haunted house (which they never fixed as "they can't find the source of sound")

It might seem a lot or it might seem not a lot but the frustrating thing was that each of these instances required at least 4 months of wait time from start to finish. BMW started requiring 4 weeks lead on all service appointments and all parts required about 3 months wait time as they needed to be ordered in from Germany. At that time, I gave them the benefit of the doubt as we were in the middle of a global pandemic but...

Number 5 on the list, the storage lid was where I completely lost it with BMW Sydney and BMW Australia. This started in September 2022 when I raised the problem and the saga didn't end until April 2023 when it was finally repaired. Imagine taking some 8 months to repair something as simple as a storage lid and locking mechanism. I raised the issue during a routine service in Sep 2022 and they confirmed the problem but it required parts to be ordered from Germany and a booking was made for mid Dec 2022 before Xmas. Around a month out to the appointment, I got rear ended and I called in to reschedule to late Jan 2023 so I can repair the crash damage first. Around a week from the appointment, I called in to confirm and to my surprise, there was nothing on the system. So I asked them for the parts, as this was under warranty, I said, if you have the parts then just book me into a Fast Lane appointment and get the thing changed quickly. So I waited... two days later still now return call so I called again. This time the lady on the phone said she sent an urgent internal email to all service team members so they can solve the problem asap. A week later.... nothing... so I contacted BMW AU directly to make a complaint. Only then did I find out that between Sep 2022 and Jan 2023, the parts were never ordered, they don't have the parts and they were just stalling to come up with an excuse. During the whole time, not even an apology from the dealer. As there were no parts in the entire Australia (what a joke) I had to wait around 3 months for the parts to come in (what a joke) and the repair only finished in April, nearly 8 month in total.

The frustration doesn’t end here and this dealer never ceases to surprise me. Took the car in for a regular service back in October and this time, for the first time, there was no extra work for them to carry out. However, that was not the case when I went to pick up the car the next day. First, the service advisor told me the front brake pads were low something like 8mm while the rears were healthy at nearly 15mm (can’t remember the exact numbers but it was around these numbers). This immediately struck out to me and I told him it was impossible as I had front disks and pads replaced under warranty around 30, 000km prior therefore it would be impossible for the front to be this low. I requested that he should send it back and double check and should the rear pads needed replacing, they should just do it while the car is in rather than having me making another appointment (BMW Sydney have like 4 weeks wait on non-fast lane service appointments). The advisor then brushed it off as it not being a problem and I just monitor it. At this point, I made it very clear that his data was wrong and that I know what I’m talking about as I worked as a car mechanic when young, then an aerospace engineer and now an aero consultant in motorsports. Even then, he brushed it off and suggested that I monitor it instead. At that point, I didn’t want to deal with him anymore and just got the keys and left. When I got to the car, BMW Sydney gave me surprise number two in that they handed the car back to me with a check engine light lit up like a candle on the dash. So I went back to the advisor and told him about it and that there’s no way I am taking the car and they should take it back and find out what is wrong with it and also double check the pad thickness. At this point, he had no option but to take the car back but not without saying “It’s ok to drive it if you need to use the car for the weekend” as if I was a moron. After two days, I got a call that the car was ready to be picked up and everything is fine now. When I turned up at the dealer to pick up the car, he just gave me the car and said no more. At that point I knew that they didn’t check the brakes and they won’t do it no matter what I say despite it being safety critical.

So this takes us to the present time, around 1.5 months after the last service, I got a notification on iDrive. I’m sure you guys know what notification I got, yes, it was a rear pads in 2000km notification. Upon seeing that notification, I picked up the phone to BMW Sydney Service Dept, got the supervisor, gave him an earful and that would be the end of my relationship with BMW Sydney and BMW in service or future car.

So to fellow Aussies, BMW Sydney is the one to avoid if you want value your life and your car. It makes you wonder why BMW AU had recently sold their stakes in this dealer, abandon the sinking ship.

[Opie55]

If you were a car mechanic and are now an engineer and consultant in motorsports, you could have checked the brake pad thickness yourself in 30 seconds. I can't even imagine relying on a dealer to tell me that.