Loving to hate my mr M6

[khas187]

Gents,

Last night I got a call from the dealer stating that the computer has thrown up codes for an issue with the clutch not gearbox. I was told that I need to give them permission to remove the gearbox at a cost to me in order for them to be able to have access to the clutch to see the cause. The cost of a gearbox removal and refit comes in at a whopping £620 GBP. If it is found that the clutch is faulty then they will replace the whole thing plus fly wheel and refit the gearbox under warranty. If however they see that the car has been abused or that its simply wear and tear then I need to pay for the clutch which is over £2,000 GBP. If I do not want to go ahead with the clutch at this point I will still have to pay for the gearbox to be refitted to the car at the cost above! The last clutch was fitted in at 8,000 miles. I stated this to the dealer. How can a clutch fitted under warranty last year go after 8,000 miles and you call it possible wear and tear? How can you put a customer under that kind of dilema? I want to know if its covered or not before going ahead with something like this but you cant tell me this without at least a cost of £620GBP to me which if agreed to would still not have fixed the issue and the car will be left on the roadside undrivable!

I couldnt believe what I was hearing from these guys! All the money for the warranty, all that money for the car and all the issues I have had with the transmission not to mention missing out on the event on Thursday and now you give me the most obsurd options! This is what I argued. In all honesty I know the car has not been abused. I have never even played with the launch control as I know from experience they have given issues on carrying out repairs under warrenty if the car has been found to be exessively using this function (why have it on the car then?). The only thing I did that day was take traction control off for about 10 minutes and drive the car in a lively manner through the country roads - after all this is an M6 right?

I have had no choice but to agree for them to take the gearbox out and inspect the clutch hoping that its covered under warranty. If it is then all costs are covered. If they come back and say its wear and tear or that the car was not driven sensiby hence the cause I will have to take the matter up with BMW customer services as I cant swallow that 2k price for something that was changed 8k miles back. The car has done 29k miles now and if the clutch wasnt changed I might buy that comment about wear and tear as from what I read you may go through a clutch in about 30k miles. But for the last clutch to be changed under warranty at 21k miles and 8k later they are reluctant to change the clutch under warranty and require me to give them to go ahead to take out gearbox for fear its not covered meaning I am lumbered with costs between 620 and 2,000 is just really bad in my opinion. I may have decided to not carry out the repairs at all at this point if it was not covered under the warranty - what about that option?

So folks I am left waiting in this status until Monday when the gearbox comes out and the clutch is inspected before any further movement happens.

To top it all off guys, the rental car they have given me expires on the weekend and they are unable to authorise another until they inspect that clutch and see if its covered under the warranty, only that way will they allow another rental to be passed down to me! This is a joke!

I really am now thinking that owning one of these cars is just nothing but trouble. I may indeed take a trip to Audi or Porcshe and see thier offerings. Not only are thier transmissions far for sturdy but hopefully I wont get treated this way.

Shocking.

[defyant]

Originally Posted by Jackson1019

I'm right there with you. No car that cost as much as our M6's should you feel worried, hesitant, or fear of breaking down in. We have to remember that these are specialty cars and not your average 335i. The 320d reality check is very true. My next car will probly be an Audi R8. I just think Audi has a lot more reliability than these M cars. That's just my opinion though.

VAG (VW, Audi Group) cars are not more reliable than Bimmers. But yes, they are more reliable than the M6/M6 SMG tranny (even our politicians here are more reliable than the tranny). I've done a bunch of research on reliability with mechanics etc and there is consensus, as far as car manufacturers go the worst is LR, Jaguar, Maserati, Audi, Chrysler, Merc, BMW in that order (things may move around slightly)

[defyant]

Originally Posted by khas187

Gents,

Last night I got a call from the dealer stating that the computer has thrown up codes for an issue with the clutch not gearbox. I was told that I need to give them permission to remove the gearbox at a cost to me in order for them to be able to have access to the clutch to see the cause. The cost of a gearbox removal and refit comes in at a whopping £620 GBP. If it is found that the clutch is faulty then they will replace the whole thing plus fly wheel and refit the gearbox under warranty. If however they see that the car has been abused or that its simply wear and tear then I need to pay for the clutch which is over £2,000 GBP. If I do not want to go ahead with the clutch at this point I will still have to pay for the gearbox to be refitted to the car at the cost above! The last clutch was fitted in at 8,000 miles. I stated this to the dealer. How can a clutch fitted under warranty last year go after 8,000 miles and you call it possible wear and tear? How can you put a customer under that kind of dilema? I want to know if its covered or not before going ahead with something like this but you cant tell me this without at least a cost of £620GBP to me which if agreed to would still not have fixed the issue and the car will be left on the roadside undrivable!

I couldnt believe what I was hearing from these guys! All the money for the warranty, all that money for the car and all the issues I have had with the transmission not to mention missing out on the event on Thursday and now you give me the most obsurd options! This is what I argued. In all honesty I know the car has not been abused. I have never even played with the launch control as I know from experience they have given issues on carrying out repairs under warrenty if the car has been found to be exessively using this function (why have it on the car then?). The only thing I did that day was take traction control off for about 10 minutes and drive the car in a lively manner through the country roads - after all this is an M6 right?

I have had no choice but to agree for them to take the gearbox out and inspect the clutch hoping that its covered under warranty. If it is then all costs are covered. If they come back and say its wear and tear or that the car was not driven sensiby hence the cause I will have to take the matter up with BMW customer services as I cant swallow that 2k price for something that was changed 8k miles back. The car has done 29k miles now and if the clutch wasnt changed I might buy that comment about wear and tear as from what I read you may go through a clutch in about 30k miles. But for the last clutch to be changed under warranty at 21k miles and 8k later they are reluctant to change the clutch under warranty and require me to give them to go ahead to take out gearbox for fear its not covered meaning I am lumbered with costs between 620 and 2,000 is just really bad in my opinion. I may have decided to not carry out the repairs at all at this point if it was not covered under the warranty - what about that option?

