[neilk0630]

Hello All,
My new 2013 335i M-sport is in transport from Germany. I should receive it mid June. (my 3rd BMW) I love to read the forums, but I’m a little concerned. I see a lot of people having a lot of problems with their new cars. I’ve owned BMW’s in the past, and I’ve had minor almost expected problems with each of them… nothing out of the ordinary. But…. now… I read where people are having a lot of “odd” problems with their cars. Most of which sounds like quality control problems or design flaws from BMW.

I’m wondering if people are having more problems with the South African cars vs. the German production cars? Examples: the strange noises, body panel fit, electrical problems, the guy who’s turbo stopped working…. Etc. etc.

Quick Poll,
Of those of you having problems is your car German or South African production? Any thoughts? Will my German production be any different than a S.A. production car?

[ft1338]

Nobody knows. There is a guy from SA on the forum that likes to say SA cars are the best (surprise!) but he's pretty much the only one that thinks that way. People tend to associate Germans with better quality but factory workers are the same everywhere. Anyone can torque a bolt be it from Africa or Germany.

I'm not even sure that the issues reported on this forum are endemic at all. When you look at the problem reports, it's always the same threads popping up. Of course if you visit the forum a lot it's going to look like everyday someone reports an issue when it's just the same threads and people over and over.

One thing that you could do is wait until you receive your car and report back even if you have no problems. Usually people report when they have problems only.

[shivaswrath]

Mine is from Munich, and has random issues...really depends on luck of the draw and how hung over your worker is from the night before IMO.

[OCcaraholic]

My 2012 F30 is from South Africa. The only problems I've had is the VSS steering rack knock, which was replaced a few months ago and a front parking sensor that was moody, but that was because it had some glue or something on it that I cleaned off and fixed it. Other than that...Nothing. No electrical gremlins, wind noise, steering vibrations, poor fitting doors, dash rattles, etc....And it's a June 2012 build. I think my car is built very well.

[LAnderson23]

I've got a German build and have not had any major issues. I don't have any weird rattles or noises, no steering vibration, etc. The only issues I've had have been extremely minor and easily fixed. The biggest problem I've had actually happened yesterday, my drivers side trunk lamp came loose. I had them pop it back in, no big deal. Looks like it's a fairly common F30 issue. If it happens again they will use adhesive to make it more secure.

[LAnderson23]

I was getting really nervous when I was waiting for my car to arrive too, seeing everyone complain about their issues. That being said, I think in general, most forums are going to have a higher percentage of problems being posted than the general population of cars out there. A lot of people don't post unless they have a problem. You don't get a post that says "Hey, everything is working fine today...carry on!"

In the end, it's kind of a luck of the draw. Worrying about what problems you might have doesn't do any good. Plus, you've got that nice 4 year warranty where they will fix anything that goes wrong.

[OC40]

Originally Posted by LAnderson23

I was getting really nervous when I was waiting for my car to arrive too, seeing everyone complain about their issues. That being said, I think in general, most forums are going to have a higher percentage of problems being posted than the general population of cars out there. A lot of people don't post unless they have a problem. You don't get a post that says "Hey, everything is working fine today...carry on!"

In the end, it's kind of a luck of the draw. Worrying about what problems you might have doesn't do any good. Plus, you've got that nice 4 year warranty where they will fix anything that goes wrong.

+1

[Dan_335i]

mine was a germany build and i had 1minor problem and 1 major problem. rusted seats minor, and the major one is i was driving about 30 km per hour and my steeering wheel wouldnt turn. but i was on the small house streets so i stopped the car with brakes and turned on and off and steering was turnable again.

[LAnderson23]

Originally Posted by Dan_335i

mine was a germany build and i had 1minor problem and 1 major problem. rusted seats minor, and the major one is i was driving about 30 km per hour and my steeering wheel wouldnt turn. but i was on the small house streets so i stopped the car with brakes and turned on and off and steering was turnable again.

Whoa, that's scary. WTF, never heard of that issue before.

[Infamouz627]

German build here, ED as a matter of fact. In my short (4 hour) drive back from the Welt to Frankfurt I already noticed the steering wheel cover would rattle (not a huge issue). I'm not sure if it was due to autobahn speeds but I only recall noticing it at 90+ mph.

[JohnVidale]

Mine is German, and not a single issue has arisen, not even a very minor one.

[Dinh335]

Originally Posted by LAnderson23

I was getting really nervous when I was waiting for my car to arrive too, seeing everyone complain about their issues. That being said, I think in general, most forums are going to have a higher percentage of problems being posted than the general population of cars out there. A lot of people don't post unless they have a problem. You don't get a post that says "Hey, everything is working fine today...carry on!"

