Loose Bodykit

StuB wrote: Thing is, will the car come back ok?  I have my doubts.

It should come back as good as new (so to speak!). Check it and when you are finished, check it again!

Stu,

To put this in perspective, my hairdresser bought a used 01' E46 320ci conv from a dealer a few months back. She had countless problems from the outset, faulty roof, faulty electrics, etc.

On the second trip back to the dealer, she demanded that they keep the car (and run it) for at least a week, then they could at least begin to understand her frustrations properly.

At first they tried to offer her a 316 compact in replacement, but she made a point of saying that she didnt feel that it was a like-for like swap. Ended up, the closest thing they could give her was a 03' M3 coupe .

Now I can guarantee that wouldn’t happen to me, as like you, im far too nice, and don’t like making a fuss. But feisty women always get what they want!

Next time it may be an idea to send your missus in with the faulty motor and see what she can swindle for you.

Take care.

Well, I took it in this morning.

Should get it back Thursday.

After BMW GB called "you made a request on the website....", I got a 320d - better than a Mini Cooper for the commute.

In desperation I used www.BMW.co.uk to post a message to the stealer & head office obviously monitor those.

No phone calls from the dealer yet, so we'll wait & see what tomorrow brings.

320d - hmmm, s'ok I guess, bit lacking something really, but dead economical with 6 spd & cruise.

Got a nice surprise yesterday, car returned in 1 piece, they even put a tenner (gas) in for me.

Body kit now has some big black rubber joints to stop the plastic rubbing .

The wind noise we were experiencing "on the autobahn" resulted in a changed windscreen seal (design fault apparently).

They also fixed a botched car kit install for me, programmed all of the 'options' to the key and charged me £0!  RESULT!

We  BMW again.  Might even buy another at this rate.

The 320 was an ES model, 6 speed, cruise & leather.  Couldn't spot any other options really.

Car drove ok, though there's still a diesel lag trying to nip out off a roundabout etc.  On the motorway, the car is very impressive.  If I was still doing starship mileage, it'd be on the short list.  Economy was amazing for the speeds I was doing in the car.  Service interval seems to be very large too - got to be a good thing.

Didn't really push the car handling wise, but it felt pretty planted in most circumstances, though a bit on the soft side (wallowy).  It mostly wouldn't be doing any BDD's if we got one.

It was beautifully screwed together, you can spot the areas where they eliminated the E36 faults in the E46.  Don't know what they can have sorted in the new 3 to improve really.