BMW 3-Series Reliability Comparisons

Based on TrueDelta's Car Reliability Survey
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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
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Car Reliability Survey (CRS) Results: year ending June 30, 2010
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
2010	BMW	3-Series / M3	12 Fewest         Most		--	25 4.0 4200
2009	BMW	M3*	join to view			14 5.6 6200
2009	BMW	335	87 Fewest         Most High failure rate for the High Pressure Fuel Pump in the 335i. 335d included with the 328. Low average odometer for M3.		+62	32 7.8 9400
2009	BMW	328	25 Fewest         Most High failure rate for the High Pressure Fuel Pump in the 335i. 335d included with the 328. Low average odometer for M3.		--	34 7.1 10000
2008	BMW	328	40 Fewest         Most High failure rate for the High Pressure Fuel Pump in the 335i. 335d included with the 328. Low average odometer for M3.		-46	40 6.8 22900
2008	BMW	335	86 Fewest         Most High failure rate for the High Pressure Fuel Pump in the 335i. 335d included with the 328. Low average odometer for M3.		--	48 8.4 19900
2008	BMW	M3*	join to view			22 5.8 12800
2007	BMW	335	90 Fewest         Most By the time these 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.		--	74 8.4 28700
2007	BMW	328	73 Fewest         Most By the time these 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.		-17	62 7.5 32700
2006	BMW	3-Series 4dr	75 Fewest         Most		--	92 7.7 49400
2005	BMW	3-Series	118 Fewest         Most Possibly a blip at the end of the standard warranty, to get things fixed before the warranty runs out.		--	29 8.4 57800
Year	Make	Model	Trips / Year per 100	TS	Δ	Cars Mon/Car Av Odo
2004	BMW	3-Series	87 Fewest         Most Very low average odometer and/or very small sample size for M3 might explain low reported repair frequency.		--	54 7.4 63300
2004	BMW	M3*	join to view			10 7.3 36800
2003	BMW	3-Series	108 Fewest         Most		--	38 7.9 73700
2002	BMW	3-Series	99 Fewest         Most		--	37 7.5 85800
2002	BMW	M3*	join to view			13 6.2 64200
2001	BMW	3-Series	141 Fewest         Most		--	47 8.0 94300
2000	BMW	3-Series*	join to view			19 6.2 133300
1999	BMW	3-Series - E46*	join to view			14 7.4 146200
1999	BMW	3-Series - E36*	join to view			10 6.4 99100
1998	BMW	3-Series / M3*	join to view			19 5.1 141100
1995	BMW	3-Series / M3*	join to view			16 3.6 146800
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Competing Car Model Reliability

