Don't Buy One Of These

[securespark]

I'm not sure if this covers ALL BMWs with the N57 engine or not?

Concerns over 'end of life' police vehicle auctions after tragic M6 BMW crash

In the report, coroner Robert Cohen, expressed his concern about the way 'end of life' police vehicles are disposed of

www.lancs.live

 

[just pumps]

Think a lot of the problem is that they tend to be staionary with engine switched off then its full throttle when after somebody.

 

[securespark]

Maybe, but it seems like BMW and this engine in particular are being singled out.

Why doesn't this issue affect other brands?

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

You can't blame the police for selling them, buying a used car has always been "Buyer Beware". If the police had proven beyond reasonable doubt that there was an issue then BMW and VOSA/DVSA should have recalled them all, and that should be where any blame is thrown. The police are just a former owner, they didn't build the things.

I've long suspected I see a disproportionate number of BMWs (and Minis) broken down. Definitely not a statistical survey, it's possible I just notice them more because they're supposedly posh.

From a quick google, they're one of the worst, together with several other posh brands. Good old Land Rover out-rubbishes them though (Hurrah, Britain's won at something)...

Most- and least-reliable car brands revealed

Some car makers are more associated with reliability than others. However, are these reputations deserved, or is there more than meets the eye here?

www.carwow.co.uk

 

[Dork Lard]

I used to love my Vx Senator police specials, 3.0l 24v straight 6 with manual gearbox's. Not far off the fastest 4door saloon in its day & cost a fraction of the nearest equivalent Merc or BMW.

My last one had 2x huge fans on the rad & when you switched it off it would continue to circulate water to cool down for 10mins. This was a mod done to prevent the damage that just switching off does to very hot engines.

 

[sxturbo]

Think a lot of the problem is that they tend to be staionary with engine switched off then its full throttle when after somebody.

BMW advised that it's because they spend a lot of time idling, apparently they leave the engines running when at crime scenes with the blues on.

Then as soon as they've finished that job they hoon it to the next crisis.

BMW couldn't find a fix because it is due to the packaging of the car, everything is as tight as possible in there, which means heat is retained.

It was such a bad fault that BMW have closed their special projects down. They say it's because they make smaller margins... But I think there were a lot of forces seeking some form of re-imbursment, and they had already made it national policy to no longer buy this model of BMW

The police have written many off and sent them straight to the scrapyard, technically perfectly acceptable for road use but they've had a fault previously so rather than take the risk they scrapped them.

The article is at odds with an article I've seen from the BBC a few weeks ago (cant seem to find).

They're only selling what they deem as the cream of the crop

 

[securespark]

Hmm....so I guess BMW knew how their cars would be driven (it doesn't take a lot to realise that police cars are going to have a hard life)but they made no mods?

 

[sxturbo]

Hmm....so I guess BMW knew how their cars would be driven (it doesn't take a lot to realise that police cars are going to have a hard life)but they made no mods?

Yes they knew, but they never tested them In such conditions.

It was only once the police found the issues that. They were looked into. Initially they said it wasn't anything to worry about, but then more and more caught fire so they had to take it seriously. After investigation it was deemed to how they are run and they can't do any modifications because it's an inherent design of the vehicle packaging. So it meant the police had to change how they operated them. Which they declined to do, some forces retired the cars to panda duties only, some got shot immediately and some thought they could control it. After death of the poor guy in the m6 they were withdrawn from pursuit duties straight away.

The above is from what I've read on various news publications

 

[Brigadier]

I posted the following on another thread recently:

Can't remember where I read it, but it was an interesting opinion nonetheless.

German cars are less reliable than Japanese cars in general, because

the German mentality is that, if a part is designed to be adjusted or replaced at a certain interval, it should be. And the owner will follow the instruction. And all will be well.
However, owners are not always as reliable as the German manufacturer thinks they should be.
And so, the car goes kaput.

Whereas, the Japanese manufacture similarly well-designed and built components, but know that the owners are unreliable humans, and that indicated intervals are treated as advisory, rather than mandatory.

Who knows how much veracity is in this.........

 

[motorbiking]

There are a hell of a lot of these 3.0l diesels around but this model is the 2014 and older. According to BMW its in house servicing and poor oil quality that was the issue.

In 2016, after BMW UK noted a pattern of incidents and engine fires involving the N57 in police vehicles, they reported their concerns to parent company BMW AG in Germany. Engineers at BMW's factory in Steyr, Austria, carried out tests on seven engines and found that the cause of the fault was poor lubrication as a result of ageing and degrading engine oil.


BMW AG instructed BMW UK to advise police forces to upgrade the type of oil used in the engines to 5w30 and to shorten the oil change intervals to no longer than 10,000 miles. However, BMW UK passed this on through the voluntary National Association of Police Fleet Managers of which Cumbria Police is not a member.

After PC Dumphreys' death BMW carried out an investigation and discovered the cause of the faulty bearing was linked to the way in which police vehicles are often driven. Vehicles with high mileage and those undergoing prolonged idling followed by sharp acceleration, such as when a police car sets off on a pursuit, make the fault more likely to manifest itself.

I used to go to police auctions to pick up cheap motorbikes, but invariably they were hammered pieces of scrap that while appearing good value, where high mileage junk. The bikes we used to use for training courses (super blackbirds mainly) were poorly maintained and you usually used to have to spend 30 minutes adjusting things like the chain, topping fluids up, tyre pressures, gear levers etc. The Pan Euros were even worse.

 

[RandomGrinch]

The article is at odds with an article I've seen from the BBC a few weeks ago (cant seem to find).

Yes, I saw that too:

Faulty police car decision too late, widow says - BBC News

Kathryn Dumphreys says if cars with a known fault had been withdrawn, her husband would not have died.

www.bbc.co.uk

With BMW dropping out of the specialist vehicle market, it may have to be a brave manufacturer to step into their place.

A neighbour who is a police officer, chose an Audi over a Beemer for their personal car, following their experiences at work.

...but it's also worth mentioning - the likelihood of this issue happening to a normal civilian car is extremely slim. The problem is with the police vehicles still in service (now on restricted duties) and their disposal.

 

[transam]

Superior German engineering

Let’s hope (?) them tanks have been designed to actually be used in war / battlefield / combat situations ????

 

[Brigadier]

Superior German engineering

Let’s hope (?) them tanks have been designed to actually be used in war / battlefield / combat situations ????

You're mixing the point, Trans; the Germans are very good at designing and engineering stuff for its intended purpose.

When outside of its specified envelope though, perhaps less dependable.

 

[transam]

You're mixing the point, Trans; the Germans are very good at designing and engineering stuff for its intended purpose.

When outside of its specified envelope though, perhaps less dependable.

Well let’s hope that their tanks have been designed and engineered /manufactured for combat / battlefield use ?

Have they ever been used in a war scenario

 

[Deleted member 18243]

Hmm....so I guess BMW knew how their cars would be driven

BMWs are nearly always driven badly, I would scrap the lot of them.