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-   -   BMW 320d & 328i (F30) : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/126290-bmw-320d-328i-f30-official-review-39.html)

Dear fellow members,

I am sure there will be many BMW fans in this forum and we in India have the false notion of European cars being better. So i am afraid what ever i say will be seen as merely an angry customer response. When i bought the car in August 2013 i was thrilled with getting it but since then as i have used the car a lot, i fail to see why i payed 42 lakhs for a car that offers ABSOLUTELY no benefits.

First off the BMW sales team will give you a honorary boot licking till you buy their car and lie through their teeth on what the car really is.

1) They claimed we dont need cruise control because the BMW has "limit speed", which they tricked me into thinking is just like the cruise control while in reality it only limits the speed and you need to keep pressing the accelerator.

2) Again, the sales man tricked me into signing papers and told me that the spare key will need to come from Germany in 3 months and i trusted him and signed the papers but when i asked after 3 months BMW told me they already gave me the key!!!!! Then when i spoke with the General Manager he totally spoke against me in such a RUDE way and kept refusing everything i said and after a huge and annoying argument they took one month to give me a new key.

3) The sports seat air inflation stopped working and they told me it takes 1 month for getting the parts, which has to come from Japan. They feel so proud in telling me that it take a month because it is an custom part. I dont give a dam if they hired Clint Eastwood to personally makes it with his own hands, i need the dam parts ASAP.

4) The 42,00,000 BMW does not come with a spare wheel, After my Car got punctured and the so called RUN FLAT tiers failed when the tire wall broke they brought me dozen papers to sign just so i can get a spare tire in 3 days!! Till then they gave me an over sized BMW 5 series wheel... The salesman while selling me the car told me i can change all 4 tires for free in the Claim. But now can you imagine waiting 3 to 4 days to fix a puncher, this is what 42 lakhs gets you.

Their workshop is a horrible little shed in a part of town where the roads are getting laid and they treat the customer like DIRT.

Further more there is no GPS, No cruise control, No spare wheel, Support is not great if you break down, No front parking sensors, rear cam, your Android phones dont get Apps because only I-phones can be hooked and dont ask me i suppose that is some SNOBBISH European decision to look cool. There is whole lot of features that you can get in your Mahindra XUV for under 16 lakhs that you fail to get in the BMW. If you complain to BMW on any of these they only laugh at you arrogantly and tell you they are not worried in losing a customer because they sell tons of cars world wide, i am only one of those dumb fools who thought he would get 5star treatment if he bought a BMW.

This car is absolute bullshit for the price, the ride is hard and its slower than the competition, I suggest you look at the Volvo or the New upcoming Merc C-class which are FAR FAR FAR better value for money.

Please dont go to BMW thinking your going to get 5 Star treatment after you buy it, dont fall for their Sales pitch. Its really not WORTH the money..

lol: Notice: I am driving my BMW 3 series with a 5 series wheel. Why do these Snobbish Europeans think they do a better job at anything at all??

Seems like this is a "common feature"in their service departments in other countries too! I previously owned a 2009 BMW 328i and an 2008 528xi in the US. The cars were wonderful to drive, albeit the run flat tyres in the 328i did contribute to a harsh ride at times. The 528xi had regular tyres and that helped the ride quality improve vastly. Coming to the service departments, I used 3 different dealerships in different cities in the time i owned them and the only way to describe their experiences were with expletives unfortunately. I too expected much better treatment having bought these premium sedans on stretched budgets :) Overall, if I had to buy another one I would definitely hesitate given the poor after sales service I experienced.

I'm assuming you have a 320D Sportline.

I just need to ask you one thing, did you do any research before you bought the car? I mean you have had it for 8 months. Did you not see the spec sheet, and check whether the car has cruise control, or Gps, or front sensors, or a reverse cam or a spare wheel? All BMW showrooms have a detailed spec sheet. Did yours not show you one?

Also when have you ever heard of a spare key coming after 3 months? That makes no sense. Why would you believe that and sign papers?

Completely wrong of them to take a month for the bolster inflation parts.

How many km did you drive on the run flats that the sidewall broke? Also I believe its only 2 papers which have to be signed when replacing a runflat through secure. Also 3 days is too much, surprising they don't have a 3 series tyre in stock. Sounds like your dealer is bad.

Here is the RUN-FLAT tires after only driving 5 kms in flat. I guess Run Flat is a sarcastic word.. lol:


As a result the Rim is also bent and i need new Rims and I have to share the cost with the Insurance company.

