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General Question on Dealing with BMW as a company
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Hi -

This question may be addressed in other threads so if it is kindly direct me to them.

I would like for those US owners who've also owned a number of other brands over the years to share their opinions about dealing w/BMW Motorrad as a company - compared to manufacturers of other makes (Japanese, for instance, with whom I have a fair amount of experience), are they responsive? Are repair parts hard to get and expensive? Experience with reliability? Those types of issues - not necessarily the quality of the dealer you work with (an interesting topic - but dealers, even within a brand, vary in quality). I'm more interested in the company itself.

I specify US owners because in multinational companies the "character" of the company is often defined by the in-country organization. The BMW corporate presence in the UK could be very different from the one in the USA.

Here's the reason. I just put a deposit down on an R 1250 RS. Bike looks great, good reviews, specs fit with what I want now. But I intend to own it for a number of years. This will be my 14th motorcycle - this bike is preceded by 4 Harleys, 3 Yamahas, 3 Suzukis, 2 Kawasakis and a Honda. By and large my experiences with the manufacturers (and dealers) were satisfactory. Service costs were reasonable and the motorcycles were reliable.

But I've also owned two BMW 335x-drives, and that was a different experience. Fun to drive but a heartbreak at the repair shop. Things broke a lot more frequently than either my US or Japanese cars - oil stand gasket leak at 80K miles - $1100. Oil Pan gasket at 110K miles - $1600. Intercooler connector at 115K miles - $800. RDU control board - first one failed at 50K miles and was covered under warrant - second at 90K miles and set me back $900. And on and on. Brake servicing was another irrititant. When the pads wore down I was told that the rotors had to be replaced as well, even though there had not been metal to metal contact. The explanation I got was that BMW designed the rotors to be very thin to save weight, so they had a tendency to warp. GRRRR!

And it's complicated by the fact that dealer density, in southeast Ohio, is much less than the Big 4 Japanese OEM's or the Motor Company.

So it would be very helpful if anyone would share their experiences in this regard. Thanks much!
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General Question on Dealing with BMW as a company - by kw278 - 01-29-2021, 05:26 AM

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