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[78bex]

The dealer probably won't be able to replicate the fault, so will just give it back to you and say it was a lose battery terminal or some such twaddle.

Yes we`ve given her a jolly good 250 mile workout & can`t help at all really.
Our service reception director has done his usual trick  & used all your fuel up & the warning light is glowing brightly The remains of his lunch are trodden in nicely with his discarded fag butts 
Any problems just pop her back & we`ll really rag the guts out off her next time for you.

[X30XE]

... I may have to wind one down on the service manager's desk....

  Not heard it put quite like that before.

Since when did consumer law in the UK allow you to return cars within 6months?  Thought it was only american that had the "lemon law"?

I knew someone with a Mercedes ML that kept doing exactly the same thing on one particular roundabout. Don't think they ever did find out why.

[Viral_Jim]

Since the Consimer Rights Act 2015  - this affects all purchases (including new & used cars) made by consumers on or after 01/10/15. It's a powerful piece of legislation and your rights depend on the length of time between the purchase date and the fault manifesting.

If it's less than 1 month, you may reject the goods out of hand if they develop a fault and receive a full refund. If >1 month but <6 months you must give the supplier one opportunity to repair or replace the goods (supplier's choice as to which). If this is unsuccessful then you may reject the goods for a full refund. Outside of 6months you have to prove the fault was present at the purchase date.

The only exception to the full refund rule is cars, where the dealer may make a reasonable deduction for the enjoyment an owner has had from the car. What's reasonable? Ultimately you negotiate with them or let the courts decide.

I used the above legislation to get our fridge replaced just before Christmas when it went wrong for a second time following a repair by Currys/Knowhow/whatever they're called today so it was very fresh in my mind. 

If I do have to push The dealer for rejection then I fully expect it to be a long drawn out affair which will cost me dearly.  However I simply cannot have a car that I can't rely on, particularly when I use it 30+ times a year to get me to the airport for work flights and my office is a 180mile round trip on the motorway.   

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Since the Consimer Rights Act 2015  - this affects all purchases (including new & used cars) made by consumers on or after 01/10/15. It's a powerful piece of legislation and your rights depend on the length of time between the purchase date and the fault manifesting.

If it's less than 1 month, you may reject the goods out of hand if they develop a fault and receive a full refund. If >1 month but <6 months you must give the supplier one opportunity to repair or replace the goods (supplier's choice as to which). If this is unsuccessful then you may reject the goods for a full refund. Outside of 6months you have to prove the fault was present at the purchase date.

The only exception to the full refund rule is cars, where the dealer may make a reasonable deduction for the enjoyment an owner has had from the car. What's reasonable? Ultimately you negotiate with them or let the courts decide.

I used the above legislation to get our fridge replaced just before Christmas when it went wrong for a second time following a repair by Currys/Knowhow/whatever they're called today so it was very fresh in my mind. 

If I do have to push The dealer for rejection then I fully expect it to be a long drawn out affair which will cost me dearly.  However I simply cannot have a car that I can't rely on, particularly when I use it 30+ times a year to get me to the airport for work flights and my office is a 180mile round trip on the motorway.   

Good to know.

[tunnie]

Sorry to hear this, is there any update from the dealer?

I'll let me car share buddy know, he has a M235i on a 65 Plate, so very similar workings. My lift share has a 'TheBoy' driving style if I'm honest, the throttle is quite often on or off, which to be honest the sound the engine makes I don't blame him.

It's going in for it's first service soon at 20k miles, still on the original tyres!

[Kevin Wood]

It's going in for it's first service soon at 20k miles, still on the original tyres!

Then he hasn't perfected the "TheBoy" driving style and should keep practising.

[X30XE]

Since the Consimer Rights Act 2015  -

Innnnnteresting. Thanks Mr Jimmy 

[tunnie]

It's going in for it's first service soon at 20k miles, still on the original tyres!

Then he hasn't perfected the "TheBoy" driving style and should keep practising.

