Worse car ever put into production?

I still have one of those 1988 BMW 750iL's you discribed as being problematic. I agree, and I disagree.

I was one of the first 12-cylinder BMW owners in the US. I had a 533i that I tried to hurt, but couldn't. I was so impressed that I bought the 750iL without test driving it. It was incredibly fast and handled like a much smaller car.

I took it home and let my wife drive it. She pulled the seat up to where it was comfortable for her and drove it around the sub. She pulled back in the driveway and went in the house to freshen up before a celebratory dinner. She tried to put the seat back for me (I'm 6'5" and she's 5'7") and it wouldn't move.

I crammed myself behind the wheel and fiddled with the switch. The seat moved all the way forward on its own to pin me up against the steering wheel. I managed to get the seat back to recline enough so that I could push myself into the huge back seat to escape the clutches of my new car.

The dealer brought me back my 533i and flatbedded the car back to the dealership. They fixed the seat but during the next two weeks had 25 different electrical problems. I was pissed. I had just paid a buttload of money for a freaked-out car. The windows would go up and down at will. The power mirrors would move if you hit a bump. I got deadbolted in the car once and had to crawl out through the window.

Turns out the car was not haunted. It had been taken apart by GM at the original BMW/GM dealership, in Texas. They took it apart to see what made it tick. I was told that they didn't exactly put it back together correctly. Apparently there were a lot of loose ground connections that caused all the phantoms.

BMW apologized profusely and offered to get me another car. I ordered the exact same car and drove the original, repaired, 750iL for 11,000 miles before the new car arrived. I didn't make it 6 miles from the dealership when the brand new radiator blew. I turned around and drove it steaming (me too!) back to the dealership where they determined that the manufacture of the radiator, Behr, had missed a weld on the aluminum core and had just painted over it. The paint held for the 200 miles the dealership put on the car testing it to make sure it was perfect.

While I was having a fit at the dealership they alerted BMW's Chicago office and a VP flew in to meet me at the dealership. He offered me a third car. I told him he would have to further convince me by showing me where they were built.

BMW flew my wife and I, First Class, on Luftansia to Munich where we were pick up at the airport in the Chairman's limo. We were taken to a 5-star hotel on Konigstrasse where we freshen up. The driver turned out to be an up and coming executive who wanted to practice his English. We really messed him up with some of our idioms.

We got a tour of the engine plant where they make the V-12 and the M-series motors. Then they gave us a tour of the 7-series assembly plant. Then we had lunch in the Chairman's private lunchroom. My wife had a 325ix so she wanted to see where they made the 3 series cars.

It was late in the day when we went to the European Delivery new car center. They brought my car out and put it under some very bright lights for a final scrutiny and found two small nicks in the door paint. They refused to let me take a less than perfect car so the limo driver made an executive decision and assigned himself and the Chairman's car to us for the weekend.

We had the best tour of Germany, Lichtenstein, Switzerland and some other places at BMW's expense. We went to crazy Ludwig's castles and museums and zoos and many other beautiful places.

When we picked up the perfect car on Monday we asked the new friend/tour guide if he'd like to join us for the rest of our two week European tour and he agreed, only if BMW would pick up the tab. We allowed him to do so.

To make a very long story shorter, let me say that I still have that car today. It has 72,000 miles on it and it has never let me down. The only problem I had, when it was 15 years old, was the failure of the digital dashboard. It only read out in German for about a month before it died completely.

All in all I'd say that I'm a pretty satisfied customer.

Barry

Mark II convertible
 
BOB SLATER said:
If you dont mind i'll throw my 2 cents in;I work for a BMW dealer and the car with the most problems without a doubt is the new 7 series.They are in here all the time for various updates(were on update 13+now) they had to warranty them for 6 years/100k
miles just to make them resellable on the used car market.I think we bought back as many 02"s as we sold.
thanks


heh... I watched a consumer reports show about a year ago (maybe not even that long ago) and they said that the Ford Focus is built better and more reliable than a BMW 7 seriers lol

just thought that was funny
 
Kit Sullivan said:
I have to say that I actually have some appreciateion for each of the cars lambasted here. The one I can't stand from any angle is the 'Aztek'. Just a real visual monstrosity to me.

:iconcur:

Now that is something that is just Butt Ugly!!! I'd take a Pacer over an Aztek LOL. Now I know that Ugly doesn't make it the worse car but that thing. Ahhhhhh...

But always remember somewhere there is someone who is so proud to drive one!!!!

:N
 
I'd rather drive an Aztek than an H2 Hummer though. ( even the 2000 model with that gray cockroach-like body cladding.)
 
mespock said:
I'd rather get a Hummer than drive one :rolleyes:
Good point, If, for some freakish event of nature I was given an H2, I'd take it, THEN I'd turn around and sell the POS to some Soccer Mom Wannabe in my neighborhood for some outrageously low price, even then I'd still get my money's worth! (Hopefully it'd be to this couple down the street that lets their litter run amok through the neighborhood at all hours (NO BS!) and still does not understand the concept of disciplining the little rug-munchers! It'd serve them right! Hell, I'd even swallow the almost 10-grand (in taxes) and give it to them!)
 
