BMW in the family

[Terminator]

Ah thats OK jeff mines a 2003 model so hopefully they changed to abetter coating by then.

Gee I didn't think I was creating a lets bag the German car thread but maybe I will be a contributor to the thread in that vein if all doesn't go well

Gee let me see Ford AU2 wagon, $1750 for new air con lines and compressor, new thermatic fans $750 and the car is only 7 years old so i think its cars in general not just german cars that have issues

[MrUpwey]

Look after it Clyde and I'll take it off yours hands in a couple of years for $2000.

[Terminator]

You can have it if you can catch me in that fuel miser you have

[Jeff Eelkema]

Clyde

I still have faith in German cars, I recently bought a Golf GTi (great fun!). Don't know if I'll keep it once it gets out of warranty though. The whole industry is getting a bit scary with some of the parts costs I see and repair difficulties in modern stuff. It makes 901 stuff look cheap and simple. With rising oil prices and technology changes I'm enjoying cars (and bikes) while I still can!


Cheers
Jeff

[matt911]

[PS: test drove a 2.0 TDI diesl Golf on the weekend. Andrew Vidler has one and had raved about it. I am seriously tempted. Amazing torque ![/quote]

Phil, I have spent a bit of time in a TDI Golf (DSG). Great little car!!

Nice purchase Clyde, great value. I have a soft spot for the 80's e28 M5.

[e72phil]

Matt, any quality issues with the TDI Golf and what about the DSG box ? is it a sgood as some say ? How long have you had the Golf and is it a "keeper" for a while ??

[alexwebster]

apparently the normal Golf's have huge issues with their injectors... they are about 400 a pop or there abouts. This came from a mate that trades a lot of them in for Mazda's!!

[matt911]

Phil, I had to give it back. I drove it alot over about about 3 months. It seemed well put together, for what it is. As you said the torque was amazing, and the way it flashed up to redline. The DSG box is miles ahead of regular tip/autos. Manual shifting is a hoot, and it puts you straight back onto the torque for the next gear (chirping tyres). Great having the option of leaving it in auto for around town. This box in the new 911 will be a revelation.
Im not upto speed on faults and/or reliability issues .
P.S. A guy in the Porsche club (NSW), sprints a GTI Golf with DSG. He is puttiing in some quick times and swears by it.

[hmd]

Phil,
We have had a 2.0 TDi Passat with DSG for just over 2 years trouble free motoring.
The DSG is great but it's the missus car so it stay in auto mode 99.9% of the time. Surprisingly there is a bit of a turbo lag with the 2.0 TDi.

And Alex may be right the injectors have a builtin micro pump to pressurise the diesel to some ridiculuos pressure so they are very complex and expensive thus the longevity is a concern. Any sign of trouble and I will be looking at trading it in

[Jeff Eelkema]

Guys

Further to Hung's comments about the diesel, ALL modern common rail diesel systems are VERY fussy with fuel quality due to the very high pressures and close tolerances.

Unfortunately the ACCC does very limited fuel sampling and as a result there is a fair bit of dodgy fuel about. If I owned a modern diesel (and I'm not sure I would) I would only use fuel from a major oil company, prefferably from the company that has the best refinery in your state, try a stick to one brand, avoid older sites (many have tanks 40+years old) and get a reciept for every drop of fuel bought!

I spoke to a guy recently with a Mazda BT50 who bought fuel from 2 different discount outlets over a 2 day period and within days it needed a pump and injectors-$5500! It wasn't covered by the new car warranty and he didn't get reciepts so couldn't prove where the crook fuel came from.

If you accidently put petrol in the tank don't even start the engine or turn the ignition to on, you will probably damage the electric pump. Diesel has a higher lubricity that is required for the fine tolerances. These modern things are very different beasts to the diesels of old which would tolerate all sorts of abuse. Modern diesels are great performers though.

ps I love the DSG in my GTi, great bit of technology.

Cheers
Jeff

[e72phil]

Clyde,

has this car arrived in Melbourne yet ??

[Terminator]

Got the car on Thursday, mildly surprised. Never crashed, all original paint and with some options I wasn't told about (full bluetooth through the computer and DSP, BMW's expensive 12 speaker sound system. Tyres aren't as bad as I was led to believe so all in all I am delighted. Paint is in very good shape also except for a scrape on the front bar which I knew about

Great to drive, comfortable and quiet.

On Friday it had a heart attack however!!!!

Seems water got where it shouldn't have, probably casued by engine steam cleaning (not me) and shorted something causing the engine to go into limp home mode. Had it trucked to BMW delaers who put it on the computer and said it would cost over $50,000 to fix all the faults it came up with.

They cleared out the faults, dried the water and away we go again.

Phew!!!!!!

Having fun trying to figure out how all the many gadgets in the computer actually work. You just about need a degree.