In the end, it's kind of a luck of the draw. Worrying about what problems you might have doesn't do any good. Plus, you've got that nice 4 year warranty where they will fix anything that goes wrong.

I agree with you.. on just luck of the draw. I will add that in response to the "the only people who post are those with problems" I think there's probably a lot of people with problems that also DON'T post and take the time to set up a user, account, etc etc, and just come to read. So bad things you see here are neither the minority, or majority of owners...there's just no real way to tell. There could be tons more people with issues who don't care for car forums.

All you can do as you said, is enjoy the car when you get it. if it has issues, hope they can get fixed.

[dinonz]

I did read somewhere that the SA factory has won world wide awards for build quality for about the last 7 years straight, except one where it was beaten by a new BMW factory in Germany. And all 6 years, the second placed factory was BMW Germany.

[F30AM]

Build dates and place:
Car 1: 22 November 2012,
Car 2: 28 October 2012.
Both Munich, Germany.
Both identical cars.

Three problems on Car 1 (the newer car):
(1) Second key fob would not work. Fixed by dealer in 10 mins.
(2) Passenger Side Front Door needed adjusting as it did not hang properly. Took 10 mins to fix.
(3) Baggy Coral Red leather seats. Really bad on Driver's Seat Base. Mean BMW UK refused to pay to fix this. Got it done by a Leather Specialist. Took around 3 hours and cost me £204. Eventually got £102 back. Horrible experience trying to extract money from BMW.

Only one problem on Car 2:
(1) Noisy brakes. Seem to have rectified themselves.

Otherwise, the cars are pretty near perfect. No wind noise, no road roar, no steering wheel vibration or noise, no suspension noisea, no brake screech.

But these are early days.

[neilk0630]

Everything is working fine today...carry on.


I love it. Thanks LAnderson23 for the idea. When I do finally receive my car, I’m going to make it a point to post a message saying, "yep, the car is awesome. No problems."

And thanks to each of you who responded. I appreciate your feedback. I guess I'm not going to stress about the small problems (as long as my dealer is good about fixing it) Considering how sophisticated the cars are and how many systems are all working simultaneously, maybe I shouldn't expect 100% perfection.

Oh I am going to do 1 thing as a preemptive measure. Once I get the car I think I’m going to have sound insulation put in all the doors, the trunk and maybe the fire wall. Long term, I think I would be disappointed if my new $56,000 luxury sports sedan didn’t provide me with a nice quiet cabin. Granted, I’m not buying the car for it’s ability to block out the world, but still…… I don’t want to hear everything in the world either.

[phx08]

Originally Posted by neilk0630

Everything is working fine today...carry on.


I love it. Thanks LAnderson23 for the idea. When I do finally receive my car, I’m going to make it a point to post a message saying, "yep, the car is awesome. No problems."

And thanks to each of you who responded. I appreciate your feedback. I guess I'm not going to stress about the small problems (as long as my dealer is good about fixing it) Considering how sophisticated the cars are and how many systems are all working simultaneously, maybe I shouldn't expect 100% perfection.

Oh I am going to do 1 thing as a preemptive measure. Once I get the car I think I’m going to have sound insulation put in all the doors, the trunk and maybe the fire wall. Long term, I think I would be disappointed if my new $56,000 luxury sports sedan didn’t provide me with a nice quiet cabin. Granted, I’m not buying the car for it’s ability to block out the world, but still…… I don’t want to hear everything in the world either.

Alright good. You've checked in for today. Come back at 10:00 AM sharp tomorrow for your next check in.

[Axman85]

German build. Two major issues. Burns oil, 1qt apprx every 2200 miles. 2nd was limp mode (complete loss of power) that almost got me rear ended trying to accelerate out of a toll booth. Both still unresolved.

[AMJAM]

BMW F10 German build. Rattles like a rice box. Put simply whether the car is German or SA built makes little difference. Just get it and enjoy it. It is often the little niggles and fixing them that helps you attach to your car. Don't see many people passionate about a Toyota Camry do you?

[e92ben]

South African plants have stricter quality controls. I've heard that SA built cars have less issues. People just can't get over the fact that they are built out off Germany lol.

[Boosted John]

I have put 10k miles on my AH3 so far and it's been a fine machine.

[claykin]

The ONLY negative about getting an SA car is the extra 6+ weeks it takes to transit to US. SA cars tend to sit at Durban port longer and they often are offloaded and reloaded in Germany before heading to US.

Other than that, don't worry about production location.

[seamasters]

All my 3 previous BMWs made in Germany, including my 2015 M4 had it for a year now. Touchwood never had any issues with any of my cars, No problems.