Yes, I do know there is no GPS or rear cam and i mentioned the Sales people tricked me into thinking the Limit speed is like the Cruise Control, but anyway i had to mention it here as part of my USER REVIEW and tell potential buyers that it is not worth the price. Do you get it? This is an USER review post and this is my honest review after useing the stupid car for 8 months.

I recommend everyone not to buy BMW because it is lagging in features and customer support, which they dont need to OVER LOOK as other cars like Volvo or Merc or even XUV come with these accessories and they are far better bet for peace of mind.




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Sorry mate but your choice of words and tone make you sound like nothing but a disillusioned customer.
What do you mean by "sales people tricked you" into buying something related to cruise control?? Can't you read and / or write? No offence but you should have done your research before buying.

And no, I do not work for BMW. Apart from the problem with the Run Flats you encountered, a big share of everything else you have written seems to be the result of your own ignorance.

I hope what you say is not a personal attack.:)

However, The "limit speed" is right where the cruise control is on the steering and i suppose i was dumb enough not understanding that part, when i asked the sales man if there is cruise control he said "Why do you need cruise control, when we have Limit speed" and i did not really pursue that argument, since this is the first car i bought in the C segment and i persumed it wrongly as Cruise Control. MY bad and i am stupid for this.

The key issue happened when the sales man gave me the BMW package which came with CD and Manual etc., He told me that i needed to sign it just to tell his people that i have received all these and i did sign it because i trusted him on the issue and i was feed up with signing papers by then. What bothered me was the way the GM spoke to me, i have recorded it half way and i will post the conversation too, soon.

Rest of the issues like GPS, Cam and other features i was informed before hand but i choose to buy it regardless, I find the Volvo has better features and i think this car is not the best in competition so this is my USER REVIEW and my view is to tell people its not WORTH the money.

I hope i dont have to repeat. THIS IS MY REVIEW of the 3-series.


Thank goodness your a BMW owner and have been through the same problem. The customer support really need to improve. Arrogant is not the least i would say the way they handle my Key issue.

Absolutely not Sir, I assure you that. :)

Would you be able to post a picture of this? I am unable to uderstand what this "limit speed" feature is. A picture of this from the steering wheel would definitely help, if you dont mind posting.

With you on this one! In fact, you should escalate it to the appropriate authorities at BMW.

Why? :)

This is not a review on the 3-series. It is more like review on the buyer or advice for potential buyer to actually understand what one wants. I am not sure if you researched enough before plunging over 30L on a car that is considered as the best drivers car not by just reviewers but all owners.

We feel sorry for a good car being slammed because of user ignorance. Comparing to Volvo should have been done before you decided to buy or may be you did but now you are just upset because of the issues you are facing.

Just work with the SA and raise the right concern and get your issues fixed. And expect BMW to be snobbish for they know their cars sell themselves unlike a volvo for instance :)

I don't know why people buy European cars and expect a hassle free experience. Run to the japs instead!

I had a friend in England who's had over 4 cars in 20 years - all Japanese. He's never had a problem with any of them.
He then re-located temporarily (I think, don't remember the reason) and bought a second hand BMW with the intention of selling it within 8 months.
He had spent more than the car in services and fixes and it was the hassle that bothered him.
It's fun when everything goes well though - European cars are great to drive around!

I see a lot of Indians falling prey to premium German cars without giving much of a thought on the scenario "What if things go wrong". People move from one German manufacturer to the next on their next purchase only to realize that they are facing similar problems with the second manufacturer.

One has to realize what is more important for a person - reliability, availability (Uptime of cars) or prestige of owning a premium car. People overlook the former and go after the latter to realize that they have got a raw deal and by that time it is too late to reverse the decision.

Monster_BHP, Autonarr - I suggest you think twice before falling prey to another German manufacturer in the future.

@ Monter_BHP: Did you highlight the parts not available issue to the BMW Customer care? They sure would have checked into the delay considering that yours is a current model.

Regarding the key, you should have checked with someone, no brand would give a key after 3 Months!

Run Flats: Yes they are a pain but do have their benefits. Again this delay seems to be purely due to an incompetent dealership. Did they mention the reason for delay.

Can you also point out the Pro's and Con's of the Volvo as there simply aren't enough on the road with even less information of their After Sales Service.

Hope your issue are resolved soon!