So folks I am left waiting in this status until Monday when the gearbox comes out and the clutch is inspected before any further movement happens.

To top it all off guys, the rental car they have given me expires on the weekend and they are unable to authorise another until they inspect that clutch and see if its covered under the warranty, only that way will they allow another rental to be passed down to me! This is a joke!

I really am now thinking that owning one of these cars is just nothing but trouble. I may indeed take a trip to Audi or Porcshe and see thier offerings. Not only are thier transmissions far for sturdy but hopefully I wont get treated this way.

Shocking.

Sorry to hear that. Totally unacceptable, BMW needs a class action lawsuit on this. If its reliability you want, go for Porsche for sure.

[khas187]

The dealer came back to me last night and stated that the clutch will not be covered under warranty! When asked how a clutch that has only done 8-9k miles could be deemed wear and tear and not be covered he was unable to answer.

He stated that the clutch was worn right the way down in parts and other bits of it in peices. I could not understand how a clutch that was fitted 8-9k miles ago could have been that worn and broken to bits? Surely this means that its not wear and tear and that there was a faulty clutch or larger issue causing this damage to the clutch?

I would understand if it was manual and I "ride" the clutch quite a bit - you could put it down to driving style. But in an SMG gearbox you cant ride the clutch surely? I never do launch control or frequently take off hard from the lights cauing wheel spin. Its just unacceptable in my opinion.

I have called up BMW UK customer services and conveyed my frustration and asked for a full explanation as to why its deemed wear and tear and to answer my question on whats to stop it happening again? How can it go after 8k miles? Was it fitted correctly in the first instance? What constitutes wear and tear after 8k miles? How can SMG have clutch wear when you cant ride the clutch like that? Why after 20k miles was the clutch changed under warranty and then 9k miles after it wont be, surely if it was my driving style 19k miles would be passed before I am in the same position again?

Please feel free to shout if you think I am over reacting or feel its feasible for BMW to treat this as a wear and tear issue. I am just simply amazed. I know the clutch is a bit of a gray area as in reality its a wear and tear product. But this depends on how many miles the car has done or if the car has been abused surely!? Perhaps they should have a seperate warranty for the clutch on SMG cars if this causes so many warranty claim issues?

Anyway I shall await and see what the customer services team are going to say. I have had another stress filled night thinking about this. Its just not what I would come to expect from BMW. Bitterly dissapointed.

Kor

[khas187]

Folks,

I recieved a call from the Customer Services team stating that they will look into this matter. They have asked for the complete history of the car and its repair list. So its going the right way in terms of investigations. I just hope that its dealt with quickly as all along my car sits there on the ramp in the garage with no actual work being carried out on it.

I wrote a long email to the customer services team asking them to explain why a car with such pedigree and expense is now on its third clutch after 29k miles and that I am unhappy with the brand if they think 8-9k miles is acceptable for a change of a clutch. I shall see what they come back with but its just stressed me right out.

These cars are amazing and I absolutely love M cars and what they stand for, I however think that in this case the service representative has let me down in that he could have probed a little more and tried to assist without me needing to go to Customer Services knowing that the clutch was changed not long ago. I now have lost my patiance with the firm and will persue this matter all the way.

Fingers crossed I have some good news and I have my wonderful beast back where it should belong so I can enjoy it.

I have seen some real horror stories on this board re SMG but at the same time there are many people who seem to have a problem free drive with them so i am not sure what to make of the car and its production fault with the clutch as its history with other users is a little patchy but I am not totally convinced these M cars are that reliable.

[built240]

Tell them you want their lawyers contact information b/c if its not taken care you will be filing a case. Make sure the proper people at BMW know about this as well. Sometimes it actually costs them more $$ to go to court than to fix your car.

[khas187]

I'll wait for their response as they are in the process of investigation right now. Apparently they asked the dealer how many times my car had been launched! Goes to show you need to be careful about using that function if you have warranty. Luckily I have never done it in the 4 or so years I have had the car..

[gkinvest]

If I were you, I would tell them to stick it right up their dirty as@. At least that is what I did when my M6 started f@cking me with 42.000 miles. I sold it overnight.
When I pay I want to play, not get f@cked.

George

[khas187]

George - you know what thats what I am tempted to do. Its been nothing but trouble that car. Friends, family colleagues keep telling me to get rid of it. I love the car so much for its amazing drive, nothing else in that bracket comes close hence why I have a love hate relationship with it. You buy a Porsche, its drive is great but not as versitile and technologically old inside. You buy a Jag, the transmission is a boring auto, other cars have two seats its a tough thing to leave behind. I am considering it though as my experience with BMW has been horrific. Its been over a week now and they still have yet to give the green light as to whether they will cover the clutch under warranty or not. Its like they are doing me a favour. I will wait another day and make an offical complaint. I wrote an extremely long letter to BMW explaining my pains all they came back with was a standard response. Should I invest in another M product, I think not but the thrill and class of the car (when it works) is great and its something M products seem to nail time after time.

Lets see what happens next in my ordeal. I just want the car back now as I miss it and miss the thrill but my opinion of the M powered cars and BMW service has been some what marred.

Take it easy.
Koray

[defyant]

Sell it and buy the manual M6. Best of both worlds!