Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | |||
| 11/15/2006 | 49000 | ||
| Xenon lights went out shortly after the 50,000 mark. shortly after car kept going into fail safe mode, kept getting low voltage readings on diagnostics. one bmw dealers kept telling me i needed to rebuild transmission. all they would do is plug the car into the computer and see the tranny reading on the scanner. the reason there was a tranny reading was because the car was in fail safe mode. i eventually had the tranny rebuilt and i still had the same issue. i would cycle the ignition and restart the car and car would drive fine. it keeps going into fail safe mode everytime i start the car. its harder to get it out of fail safe mode in the winter with colder starts | |||
| 12/01/2008 | 90000 | 1 | |
| Own a bmw 3251, rear end started making popping noise when put in reverse and when turning curves. when on interstate rear end locked up while driving causing my car to skid through all lanes of traffic. after having car inspected the rear end had broke, we replaced the rear end. also having trouble with head lights staying on and blinkers. right rear tail light over heated and burnt items in trunk. radiator has broke and driverside window regulator and clutch fan. *tr | |||
| 07/01/2004 | 1 | 04/19/2004 | |
| Problems with transmission on 2003 bmw 325i.*mr while driving the vehicle's transmission lagged followed by surging when shifting from park, neutral, reverse then drive when the engine was cold. initially the dealer indicated that the transmission needed to be replaced, but three months later it was determined that the transmission needed to be reprogrammed. the dealer has not contacted the consumer in almost 2 weeks to perform this service. *nm | |||
| 06/01/2004 | 1 | ||
| Vehicle's transmission is not engaging when starting from a stationary position. *mr the engine would rev up to 3-4000, but the vehicle would creep, lurch forward and speed up normally. this would usually occur when the vehicle sat overnight. the problem also occurred when backing up. *sc *jb | |||
| 11/02/2003 | 75 | 90 | 10/29/2003 |
| 2003 bought brand new. automatic transmission does not engage in the mornings. after parking car in garage overnight, the car is put went into reverse and backed out without stepping on the gas (driveway is sloped). after shifting into drive, the car lags anywhere from 3 to 10 seconds before there is any power to drive. this is specially dangerous when there is traffic.*ak | |||
| 12/26/2002 | 11 | 1 | 12/26/2002 |
| The vehicle down shifted very hard when the brakes were applied, the vehicle jerked and jumped forward when decelerating.*jb | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION | |||
| 10/29/2010 | 70000 | ||
| My 2003 325i bmw has a defect in the transmission which caused it to, without warning, lose its ability to go into reverse. i was returnig to philadelphia from nyc several days ago. i pulled over for gas. when i put the car into reverse, the transmission acted like it is in neutral. the engine would rev but was not engaged. the car has only 70k miles on it. the problem is widespread in owners of early 2000 bmws and results from a reverse drum that is poorly manufactured and not sufficiently thick around the edges. apparently, bmw corrected the manufacturing problem in 2003. it never shared info about the issue with prospective owners, in effect selling cars under false pretense. please visit www.noreverse.org and you will see hundreds of complaints about this issue. it is a safety issue because the driver may be in a dangerous position and need to reverse for get out of harm's way. bmw should have recalled all of these defective transmissions. i cannot afford to repair the car and so it is simply sitting on my street. | |||
| 03/19/2009 | 100000 | 1 | |
| I went to start my vehicle in the morning and it started and then turned back off on its own. this happened about 3 times,before it stayed on. i then drove the vehicle about 40 miles and the transmissions started to thump. the vehicle only has 100k miles. i kept up on all its maintenance. i took the vehicle to the dealership and the transmission light and check engine light both came on. i was informed it would cost 6,500 to repair my transmission. *tr | |||
| 04/06/2008 | 70000 | 1 | 11/10/2003 |
| I have a formerly pristine bmw 325i 2003 with 70kmi that had a sudden, catastrophic transmission failure for unidentifiable reasons while being driven near sacramento. the car was towed to a bmw dealer in sacramento who claimed they had never seen anything like it, yet consumeraffairs.com has over 20 pages of complaints about this specific problem. unfortunately, though we were able to locate a used transmission, the dealer refused to install anything other than a brand new unit at the cost of $6,000. clearly there is something defective in these transmissions. it appears that bmw of north american has refused to accept any responsibility. *tr | |||
| 06/08/2004 | 1 | ||
| Vehicle thrusts forward despite the brake pedal being depressed. *mr consumer had to press both feet to keep vehicle from jumping into the intersection. also, consumer had to shift gear from drive to neutral. *la | |||
| 11/02/2003 | 75 | 90 | 10/29/2003 |
| 2003 bought brand new. automatic transmission does not engage in the mornings. after parking car in garage overnight, the car is put went into reverse and backed out without stepping on the gas (driveway is sloped). after shifting into drive, the car lags anywhere from 3 to 10 seconds before there is any power to drive. this is specially dangerous when there is traffic.*ak | |||
| 07/18/2003 | 13000 | 0 | 11/02/2002 |
| Automatic transmission on 2003 325i jerks when downshifts while braking. a laud thud can be heard on lower speeds. | |||
| 04/04/2003 | 1600 | 6 | 03/08/2003 |
| 1. transmission: after transmission repair, constant hard downshifting of automatic transmission when coming to a stop in d and s d modes. vehicle jerks forward when decelerating between speeds of 42 to 35 mph (usually when driven before with speeds in excess of 50 miles an hour). also, after transmission repair, constant loud thumping noise when coming to a stop 2. engine:intermittent loud engine revving and immediate torque loss occurring when taking off from a stop.intermittent delayed engine start of up to 3 seconds after turning key in ignition .intermittent prm idle fluctuation resulting in vehicle shuddering 3. brakes:loud break squeaking when coming to a stop 4. fuel tank / fuel pump:after defective fuel tank/pump replacement, recurrence of loud whining noise ( confirmed with bmw of north america) 5. cd player: intermittent built-in business cd player skipping 6.steering wheel: steering wheel creaking when turning.*ak | |||
| POWER TRAIN - MANUAL TRANSMISSION | |||
| 12/14/2010 | |||
| Went to go into reverse after coming home from a shopping spree and the car simply would not reverse. after a few days it finally went into reverse. engine light stays on and there are transmition codes on the indicator from this. can't afford to fix this problem but there are several reports on the 325 i bmw. | |||
| 10/12/2004 | 17000 | 1 | 01/01/2003 |
| Defective 5-speed transmission at 17,000 miles. *jb | |||