First available service date

[dergside]

I dropped the car to Aherns in Castleisland this morning for the service and to look at a potential charging port issue. They have a lovely Alpine White e30 M3 on display in the showroom. One of the Birds RHD conversions.

Would still have been waiting another 6 weeks for the offered date of n Conlons.

[dergside]

After just a little over 5 weeks on its summer holidays in Kerry, I picked the car up from Aherns on Tuesday evening.

The potential charging port issue was indeed a charging port issue. Google suggested that the most likely reasons were a KLE control unit module failure or a need for a software update. RealOEM suggests that there were 4 or 5 different part numbers for this module in the first 12 months or so of production, and the part number on the invoice is another partnumber that doesn't even show up on there yet. In fairness to Aherns, they were thorough, going to and fro with Germany as well as their own diagnostic work and after a few days it was diagnosed as the KLE module. The part alone is just over €1600 and with labour, incidentals and VAT the total for this part of the job came in just over €2500 (of a bill that just scraped in under €3k). After a little persuading they tried for goodwill from BMW, but to no avail and there was then a 3.5 week wait for the actual part. As an aside, they haven't been the worst weeks to be "stuck" in the Z4 .

While the bill stings a bit, I have to put it in the context of not having to spend a whole lot on servicing and nothing (other than €90 or so on a L-ion battery for the SOS function) on repairs, so over 2.5 years and about 40k miles it doesn't look so bad. What did amaze me yesterday was that the battery range after the first charge I did was about 10km's more than I've ever seen before, even in warm summer weather. We'll see if that becomes a new norm.

Its the first time I've used Aherns for servicing, and to be honest they were much more helpful and communicative that any of my recent experiences with my local main dealer, even if they were further away. The local dealer had initially quoted a 10 week wait for a service slot.

I was somewhat disappointed with BMW Ireland on the goodwill side though. As always, the reaction seemed to be along the lines of never having heard of such a thing before and that it must be a use/abuse issue. They do seem to be doing some goodwill, but it doesn't seem to go beyond about 3-4 years and 60k miles/100k km's regardless of car or service history. Its clear that the KLE module failure is a common issue with the PHEV's with plenty of cases popping up on F30 and G30 cars on forums, etc. There are some reports of the issue on i3 Rex's too. The delay on the part might be down to the remnants of semiconductor shortages, but working for a semiconductor company who supplies to automotive customers I know that this is an issue that has by and large subsided. I would be more inclined to think its a demand side issue, suggesting its more common than BMW will acknowledge. Automotive car and part manufacturers require their electronic part suppliers to design and manufacture parts with a minimum 15 year lifespan, and audit suppliers for their processes, etc. to meet that. Significant numbers of failures in entirely electronic parts such as this at a fraction of this 15 year expectation suggest relatively early life failure and performance that doesn't match that standard. I'd be surprised if there hasn't been extensive failure analysis by the part supplier or BMW and probably some sanctions on the manufacturer of the failing module or part within. I had Aherns return the failed part to me and will probably do a little digging for more info at some point.

I have an NCT booked in a couple of weeks and I might move the car on after that. This was the plan before this issue anyway, so its not a knee jerk reaction. I only intended to keep this for 12 months when I bought it. This bill changes the overall economics of the PHEV choice a bit, but, on balance its still been a positive experience. Again, something I'd decided before this issue, the next car will probably more traditional ICE, partly as a bit of a last hurrah for ICE and partly guided by the view that the high cost of key components, still somewhat unproven durability and reliability of the EV and PHEV hardware and software, etc. make the recent and current generation of offerings a bit of a risk in the medium term to second and subsequent owners, after the warranty runs out. That could have an effect on the enthusiasm for these later and that could well be reflected in residual values.

[Mac]

Wow. I had just assumed that you had been without it for a few days. You're lucky that you have a small fleet to fall back on.

Bit of an eye opener on a few levels.

[Big H]

the high cost of key components, still somewhat unproven durability and reliability of the EV and PHEV hardware and software, etc. make the recent and current generation of offerings a bit of a risk in the medium term to second and subsequent owners, after the warranty runs out. That could have an effect on the enthusiasm for these later and that could well be reflected in residual values.

I absolutely agree with that. Those big exponents of electric vehicles are those who drive ones still in warranty - what happens to these vehicles when they hit 8 or 10 years old (the current average Irish car fleet age is around 9 years) - would you take one on that could land you with come major headaches/bills down the line unless it was particularly cheap ?

Electronic repairs/replacements always seem to be astronomically priced and need astronomically priced coding to be compatible with your vehicle of course.

The elephant in the room is actual battery longevity - there's plenty of actual & anecdotal evidence of the prices to replace these (either some/all cells) and they make taking on an older EV a real gamble. Ask any early Leaf owner and they'll tell you the range has dropped off a cliff - of course it may still suit their requirements, but for many this will be an unacceptable consequence of early adoption.

I'm out.

[Big H]

The part alone is just over €1600 and with labour, incidentals and VAT the total for this part of the job came in just over €2500 (of a bill that just scraped in under €3k).

I don't think I've spent that in total in almost 10 years ownership of my E39......

[dergside]

I don't think I've spent that in total in almost 10 years ownership of my E39......

I bought my e30 325i (60k miles) in 2004 and e36 325i in 2008 (33k miles) for only marginally more than this bill (and bought the e36 back again in 2017 for less), so I know what you mean.

On what you said on spending on your e39, I'm impressed. I've done about 170k miles in e39's over the years across 3 cars, and when I totted up the numbers after each was gone, pretty consistently they cost about €0.06 per mile in maintenance, repairs and replacements (including consumables like tyres) - with the only "abnormal" bill being a torque converter rebuild on the 530i.

[Mac]

My mechanic told me of a MB E class hybrid that came in with an issue, turns out it was the starter motor. it starts on electric but petrol motor kicks in. (I'm not up to speed on the MB range)

Anyway, priced a replacement battery, €17K. Or €14K on an exchange basis.

So in this case only a matter of time that these could be beyond economical repair.

[Big H]

On what you said on spending on your e39, I'm impressed.

A lot of it is self-maintenance in fairness, so limited labour costs - they're generally a fairly easy car to work on as you know and at the age they are now, there's plenty of used spares knocking about as more & more cars are being taken off the road.

An example - a couple of weeks ago, I replaced the alternator - just under €150 for a new (not reconditioned) Hella unit - I'd shudder to think what something like that would cost on a 530E tbh.

[CitizenKane]

The elephant in the room is actual battery longevity - there's plenty of actual & anecdotal evidence of the prices to replace these (either some/all cells) and they make taking on an older EV a real gamble.

That’s probably the thing that scares me most about EVs. There was an article in the IT (I think) a few weeks ago by a guy who said he had to fork out €19k for a new battery on his Tesla. Maybe the circumstances were more nuanced than I’m remembering but regardless that’s not a position I’d ever want to be in.