BMW 3-Series Reliability Comparisons

Based on TrueDelta's Car Reliability Survey
View reliability comparisons for another model
Direct link to this page

Logged in as:   Guest

This is the most up-to-date car reliability information available anywhere for the BMW 3-Series. TrueDelta's Car Reliability Survey results are promptly updated every three months. Others can be over a year behind. What you'll also find only here: actual repair rates (the average number of trips to the repair shop each year), and not just dots, for a clearer idea of how much competing cars truly differ in reliability.

Members: to view car reliability information for:

• up to ten competing car models, instead of up to five
• car models for which fewer owners responded--marked "join to view"

Not a member yet? Read about TrueDelta's research and how to participate by clicking here.

Repairs reported: To view all reported repairs, click on the model.

Comments: Some results have comments. To view these, hover the cursor over a result. General notes.
 

BMW 3-Series Reliability
Select another model

Car Reliability Survey (CRS) Results: year ending September 30, 2009
Successful Repair Trips per Year (per 100 vehicles) Column definitions
Sort
Year	Make	Model	Trips / Year per 100	TS	Δ	Cars Mon/Car Av Odo
2009	BMW	335*	join to view			19 4.4 5300
2009	BMW	328*	join to view			14 4.9 5700
2008	BMW	335	77 Fewest         Most Fewer high pressure fuel pump (HPFP) failures when these cars are in their second year, so the repair frequency for the 335i is only somewhat higher than for the 328i.		--	38 8.2 11700
2008	BMW	328	38 Fewest         Most Fewer high pressure fuel pump (HPFP) failures when these cars are in their second year, so the repair frequency for the 335i is only somewhat higher than for the 328i.		-39	28 8.0 13500
2007	BMW	335	57 Fewest         Most By the time thees cars are in their third year, high pressure fuel pump failures are much less common and no longer yield a much higher repair rate for the 335i than for the 328i.		--	52 8.9 20100
2007	BMW	328	61 Fewest         Most By the time thees cars are in their third year, high pressure fuel pump failures are much less common and no longer yield a much higher repair rate for the 335i than for the 328i.		+4	45 8.7 23900
2006	BMW	3-Series 4dr	65 Fewest         Most		--	67 7.4 41300
2005	BMW	3-Series / M3	150 Fewest         Most Possibly a blip at the end of the standard warranty, to get things fixed before the warranty runs out.		--	27 9.5 45600
2004	BMW	3-Series / M3	75 Fewest         Most		--	37 8.2 51600
2003	BMW	3-Series / M3	113 Fewest         Most		--	38 7.6 70500
2002	BMW	3-Series / M3	78 Fewest         Most		--	34 6.8 78200
Year	Make	Model	Trips / Year per 100	TS	Δ	Cars Mon/Car Av Odo
2001	BMW	3-Series / M3	145 Fewest         Most		--	36 9.4 87000
2000	BMW	3-Series*	join to view			15 8.0 124400
1999	BMW	3-Series - E46*	join to view			11 7.1 141800
Top of table ^

