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Save up to $379 on Your Auto Insurance. Compare Quotes from Top Providers Now! Find the Best Deal and Apply! - Adv.
Allan of Zimmerman, MN July 19, 2007
My wife owns a 2000 BMW 323i that intermittantly will not go into reverse
BMW dealer checked it out and said that he had never heard of such a thing. Repair costs are excessive for a new transmission.
Brent of Issaquah, WA July 17, 2007
I have a 2001 X5 4.4 and the transmission started going out at 60k miles. The reverse does not work, even though going forward works fine. I have had no help from the local dealership or BMW. Too many people are having this problem. It would not be hard to get hundreds involved in a class action suit for this.
Avanish of Ashland, MA July 9, 2007
My 2000 BMW 323i with about 88K miles will no longer drive in reverse. It appears to be the same transmission problem everyone is describing here. I had no idea that problem was so widespread.
Bindy of Overland Park, KS June 28, 2007
Save for the variables of mileage - 90K - and geographic location - Overland Park, KS - my story is exactly the same as 90% of the entries preceeding it. My 2000 BMW 323i was running perfectly well, probably in some part due to the religiously consistent maintenance and upkeep I've invested over the years, until a couple of weeks ago when, low and behold, my car wouldn't go into Reverse; it just revved like it was in Neutral.
The mechanic that I have used for years and trust spent a day and a half with it trying to figure out what exactly the probelm was, without having to lead me down the road of a new transmission, but, of course, that would be the remedy. I subsequently checked with the service manager at the local dealership to see, (after having read the hundreds of complaints here), if he had seen a lot of similar cars come through with this problem.
At first he tried to say he hadn't, but then when I reitterated that later in our conversation, he said, Well, I didn't say that. I just said they'd been random. He wouldn't even run a diagnostic on my car. In fact, he refused - he just immediately told me to come in and he'd replace the transmission. REALLY!? If I call my doctor with a stiff knee, is he going to immediately sign me up for knee replacement surgery without even seeing me? Gee, thanks - I was wondering what I was going to do with that extra 4800 in my pocket. btw, when I mentioned the 300+ complaints that I'd read about on just one website alone, he said, Well, that's not very many. Uh-huh. Let's see - I'd say those of us who have written here make up only about 10% of the people to whom this has actually happened.
Steve of Leominster, MA June 14, 2007
i have a 1997 bmw 540i and crashed into a concrete base that holds up a light pole i was goin app 25 mph the accident did almost 10,000 in damge to my car i had to be lifeflighted to a trauma center airbags never deployed.i contacted bmw derek anton and they sent out an investigator the first code that came up was airbag fault as the technician scrambled and made 2 or 3 calls i was told anton would get back to me.when he did he tried to tell me the techs said the parameters werent right for deployment and there was nothing they could do for me.lets see head on crash 10,000 in damage no airbag deployment airbag fault code on screen but the parameters werent right?bmw takes no responsability for their vehicles defects very very sad.
Amber of Corona, CA April 30, 2007
2001 BMW 330CI, 60k miles I don’t recall a time when it didn’t squeal when in reverse. Every time it was serviced at Irvine BMW I told them and after service it would not squeal for one day and then it would start again. To this day it squeals in reverse.
Anthony of Mahopac, NY April 22, 2007
We purchased a 2000 BMW 323 series when our lease was up. It has about 80,000 miles. After making our first payment of a 3-year loan last month, we put the car into reverse to back out of the driveway and it would not go into reverse. No prior warning, no symptoms, it just failed to go into reverse gear. We are going to attempt to make BMW liable for this obvious mechanical defect in the 2000 323 series cars. From what we hear, they are not saying that there is a defect or recall. They are selling a high-end car with a high-end price tag but apparently are producing a substandard quality car. If there is no defect, then is this the quality they are knowingly producing? We are seeing people on this web site with as little as 36,000 miles with a shot transmission. If so, you can buy a Kia or a Hyundai for less than half the price instead of buying a BMW that is supposed to be a well-made car.
The consequences are that I cannot afford to repair a transmission. I am paying 400 a month for the next three years for a car that I cannot drive and thus, must take Metro North to work in Manhattan at a cost of 300 per month and I don't even have a car to get to the station. My wife must get up and leave the kids at home alone to get ready for school while she drives me to take a train at 6:00 a.m. We plan to do everything we can to get BMW to be held accountable for this. They know of the problem and refuse to deal with it. I will work with an attorney, go to the TV news and local newspapers to get the word out about this abuse that BMW is doing to their customers.
Mitzi of Norman, OK April 17, 2007
i just thought i'd add mine to the mountain of other complaints about owning a 2000 BMW 323i which suddenly has no reverse. not surprisingly, the local dealer's service manager toed the party line, saying he was unfamiliar with that being a common problem. the guy who actually replaced my transmission said he did at least 10 last year. i found a story online, run by a san francisco television station which detailed the exact problem there. BMW denies there is a problem...why is there no class action on this?
Visar of Mississauga, OTHER April 12, 2007
I have 2000 323i with Steptronic , similar to all these complaints about the reverse failure. I was told by the BMW dealer as others that the tranny needs to be replaced....NOT
Kevin of Everett, WA April 12, 2007
Kevin of Everett, WA (04/12/07) On 01/12/07, I purchased a 2001 330i BMW, est. miles 80K, equipped with sports package and steptronic, from a local used car dealer. On 02/20/07, I put the car in reverse with no response.
Thinking that I must have select Neutral, I visually look and No, sure enough it was in Reverse. I pushed the car backwards and put in Drive and it worked fine, then I toggled over the SD and that forward gear work fine and then I shifted in manual mode and all 5 speeds work fine. However, whenever drive forward 5-10mph; I could hear a grinding sound coming from the transmission.
I contacted the BMW Dealer in Bellevue, WA, where the car was original purchased and spoke with a Service Rep. with no help. I was informed that this was not a known problem. The VIN was check for warranty status, (which had expired). The Service Rep. est. the repair cost anywhere from 1500 to 5000. Results: The transmission was rebuilt by a reputable transmission shop. End Result: The Total Cost I had to pay (out of pocket) For a known BMW Premature Transmission Failure was 3325.26
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