Jalopnik calls BMW engines "Gigantic Pieces Of S***"

[OUGrad05]

BMW has its share of reliability issues but all the cars running great you never hear about. Friend of mine has a 2008 335i with 165k on the clock, he's been through three HPFPs and a seal that started leaking oil, otherwise no issue and the HPFPs were all paid for by BMW.

Car still runs strong and is tight/quiet inside.

I do think Audi is likely making a better long-term reliable car at this point though, Benz might be as well but Benz seems to be a lot more expensive to fix.

Lexus F Sport vehicles are a compelling package due to the good chassis dynamics of the current IS/GS F Sport cars. The drivetrains though are where the Germans still shine. That I6 and I4 in the BMWs is truly fantastic as are the Audi and Benz engines.

I'm not sure how long we'll keep our BMWs certainly till the warranty is out on my wife's X3...maybe beyond...but the market is pretty competitive and if BMW had real long-term reliability issues it would be a glaring problem and frankly, a few issues on the forums doesn't represent a widespread reliability problem.

A good friend of mine has a 2013 Accord, he bought it for "reliability". Literally at 36,700 miles the starter went out and Honda wasn't going to pay for it. He appealed, I need to follow up and find out if they paid for it.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by OUGrad05

BMW has its share of reliability issues but all the cars running great you never hear about. Friend of mine has a 2008 335i with 165k on the clock, he's been through three HPFPs and a seal that started leaking oil, otherwise no issue and the HPFPs were all paid for by BMW.

hmm thats not exactly a good track record, even if bmw paid for the hpfp's. Thats not guaranteed in every country (i think its only in the US) and they will stop with that sometimes. And who's paying for the damage stands apart from the reliability issue.
I have a 2012 volvo d5 with similar mileage which had 0 issues. None, never had anything done apart from service. No glitches, anything (also not on suspension etc). Ok those volvo 5cyl engines are so reliable that they are even used in boats (penta) where they run extreme hours (block is the same, engine management is different). so cars like that with 500k or more are not uncommon where I live.
Also there are loads of m52/52 engines with 200k and more and no real problems, maybe a camsensor or small thing.
I do think that the older engines, especially the 6 and 8 cyl like the m52/54 m62 and m57 (the earlier ones without swirl flaps, or a modded one with flaps removed) are more reliable than the current engines (from say the last 5-10 years), and certainly cheaper to fix for the few problems they do have. Newer engines often have parts breaking down that are really expensive.