Competing Car Model Reliability

Car Reliability Survey (CRS) Results: year ending September 30, 2009
Successful Repair Trips per Year (per 100 vehicles) Column definitions
Sort
Year	Make	Model	Trips / Year per 100	TS	Δ	Cars Mon/Car Av Odo
2008	Acura	TL	46 Fewest         Most		-31	26 8.0 16400
2007	Acura	TL	37 Fewest         Most		-20	28 7.0 23300
2006	Acura	TL	53 Fewest         Most		-12	31 6.5 35500
2005	Acura	TL	20 Fewest         Most		-130	31 9.6 44700
2004	Acura	TL	55 Fewest         Most		-20	31 9.2 60200
2003	Acura	TL / CL*	join to view			14 7.4 108000
2002	Acura	TL / CL*	join to view			13 5.3 114900
2000	Acura	TL / CL*	join to view			13 5.1 135500
2009	Audi	A4 / A5 / S5	60 Fewest         Most First year of the B8, and appears to continue the average repair frequency of the B7 A4.			86 4.9 6000
2008	Audi	A4	59 Fewest         Most		-18	35 7.5 15200
2007	Audi	S4*	join to view			10 6.4 21700
Year	Make	Model	Trips / Year per 100	TS	Δ	Cars Mon/Car Av Odo
2007	Audi	A4	44 Fewest         Most		-13	50 7.7 29700
2006	Audi	S4*	join to view			16 7.6 34100
2006	Audi	A4	76 Fewest         Most		+11	83 7.4 44600
2005	Audi	A4 / S4	168 Fewest         Most Last year of the B6. Repair frequency might be affected by ending 4/50 original warranty. That said, the B6 A4 is clearly much less reliable than the B7.		+18	29 5.9 55400
2004	Audi	A4 / S4	124 Fewest         Most		+49	38 6.1 56100
2003	Audi	A4 / S4	142 Fewest         Most		+29	28 6.0 88100
2002	Audi	A4	155 Fewest         Most		+77	40 7.0 85300
2001	Audi	A4 / S4*	join to view			13 6.1 97100
2000	Audi	A4 / S4*	join to view			23 7.3 99500
1999	Audi	A4 / S4*	join to view			11 6.4 130600
2009	Infiniti	G35 / G37	10 Fewest         Most			28 4.4 4100
Year	Make	Model	Trips / Year per 100	TS	Δ	Cars Mon/Car Av Odo
2008	Infiniti	G35 / G37	36 Fewest         Most		-41	92 9.1 13600
2007	Infiniti	G35 coupe*	join to view			11 7.5 17100
2007	Infiniti	G35 sedan	75 Fewest         Most First year of the revised design for the sedan, previous design for the coupe.		+18	53 7.9 23900
2006	Infiniti	G35	36 Fewest         Most		-29	40 7.6 35000
2005	Infiniti	G35	65 Fewest         Most		-85	46 6.8 47500
2004	Infiniti	G35	30 Fewest         Most		-45	58 7.0 53000
2003	Infiniti	G35	60 Fewest         Most		-53	50 7.6 72900
2009	Mercedes-Benz	C-Class*	join to view			16 6.6 5700
2008	Mercedes-Benz	C-Class	40 Fewest         Most Now better than average, which is quite good for a first-year model from Mercedes.		-37	51 8.2 13000
2006	Mercedes-Benz	C-Class*	join to view			13 8.5 38200
2005	Mercedes-Benz	C-Class	103 Fewest         Most		-47	26 6.7 61800
Year	Make	Model	Trips / Year per 100	TS	Δ	Cars Mon/Car Av Odo
2003	Mercedes-Benz	C-Class*	join to view			13 5.9 81800
Top of table ^

Car you're interested in not listed? Then either it's not a common comparison, or not enough owners participated. You can help by telling others about this research.

Definitions

• Trips / Year per 100 (CRS Score) -- average number of successful repair trips per year per 100 cars; routine maintenance such as oil and filter changes does not count as a repair
• Graph -- pointer shows how the model compares to others from the same model year
• Traffic Signal (TS) -- same as the graph, but with three simple, easier-to-read alternatives; green = better than average, yellow = about average, red = worse than average
• Delta (Δ) -- how much the CRS Score differs from the same year BMW 3-Series; negative = fewer repairs = better; +100 = one extra repair trip per year, on average
• Cars -- number of cars for which owners provided data
• Months / Car -- average number of months of data per car
• Odometer -- average odometer reading, in miles; under 9,000 per year in green, over 15,000 per year in red

Return to survey results ^

General Notes

How do we select "competing car models"? Users of TrueDelta's car price comparison tool most often compare these cars to the BMW 3-Series.

Models and statistics marked with an asterisk* have very low sample sizes. These results, visible only to logged-in members, provide only a rough estimate of car reliability.

Ultra-low repair rates: Any result under 20 repair trips per 100 cars is likely a result of the small sample size, and should be expected to increase to 20 or so in future updates.

New models often start out with high repair rates, and then improve as the manufacturer identifies and addresses common problems.

Full set of Car Reliability Survey results in one huge table.

Return to survey results ^

Methodology

Description of the research process.

Only successfully completed repairs are currently included in the analysis. Routine maintenance, most wear items, recalls, and problems fixed with just a reflash or warning light reset are not included.

Found this information useful, and want to help improve it while earning full access? Then become a member--it's free for participants--and help provide the data.

Return to survey results ^

BMW 3-Series Forums (TrueDelta partners)

These forums have helped make our results possible. For discussions of the 3-Series by owners, visit:

bimmerforums.com -- BMW 3-Series forum

Direct links to this page

Direct link to this page:
http://www.truedelta.com/car-reliability.php?stage=pt&bd=BMW&mc=13

In BB Code, for forums:
[url=http://www.truedelta.com/car-reliability.php?stage=pt&bd=BMW&mc=13]BMW 3-Series reliability comparisons[/url]

 

Select a Make:	Select Acura Audi BMW Buick Cadillac Chevrolet Chrysler Dodge Ford GMC Honda Hummer Hyundai Infiniti Jaguar Jeep Kia Land Rover Lexus Lincoln Mazda Mercedes-Benz Mercury MINI Mitsubishi Nissan Pontiac Porsche Saab Saturn Scion Smart Subaru Suzuki Tesla Toyota Volkswagen Volvo	Select a Model:	Select	Zipcode:

;

• About Us
• | Contact Us
• | Recommend Us
• | News
• | Links

©2004-2010 TrueDelta. Privacy Policy. Terms and Conditions.
TrueDelta is not affiliated with any car manufacturer or their trademarks.