Some of you may know about my luck with the F25, some of you may not. Well, here's the story. I took delivery of a 35i in February 2011 and I was immediately bombarded with a slew of problems. From day five, I experienced stability sensor errors, a suspension clunk, a brake pad warning, rough idling, and some other quality control issues. The suspension clunk saw three dealer visits and a six-week wait for a new steering rack, but nothing changed. As a result of the suspension clunk, which still seeks a remedy (more on that later), I lemoned the car. I drove it less than the service department did from February to June. I was compensated accordingly and given a chance to order a new one with some extra options at no additional cost. So I did that--fully loaded.
I received my "second-chance" in August, and I experienced more problems: a HVAC pump leak, rough idling, and the worst...the suspension clunk. Oh yes. Not only this, the interior of the car suffers some seriously annoying and cheap sounding rattles and shudders.
About two weeks ago, just before bringing it in, a woman so carelessly backed into my passenger door while parked. So now I've brought the car in for the rattles, which should be fixed easily, for the door, which should as well, and for the clunk, which shouldn't.
The service foreman says that he still has my first F25 sitting in the service department as a parts bin and a diagnostics guinea pig. The problem has not yet seen a fix. Believe that. So he told me to keep my car after the rattles and the door are fixed, and he'll keep running tests on my first F25 to find out what the clunking REALLY could be. If he solves it there, he told me, I should bring my car back in so he can fix it accordingly.
Just wanted to give you all an update.
Please let me know if any of you experience the suspension clunk over bumps, expansion joins, speed humps (especially with the wheel turned), and driveways. When the car is off, you can turn the wheel back and forth and hear the steering/suspension components clicking like crazy. It sounds like how I imagine a velvet bag of marbles jangling around in a tennis ball can would sound when moving, but just loud clicking when parked with the car off. I just can't take it anymore.
Oh and what's even more annoying; the service department exhausted all of their 535i loaners to which I had become so accustomed in my service saga (they had some 25 in the fleet) and sold them off as CPOs, so now I'm stuck with a modestly spec'd 328i that, in its first 400 miles, was keyed all the way down the passenger side in a Fed-Ex Kinkos parking lot.
