BMW Sytner Chigwell

Advantages: Great customer service, aparently no matter who you are.
Disadvantages: Services can be a bit pricey, but not as bad as you would think.

...I have visited BMW Sytner a few times over the last 3-4 years & I have to say, they have the best customer service i have experienced at any dealership, bar none. I am not your typical kind of guy you would see in a BMW showroom, I am 27 years old but look like I am 17, I probably go there looking a bit rag tag aswell (I think i do it on purpose, i am not fond of face value). But I always feel that they treat me with the same courtesy as all of their customers I have been to Sytner for 3 series parts a few times & no matter how small the problem, the staff are always very helpful & polite. They took their time to track down some E36 washers I could have probably got anywhere & smiled at me when i thought they would charge me for it!, lol. Specifically, i find parts prices are not that bad at all compared to mercedes or renault. I...

krslim 23.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of BMW

BMW 118dSE 5 door REVIEW

Advantages: Solid build, good performance, great drive
Disadvantages: Cost

...I had the good fortune to have this car for a week as a courtesy car and I was impressed! Didnt want to give it back in the end! I have always liked the look of the 1 series as it is quite different to any of the other hatchbacks. I was given a brand new 2008 118dSE Automatic in Silver. I believe with the extras this retails at around £20'000-22'000. The standard features were 5 doors, cd player, driver and passenger airbags, electric windows (front and rear), remote central locking and boot pop. The car also featured optional extras including air conditioning, 17" alloy wheels, automatic gearbox with sports shift and also rear parking sensor. Initially I was not looking forward to driving a diesel as I have only driven petrol cars for the past 10 years, however as soon as I started the drive was excellent. The keyfob...

CDub 10.06.2008 · Read review
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Review of BMW118d

Halliwell Jones Chester (BMW) - Give Them A Wide Berth

Advantages: Some pretty cars to look at in the showroom
Disadvantages: Poor after-sales, the ability to 'create' problems with your car (then refuse to accept liabilty)

...My wife purchased a 2nd hand Mini Cooper last year (2008) and included with the car was the TLC 5 year servicing plan. The car didn't appear to have been serviced upon collection, and the absence of any service book dealer stamps would seem to confirm this, so in March this year (2009) the car was booked into Halliwell Jones Chester (BMW) for a service. We explained the situation to the service desk advisor who assured us that the car would receive the necessary attention. When the car was collected, the mechanism which operates the drivers' seat sliding back/forth was inoperable - we'd had no previous problems with the seat (or the car at all) until that point. The dealer agreed to replace the seat rails and mechanism under warranty, but argued that they hadn't caused the seat to fail. Coincidence therefore? In the weeks following...

thpba3 19.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of BMW

BMW Approved used car warranty in doubt

Advantages: I have seen none to date
Disadvantages: A BMW approved used car from a main dealer proved to be a nightmare

...due to lack of maintenance . I shall update this report in due course. UPDATE I eventually got a refund but not before I sent an ultimatum. It transpired that a service was missing for the 3 and a half years and 26000 miles prior to the sale of the car to me. Vines explained their failure to verify the car's history as 'an administration error' and admitted that the car should not have been offered as a BMW approved used car. However, the past two weeks have been a nightmare as I waited for Vines to exhaust their attempts to recover the service history for the car. BMW UK customer services were made aware of this dispute from the outset but they declined to get involved as the contract was between myself and Vines, even though it was via their website that I found the car in the first place. I paid £11.5k for this car...

cravenh 09.11.2008 (24.11.2008) · Read review
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Review of BMW

The X5 oozes quality

Advantages: Has a very upmarket image and robust build quality
Disadvantages: Limited off road ability

...Before I say another word, let's get one thing straight - BMW's X5 is essentially a road car. More or less without exception, everything I've heard or written about the X5 praises its superb road manners and its saloon car like quality, comfort and poise. Having just spent a hard-charging week behind the wheel of this 3.0-litre turbodiesel model, I would second that. The BMW X5 for me is a perfect mix of new and old. In my opinion it successfully blends BMW's new futuristic look, with the clean muscular lines of the old X3. The X5 front-end face echoes the traditional BM "twin-kidney grill" , whilst its rear end retains that distinctive "boxyness" which made previous models so aggressive. Underneath the bonnet is BMW 3.0L straight 6 cylinder where the diesel does 235 hp and has a top torque of no less than 520 Nm. It's nicely packaged...

joeyhey2007 19.10.2008 · Read review
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Review of BMW X5 3.0i

BMW 5 Series 530i Sport Touring - Apr 2004

Advantages: Comfort, power, smoothness of ride, after-sales service.
Disadvantages: Expensive to run and maintain, unconvincing in ice and snow!

