What to do with a used 745I

[OnTheFence]

Can someone post a factual list of the major complaints and gremlins the 745i had?
Which years are we referring to?

[beshannon]

Can someone post a factual list of the major complaints and gremlins the 745i had?
Which years are we referring to?

http://www.arfc.org/complaints/2002/bmw/745i/

http://www.rassoc.com/gregr/weblog/2...-bmw-7-series/

[BimmerBreaker]

Mostly valve stem seals and transmission problems. The trans problems are usually caused by slowing down almost to a stop but not stopping all the way. Over time repeating this behaviour can cause the transmission to jerk badly in first and second gear. Valve stem seals are hit and miss and seem to be little rhyme or reason regarding what cars are affected. (I actually can answer your question directly instead of just googling it and sharing a link)

FWIW the link above shows 47 complaints... look up almost any other BMW, including some you deem the most reliable, and there will be similar number of complaints... 47 is a very small number compared to the number of these cars they sold. Most years also have much much lower number of complaints, I noticed he must have searched for one with a higher number... 2005 has 10 complaints, much lower than average. On average the 745i seems to have about 25 complaints on that site, which is dead on average compared to other cars I looked at.

I think most people would say a civic is reliable, but a 2013 civic has 54 complaints and a 2003 civic has 361 complaints!!! So tell me again how super unreliable the 745 is...

[modular93fox]

So tell me again how super unreliable the 745 is...

It's so much more expensive than an 03 honda... You could buy an 03 honda 1 1/2 times over if you bought an 02/03 745 turd with major problems. Now will the seller tell you " man I'm selling this pos because it needs ....

Or

This is my grandmas daily driven car, garage kept baby...

[BimmerBreaker]

It's so much more expensive than an 03 honda... You could buy an 03 honda 1 1/2 times over if you bought an 02/03 745 turd with major problems. Now will the seller tell you " man I'm selling this pos because it needs ....

Or

This is my grandmas daily driven car, garage kept baby...

You can buy a used 745i for cheaper than a 2013 civic and the 2013 civic already has more reports than the 2003 745i, the fact is, the hype behind these car's unreliability overshadows the truth about them. People said the same thing about E38s being unreliable, after all they had more computing power than the space shuttle, but there are still tons of those on the road.

[twastheglow]

You can buy a used 745i for cheaper than a 2013 civic and the 2013 civic already has more reports than the 2003 745i, the fact is, the hype behind these car's unreliability overshadows the truth about them. People said the same thing about E38s being unreliable, after all they had more computing power than the space shuttle, but there are still tons of those on the road.

I have no opinion on this car as I have no personal experience with one. But I will say comparing the number of complaints between a very expensive, high end BMW with a Honda Civic is apples to oranges. The number of complaints becomes somewhat moot when you consider the sheer number of vehicles sold. I would expect there to be a much larger number of complaints with the Civic versus the 745i...there were a TON more civics sold. It's the law of numbers. I think a much better way to look at it would be as a percentage. That would be unbiased by sales numbers.