Car Reliability Survey (CRS) Results: year ending June 30, 2010
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
2010	Audi	A4	36 Fewest         Most Second model year, much better than people expect from an Audi so far. S4 repair frequency similar to the A4 once consider lower average odometer.		+24	68 5.0 5900
2010	Audi	S4	27 Fewest         Most Second model year, much better than people expect from an Audi so far. S4 repair frequency similar to the A4 once consider lower average odometer.		+15	29 3.1 3900
2009	Audi	A4	72 Fewest         Most First year of the B8, and appears to continue the average repair frequency of the B7 A4. Common problem with the front suspension.		+47	105 8.0 11800
2008	Audi	A4	59 Fewest         Most		-27	47 7.7 25000
2007	Audi	A4	55 Fewest         Most Small sample size for S4 performance variant. Seems to require fewer repairs than the A4 on which it's based, but note lower average odometer.		-35	69 7.5 38200
2007	Audi	S4*	join to view			17 6.9 30700
2006	Audi	A4	85 Fewest         Most Includes 2005.5. Much lower repair frequency than B6 A4. Small sample size for S4 performance variant. Seems to require fewer repairs than the A4 on which it's based, but note lower average odometer.		+10	105 7.5 52300
2006	Audi	S4*	join to view			17 7.9 42700
2005	Audi	A4	145 Fewest         Most		+27	29 6.8 64900
2005	Audi	S4*	join to view			14 6.7 57700
2004	Audi	A4	152 Fewest         Most		+65	35 5.2 69800
Year	Make	Model	Trips / Year per 100	TS	Δ	Cars Mon/Car Av Odo
2004	Audi	S4	126 Fewest         Most		+39	25 7.2 61500
2003	Audi	A4	103 Fewest         Most Lower reported repair frequency than the 2002 or 2004. Possibly because sample size is just a bit over the minimum for a full result?		-5	29 6.4 90000
2002	Audi	A4	148 Fewest         Most		+49	50 6.7 98200
2001	Audi	A4 / S4*	join to view			18 6.0 102600
2000	Audi	A4 / S4	181 Fewest         Most			32 6.2 102200
1999	Audi	A4 / S4*	join to view			13 5.8 127800
2010	Audi	A5 / S5 4.2	36 Fewest         Most Most of the cars in this sample are A4s or S4s.		+24	68 5.0 5900
2010	Audi	S5 3.0T	27 Fewest         Most Most of the cars in this sample are A4s or S4s.		+15	29 3.1 3900
2009	Audi	A5 / S5	72 Fewest         Most Most of the cars in this sample are A4s.		+47	105 8.0 11800
2009	BMW	5-Series*	join to view			13 8.6 12900
2008	BMW	528 / 550 / M5	53 Fewest         Most High failure rate of the high pressure fuel pump in the 535i earlier, but now tapering off.		-33	36 8.1 27400
Year	Make	Model	Trips / Year per 100	TS	Δ	Cars Mon/Car Av Odo
2008	BMW	535*	join to view			23 8.9 28600
2007	BMW	5-Series	114 Fewest         Most		+24	38 5.5 35000
2006	BMW	5-Series*	join to view			20 6.8 50700
2005	BMW	5-Series*	join to view			13 5.3 53200
2004	BMW	5-Series*	join to view			19 6.8 79200
2003	BMW	5-Series*	join to view			17 7.2 72400
2002	BMW	5-Series*	join to view			15 8.8 73200
2001	BMW	5-Series*	join to view			20 4.2 106100
2000	BMW	5-Series*	join to view			17 5.6 108700
1999	BMW	5-Series*	join to view			13 6.6 112500
2009	Infiniti	G37	15 Fewest         Most		-10	63 7.7 8800
Year	Make	Model	Trips / Year per 100	TS	Δ	Cars Mon/Car Av Odo
2008	Infiniti	G35 / G37	33 Fewest         Most		-53	108 8.0 22100
2007	Infiniti	G35 sedan	42 Fewest         Most		-48	62 7.9 33600
2006	Infiniti	G35	56 Fewest         Most		-19	69 7.5 44800
2005	Infiniti	G35	60 Fewest         Most		-58	47 6.8 56300
2004	Infiniti	G35	39 Fewest         Most		-48	62 7.4 56200
2003	Infiniti	G35	78 Fewest         Most		-30	67 7.2 78900
2009	Mercedes-Benz	C-Class	44 Fewest         Most The 2008 was about the same a year ago.		+19	32 6.8 11400
2008	Mercedes-Benz	C-Class	28 Fewest         Most		-58	52 8.4 18700
2007	Mercedes-Benz	C-Class*	join to view			19 6.5 31600
2006	Mercedes-Benz	C-Class*	join to view			12 10.3 44400
2005	Mercedes-Benz	C-Class	51 Fewest         Most		-67	31 6.8 66700
Year	Make	Model	Trips / Year per 100	TS	Δ	Cars Mon/Car Av Odo
2004	Mercedes-Benz	C-Class*	join to view			15 5.9 57900
2003	Mercedes-Benz	C-Class*	join to view			16 7.4 85600
2002	Mercedes-Benz	C-Class*	join to view			10 7.2 62600
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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

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