...owners that they really shouldn’t be blocking the outside lane of dual carriageways/motorways especially when there is a BMW trying to pass you! In conclusion, you pay a lot of money for a 5-series BMW and the running and servicing is expensive but for your money you get one of the most advanced driving experiences there is today and the after sales is, in my opinion, second to none....

wetherby.beans 19.03.2007 · Read review
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Review of BMW 530i Touring

!! BMW !! do the HoKey PoKey DanCe!

Advantages: Excellent handling, good HP on the 4.4L.
Disadvantages: Still an SUV.

...To start with this car cost me $44000 from my local BMW car dealer in America. BMW has come up with a new categorization in this auto market of seemingly uncategorizable cars. They call their entry into the SUV market a Sport Activity Vehicle (I call these car-like SUV?s). Unlike a truck based SUV, X5 is more like an overgrown sedan on steroids. And, as such, it has both the characteristics of an SUV and the popular BMW sport sedans. This works for me, as I am a driver rather than a rider. I like dancing through the curves and bashing the gas pedal on a straightaway. You could, of course, do the same in a regular SUV but you would soon notice that you are riding alfresco in an emergency wheel chair. With its stiff suspension, but not so stiff that it rides like a sports car, X5 is possibly the best handling SUV I have ever...

Skyth 10.03.2004 · Read review
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Review of BMW X5 4.4

Advantage BMW

Advantages: A good all rounder and relatively cheap to run.
Disadvantages: None.

...wear is amazingly slow. There is 27,000 miles on my current set of tyres and there is still 6mm of tread all round. My BMW is very kind to its tyres even after using its handling potential. Insurance is the one area where I was surprised. All the talk was of premiums running at the £700 to £800 mark. The fully comprehensive premium with the Halifax cost me £385 I could not believe it either! Servicing My 5 Series is reasonably cheap to live with. The servicing requirements depend on how the car is driven and my experience of mostly motorway and A road driving has led to service intervals of 13,000 miles or thereabouts. As the car calculates its own servicing needs I would expect town driving would require more frequent maintenance. An oil service costs about £120 and the car always come back washed and vacuumed. The car requires...

Shekera 20.10.2001 · Read review
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Review of BMW 523i

BMW Stephen James Bromley

Advantages: Local
Disadvantages: Poor service, non-return of phonecalls, poor sales tactics

...car all day and not calling when they said they would, they advised that there was nothing wrong with the window but it took 9 hours for them to tell me this (after I had rung myself 3 times). I advised them that I was not imagining it and could they look at it further. It appeared they had only tried the window three times and it hadn't happened. After having the car for another day they still stated that there's nothing wrong with it and I was able to pick it up. The window did appear to be fine (apart from a few days ago when it's started happening again). I think they fixed it on the first day but didn't want to admit they'd made a mistake when replacing the door latch. I'm am now in desperate need of a decent BMW garage as these may be only 5 minutes away from me but I will not be taking my car back there again. I am...

borstal 04.12.2007 (19.12.2007) · Read review
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Review of BMW

BMW Hexagon is poor

Advantages: convenient N London location
Disadvantages: unresponsive staff, expensive

...Hexagon BMW are hopeless. I had my car serviced at the Kentish Town site in December and they ordered a part for me that needed to be fitted. Have tried to contact the service contact (AR) there on 3 separate occasions during January to get the work done - he won't call back. No-one else I have spoken to seems to have any idea what is going on with this repair. I also visited their sales showroom on great north road recently to look at swapping my 7-series for a newer one, but hardly anyone around to help and the one youngster there had limited interest as he said that they were cutting jobs. BMW Park Lane is owned by BMW and I think I'll stick with them going forward....

m1000 14.01.2009 · Read review
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Review of BMW