Ohh he has, many a time traction control is off, fair bit of sideways action.

He let me have a drive, very easy to get those rear wheels slipping.

Just appears light on tyres, maybe not so heavy? (the car i mean  )

[Viral_Jim]

Sorry to hear this, is there any update from the dealer?

I'll let me car share buddy know, he has a M235i on a 65 Plate, so very similar workings.

Not as yet, which I'm guessing means it didn't yield any answers when threatened with a 12 year old and his laptop. They're probably y'know, having to poke about with spanners n stuff.  .

On a separate note, this is my hire-steed for the duration my car is being poked and prodded. Nice enough car, and impressive for a motor that will do 48mpg with my usual driving style (the M140i sees about 26 on the same route).



It is however a bit "bling" for me. After 1 was in 4 months, my M140i was just starting to look like every estate agent's 116d . I bet the dealer will ruin the carefully crafted patina of dirt!

TBH I wouldn't worry your buddy about it, from what everyone has said to me (dealer, recovery truck as well as model specific forums) this is a really unusual one so its unlikely that theres any cause for concern. Once I know more, I'll definitely update!

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

48 MPG.......I'm guessing this means it runs on lorry/canal boat fuel?

[Kevin Wood]

I've been pondering what could cause such a total failure which then went away without trace. I reckon one of the critical devices on the CAN bus threw a woobly - ECU controlling all the dashboard controls might do it, for example.

Presumably, it restarted itself on a watchdog eventually and all was well again.

Such a fault probably doesn't bode well for a diagnosis from the dealer. Unless it left fault codes in a load of other ECUs that lost comms with it and whoever encountered them could read between the lines and tell what happened, I reckon a shrug of the shoulders is the most likely outcome.

.. a disadvantage of modern heavily integrated car systems that we will all have to learn to live with eventually, I guess.

I hope they find something that gives you some peace of mind, though.

[tunnie]

Almost sounds like it lost contact with the key? 

[Viral_Jim]

48 MPG.......I'm guessing this means it runs on lorry/canal boat fuel?

Certainly does. to be fair, the engine is good for a diesel and is streets ahead of others I've had as hire cars (ford, pug and Renault to name but 3). Overall I prefer the small turbo petrol in swmbo's yeti though, which returns a comparable 44-45mpg on the same run. I have to say that I think the 320d is geared/designed to flatter the 0-62 test. It just dies off completely midway through a 45-85 run as I found out at about 6am when I tried to overtake something on an A road  . Makes it pretty useless as an overtaking tool, but a 0-60 time of 7.5s hints that it ought to be quite handy.

Kevin: I'm inclined to agree unfortunately. Once I had (at BMW's request) waggled the big battery cables in the boot and found them to be securely in place, I was out of ideas other than "one black box deciding not to talk to another black box". In all honesty I'm glad I recorded the incident, as other than a message telling me the clock was showing the wrong time for my time zone  there was no evidence that anything had occurred. Also I suspect if there were error codes logged, someone would have called to tell me by now.

[Viral_Jim]

Almost sounds like it lost contact with the key? 

Funny you should say that, I did get a "key not in car" error a few days ago, probably all joined up somehow  .

Also, if you want to see how dead a dead car can be, and me nearly being run over by a bicyclist (TBF to him i was standing on a cycle path at the time) this is the video I recorded and sent to the dealer. As a warning, I think it has a bit of swearing on it, so probably should be marked NSFW with the sound on

http://vid27.photobucket.com/albums/c170/jimmy944/4CC856BF-B3CA-4708-81CC-9CDE64D0B08F.mp4

[tunnie]

Random theory... communication with key was blocked by something. One of the car parks at work, if i park in certain area the bloody key for the 3.2 won't work unless I'm right next to it. All other car parks it's fine, but this one the key has to be almost touching the paint work for it to work.

I wonder if somehow the keys wireless communication was blocked by something?

I know the range on them is quite impressive, so quite easily get some disruption? Or loose connection in the key to provide power to it?