Wow only 5kms? If the roads were good then that is really terrible. I would imagine the runflat would run at least about 50kms without an issue unless the roads are made of just stones or something. Have actually run about 20km on a run flat doing up to 80kmph and it was totally fine to continue using after fixing the puncture. Just bad luck I guess.

How did he trick you into thinking its cruise control? You youself have said in the next post what he told you, and said you did not pursue it.

Again how did he trick you into signing papers, when you yourself mention here you signed it because you were fed up signing papers by then. You should have refused to do anything till you got your spare key. This is a mistake on your part.

Yes I know this is your review, and your opinion on BMW, and I respect that. Sorry to say looks like you just jumped into the purchase without doing any research.

Why not sell it off and buy a Volvo or Merc, luckily the 3 series resale is better than Volvos and the C classes at this point.

Am also curious to know whether you paid the full 42l and did not even get a discount?

Thank you, but I'm living proof that "hindsight is always 20/20". And with a handle áutonarr- loosely translated from German meaning "petrol head"what else was to be expected stupid:
I had become tired of the 328i within a year because of the service issues, so I traded it in for a Mazda CX-7, a sensible Japanese crossover. But the German car craving was back pretty soon, and a couple of years later succumbed to trading in another sensible car, a Subaru Legacy, for a 528xi (CPO) lol:

That does feel like cheating but if you want to take it in a positive way you can do so. The advantage of this is that in roads where there are speed limits you can just press the accelerator and not worry about a violation. Not trying to justify the lapse on their part but think for a moment again.

I guess when things get bitter such things happen and we take out our anger after having paid our hard earned money. But if you really are sure they conned you regarding the key then just give the evidence and feedback to BMW and you should get a fair deal.

Please get used to such things. Yours is just a seat inflation I had to wait for a bumper for 15 days for my bmw. But regardless this happens in most cars as they do not keep inventories for such expensive or uncommon parts. You can ask any merc , audi or even Volvo customer about this.
Even the simple parts take long times to get as these are imported. I guess we should buy totally made in India cars to get things repaired in a jiffy.


this you already knew before hand im sure and should have researched the limitations and advantages of a runflat. How did the tyre sidewall break?
I think it must have been a bad ditch or did something cut it? Was the pressure correct? With runflats you need to monitor the pressure all the time as you cannot make out if its lost air and then the sidewall comes in contact with the road and can fail even though it is designed for such situations. Moreover did you reset the runflat indicator after refilling air?You should get a sparewheel doughnut for 20k for future use and drive really carefully over potholes. If your tyre got a cut then consider yourself lucky that ur life was saved by the runflat which did not burst and topple the car if it was at high speed. Also keep a pump with you always.

These things im sure you knew about before buying. Lets put it this way all cars have some good or bad points.
compare your car with the competition and you will see many plus points.Besides as each company launches the newer version its always better than competition till the competition gets a better version. This cycle continues and its upto us at which point in this cycle we buy the car.

There are bad dealers in most cars. Sorry you had all the negatives come together. Ive had bad service and repair experiences too with them especially with the car being in workshop much longer. I think they are sorting out things regarding service to some extend as during my last visit the workshop was not crowded at all as they had double shifts.

They probably got you whatever tyres they had to fix your situation. Wrong on their part to not have tyres ready.
After all this is one of their most selling car. besides whats the point of RSA if they cannot provide a tyre immediately.
Hope you can take some evasive steps to take care of your car and understand the limitations and get out with the bitter experience.:thumbs up

Do not Expect Toyota or Maruti like treatment with these European car makers. Being a BHPian you should have known what you are getting into. And why most of us feel its a rant than a honest User review is the way you have worded it. Quoting from your post itself: " Its slower than the competition". Really?
And then you go on recommending Mercedes as a far better alternative. You had any prior ownership experience of that or is that just an assumption? Please look around and you will find multiple threads detailing the arrogance meted out to the customers at various mercedes dealers and the same pre mature part failure stories.
I would really like to know the reason why you bought the car in the first place when you knew all these features are missing w.r.t. the competition? You must have surely known the issues with the RFTs and lack of a spare wheel before buying right?

Now regarding your RFT not lasting for 5 kms: With that big a side wall cut is it really going to last? I am under the impression that the RFT will hold only in cases where the puncture does not involve the side wall. Anyways the best course of action for you now is to escalate things to BMW regarding your grievances and also why not get a space saver tyre for those rare occasions?