New car

Wife has a newer BMW X3 M40i, nice driving car and quick. Impossible to service on your own, but after 3 years the starter died thanks to the start/stop cycling. According to our local service guy, this is happening with increasing frequency with the newer cars. Rebuilt starter form BMW is $700, requires your core, add another $250 to install. BMW dealer wanted $1700. Windshield fluid stopped working, clogged filter and tubing (very common problem with BMW's), to get to the reservoir one needs to remove the front fender, and needs special tools for the lines. Another $600+. LED eyebrow light went out in one headlight, dealer said they need to replace the headlight assembly plus labor, need to pull the other fender off plus all the plastic parts, something like $3200. Needless to say, I can live with a decorative led eyebrow light out. I dread what is next, new cars are getting too expensive for what should be simple repairs, let alone a lemon something like major defect like the latest Toyota Tundra's 2020-2023 that have an engine replacement recall on all their V6 turbo engines. Manufacturing engine debris and they seize. Unfortunately there is no way to determine which is going to fail.

My understanding of the start/stop feature is primarily for emissions, not practicality. I do not believe you can design the starter to last maybe a 100+ start stop cycles in a commuting trip vs. 1 start cycle, and say they will last the same. Everything is built to a price point, and simple things like the starter brushes wear out, as well as component wear. I have a 20 year old Toyota Tundra, other than oil changes, routine maintenance replacement of timing belt components and water pump at 80K miles, nothing has failed. You can actually see the motor without stupid motor compartment covers and everything is accessible. Thought of getting a new truck, but why? Newer ones get worse gas millage and are plagued with reliability issues. Seems to go for most cars these days. So far, not a fan of all electric cars at this point. Interesting point that in Asia (Japan and HK) where I am currently, there are almost no all electric vehicle, mostly hybrids (no plug), small gas and diesel vehicles. US seems to have a large appetite for all electric cars, despite our aging power grid which is already maxed out. My own view of Tesla's is they are overpriced tin cans, just my view having been in them. I guess my truck is going to have to last another 20 years, and by then I will probably be to old to drive (alive or dead) or the world has nuked itself into oblivion.

 
@mksj,

I watched that video, and mostly agree......

I agree that a starter could be built for a 20 year=300,000 cycle life (numbers from the video), but I have never seen one that was.
I'd guess about a 10 year life is what I see on starters now, when used for say 4 starts/day or 1250 starts a year......so a 12500 cycle life.
(both calculations using 6 days/week)

So unless starters have been totally redesigned for these auto-stop/start engines, then starter failures will increase.

300,000 / 12,500 = 24.
Therefore, I'd expect 24 starter replacements over that 20-year vehicle life!
Although I doubt that I stop 50 times on my commute to work and back.

Also, I don't know anyone that expects a 20-year life on a vehicle........ except me.

Brian
 
@brino I'm with you on expecting 20 years.

But, I'm starting to realize, at least for us in the rust areas, 15 years is about the limit. I'm trying a good bath of yearly fluid film on these latest two, to see if that helps.

Of course, I'm in the unique situation of becoming allergic to stuff that grows in cars after a few years. I'm almost to the point of having to replace them every few years anyway (If this current situation doesn't improve).
 
mksj said:
after 3 years the starter died thanks to the start/stop
Click to expand...
Our Subaru went 150,000 miles on the same starter with that idiotic start/stop "feature."
Our new Honda has a setting to turn the Start/Stop BS off, yup its off now.
There might be a justification for it if I lived in places with lots of traffic backups. (CA I'm looking @ you!)
 
I think automakers are trying to eliminate the secondary market entirely, as well as do away with shadetree repairs and services. Everyone I know with a new car is constantly dragging it in to the stealership for recalls, maintenance, and repairs. Other than my humble Honda, I've chosen to own 30 year old cars for the last 30 years. No, they're not comfortable to sit in very long or equipped to blow cold air, but they're really fun to drive and enjoyable to work on. I don't see myself wanting to own much of anything on the road anymore, let alone wanting to work on it. The only exceptions are Toyota Tacomas and maybe a Mazda MX5. If I wanted to suffer the Subaru curse, I'd consider a BRZ... but nah, no thumpy flat 4 for me. If the manufacturers had their way, they'd sell you a new one every 6 years, and good [effing] luck to the next guy who buys your old one.
 
@brino , My Honda Civic is 17 years old, bought the most basic model they had ,new, in 2007, it now has 130.000 KM on it and BTW it is a manual car no stinky auto transmission lol.I have been looking at used Honda CRVs for the last 2 years so maybe I'd buy one before this civic bites the dust but so far it's still going strong with the original clutch, so far I have only paid for regular/minor maintenance repairs like new battery every 4-5 years, brakes, new alternator,etc. I have no reason to buy another car or SUV but I'm also thinking it is reaching the end of its life .
 
I totally get you. When I copped my Mini Cooper, I thought I could do it all myself, but man, it was tough.

I ended up getting some pros to help out, and they made everything super chill. If you need a hand moving your new car or anything else, check out A-1 Auto Transport. They hooked me up!
 
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