RE: E46 Fit and Finish (Nicolas - delete this now - it will proba bly bore you)

["Bowers, David" <david.bowers@xxxxxxx>]

My observations on the "quality" of my current vehicles (only have the two)
- - one BMW, one Ford:

1997 M3 - the steering wheel has "squeaked" forever (mildly annoying, but
cosmetic ... 5 trips to 3 different dealers haven't helped - the sixth is
scheduled for next week!

Had problem with the drivers side window coming off the rails 18 months
after purchase, but nothing else until last week, when the sunroof cassette
failed - even though it was out of warranty, the dealer agreed to replace it
as part of their "goodwill" policy, which I (obviously!) appreciated - they
had said they would do this when I took it in for its "inspection 2" back in
May as it was making a grinding noise back then (just before I "thought" the
warranty ran out, being 4 years after I purchased it, whereas in fact they
told me last week that the warranty was, in fact, fours years after DELIVERY
to the dealer, which was Feb. 97) - their take on it was don't fix it if it
ain't broken - "bring it back within the next six months if it does, and
we'll take care of it"

Comparing this to my 2000 (Dan, would this be 2M?!  ;->) Ford Expedition -
on day one, I discovered that the power pedal's (moves the acc. and brake
back and forth) didn't work - other than that (fixed during first oil
service), problem free motoring for the last 1.5 years ... just put another
5700+ miles on it driving from IL to CA and back (and every conceivable
point between!)

Conclusion - expected better quality with the BMW (now at 52,000 miles), and
worse with the Ford (at 29,000) - overall, happy with both ... guess it
depends somewhat on whether it was made on a Monday morning (or Friday
afternoon) ...

Cheers, Dave

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