Completely agree. After driving for a week during vacation on a rental with Android Auto, that’s a must have on my feature list for my next car and will mean I will not lease another BMW.
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@deano has it nailed. They make about 3x more models than they should be making if the only sell 305k cars a year in the USA. Nobody can tell you the difference between a 320i, 330i, and 340i, or a 440i for that matter. Also I think it’s widely known that the cars fall apart after 3 years.
Expensive to maintain, yes. Fall apart after 3 years…that’s a bit of a reach.
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It’s widely known that that’s BS
What he meant was, after 3 years, your wallet will fall apart if you maintain the car properly so it does not fall apart …
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That’s a more realistic statement 
IDK, I drove a BMW from new to 117k miles. I don’t think it was much more to maintain than anything else. I have a good Service adviser though.
I think there may be a little shock though because maintenance is covered for the first few years. So yes, compared to free, it can look expensive.
$2500 sunroof cartridge repair bill on the X5, electric N20 engines blowing up … kind of sounds like falling apart, at least for some.
You can say this about all manufacturers. Certain Hondas had transmission problems. GMs old 3.4 engine used to eat intake gaskets. I could keep going…
After 3 years? No. After 5 years? Most definitely.
My BMW is approaching 4 years old. To date the only repair has been to replace an engine sensor under warranty.
I looked into things very carefully before I decided to buy the car at lease end. The general opinion among long term owners was that you absolute had to keep up on all the listed maintenance and if possible do a little extra (change the oil sooner for example). BMWs are not Toyotas where you can forget to change the oil for 30,000 miles and expect the car to keep running. You also need to have a good indy repair shop to keep the costs down vs. taking it to the dealer for non-warranty repairs.
Then you would say they fall apart as well. For the most part, BMW, Mercedes, GM etc. don’t last as long as Honda and Toyota.
Hondas and Toyotas just rust out from under you if you’re in the NE.
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I remember older models used to rust out really bad, I didn’t think they still did. In SoCal we just bake our cars.
An X5 shouldn’t lease out at the same price as a 7 series. If you’re holding on to your brand equity with a soccer mom SUV your brand is in trouble.
I tried to lease a 430i GC back in November. Dealer wouldn’t budge and tried to get me into a 320i. They clearly want suckers. It was also quite clear their production capacity is above their sales numbers as they were overflowing with cars on the lot and offsite. Let someone else pay the BMW mark-up. Plenty of other good sports sedans around. I am very happy with my alfa.
Also, with a brand that is so heavily financed/leased, rising interest rates are going to present even more problems.
The entire industry is shifting toward soccer mom SUVs.
You mention you got into an Alfa. You don’t think Alfa is worse in this regard?
I just read that Ford is planning to shift to all trucks/CUV/SUVs except for the Mustang and the upcoming Focus Active.
At least until oil hits $150/barrel, then they will come back.
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That’s still a big gamble for them. Even if they import models here from another country, they will need time to ramp things up while others will be already prepared for the onslaught.
After selling Volvo and Range Rover and now wanting it back, Ford leadership seems to have no clue.