Randeaux said:
Good point, If, for some freakish event of nature I was given an H2, I'd take it, THEN I'd turn around and sell the POS to some Soccer Mom Wannabe in my neighborhood for some outrageously low price, even then I'd still get my money's worth! (Hopefully it'd be to this couple down the street that lets their litter run amok through the neighborhood at all hours (NO BS!) and still does not understand the concept of disciplining the little rug-munchers! It'd serve them right! Hell, I'd even swallow the almost 10-grand (in taxes) and give it to them!)

Understand the feeling....
 
I'm a little late here, but I had a 88 Aries K but it was special, my parents were federal agents and it was a gov't issued k car... it had a "2.6 HEMI I-4" this f'n car was crazy, I think it had a little turbo too... my dad bought the car since he had the opportunity after so many milies they put it on Auction and since it was his, they let him just keep it, so I inherited it. This car kicked the crap out of countless number of sports cars and the like on the highway...

1988 Dodge Aries K Government Issued Edition actually got me into Hot-Rodding
 
Randeaux said:
I'd rather drive an Aztek than an H2 Hummer though. ( even the 2000 model with that gray cockroach-like body cladding.)
Guess you don't care for the Chevy Avalanches either? My husband had to have one, and I hated them at first. Now after having it almost 3 years, I can see the benefits of the cladding and love the whole truck.
 
Suprisingly, I've always liked the Avalanche. The cladding looks as it belongs on it and fits in with the design. However, on ALL the Pontiacs the cladding looks as if it was little more than a tacked-on afterthought. ESPECIALLY the 2000-ish Aztecs and Bonnevilles. The Bonnevilles look way better since they took off C-3po's earthly remains off it in '02-03. :rolleyes:
 
hottweelz said:
I'm a little late here, but I had a 88 Aries K but it was special, my parents were federal agents and it was a gov't issued k car... it had a "2.6 HEMI I-4" this f'n car was crazy, I think it had a little turbo too... my dad bought the car since he had the opportunity after so many milies they put it on Auction and since it was his, they let him just keep it, so I inherited it. This car kicked the crap out of countless number of sports cars and the like on the highway...

1988 Dodge Aries K Government Issued Edition actually got me into Hot-Rodding

I wonder if that's the same motor as in the Omni GLH? Don't really know too much about them except they Go Like H-e-double-hockeysticks!
When I was in high school, my friends that lived in the same area as I would take turns car-pooling each week. And a buddy of mine had one,in fact I think he fooled his parents into getting it because all they saw was the OMNI part if you catch my drift....I know this was like, 15 years ago, but that little car was BADDDDD!!!!
 
i think the wort car ever had to be anything with a Chevy 3.1 in it. They didn't run well, were gas hogs, and never looked right. example: Camaro, Corsica (corsi-crap), and a few cavaliers. If you want to see a good looking Yugo, check out my homepage, http://members.cardomain.com/saturn17901
there is a lifted yugo somewhere in there. But I also have to say a very bad car is the 1983-1988 Monte Carlo SS. When they aren't in the shop, they're fast as sin, but that is only like 2 weeks a year.
 
caddyshack17901 said:
i think the wort car ever had to be anything with a Chevy 3.1 in it. They didn't run well, were gas hogs, and never looked right. example: Camaro, Corsica (corsi-crap), and a few cavaliers. If you want to see a good looking Yugo, check out my homepage, http://members.cardomain.com/saturn17901
there is a lifted yugo somewhere in there. But I also have to say a very bad car is the 1983-1988 Monte Carlo SS. When they aren't in the shop, they're fast as sin, but that is only like 2 weeks a year.
I have a chevy 3.1 right now in the 90 Grand Prix... that sucker does an avg 30mpg city/hiway 160hp easy.... I love that f'n motor! 112k miles and tighter than a virgin on prom nite!

Monte SS? Like my 83 Grand Prix?

You're experience with the 3.1 and the Monte tells me someone is driving a little too hard on passenger cars.
 
Monte Carlo SS FAST?! EEK! They only had 305's for God sake. My freind dumped his 305 and installed a 350 out of a police car and the car was STILL SLOW! My bone stock LSC used to romp on it.
 
i never owned a 3.1, but several of my friends have. that is what i base my conclusions on, as the 3.1s in their cars don't last. as for being too hard on passenger cars, the two i couldn't kill were passenger cars, both being GM. I wrapped one around a tree doing 85, and it didn't stall. it was an 85 cutlass with a 3.0 motor, and it still can be driven to this day. Im not to hard on my cars, but my friends don't know how to treat them. thats why their 3.1s don't last, and they are not good engines. for every time my cutlass was in the shop, they were in ten times. there may be a few good ones out there, yes, but the majority of the 3.1s are lemons.
 

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