I'm 75% of the way to deciding to turn in an '07 335i 6MT at the end of my lease next Spring in favor of buying and keeping a '10 G37S 6MT. ...something about burning oil and disappearing coolant that is "normal" has me shying away from long term BMW ownership; and the same engineer's frugality that has me avoiding risk of replacing BMW radiators or head gaskets also doesn't allow me to justify to myself that even the "ultimate driving machine" is worth making lifetime lease payments to keep me in an under 3-yr old BMW, whether I can afford it or not.

The G37 really seems to be 9/10ths a BMW for 7/10ths the price. However, I've done some searching on forums like this one; and there's one thing BMW did right where all the alternatives I'm looking at are causing me some frustration. BMW let's you swap summer/winter tires with two separate sets of TPMS sensors, and reset the car for the new set of tires/wheels yourself, right from the driver's seat. So, given that competitors like Infiniti have such great marketing leverage for higher reliability and lower cost of ownership, why did they choose to monopolize tire related servicing to the Infiniti dealerships? Was it Nissan lawyers fearing owners could sue if the manufacturer let them improperly reset their TPMS, leading to an accident? I believe the BMW system would let me reset the TPMS baseline 10 lb low - its TPMS reset establishes a pressure baseline that sets off the warning light when the pressure in any tire deviates more than a certain percentage from the set baseline. Is it that Infiniti's are so darn reliable that Nissan had to throw the dealerships a bone by "making" owners go to them every time they want to rotate or swap tires if they want to get rid of the TPMS warning light?

I'm a man of principle. I don't like being manipulated to pay more to get rid of annoying and unnecessary idiot lights by a company I may fork over nearly 40K for a car to start. Even if my BMW proved reliable, I'd probably still ditch it if I confirmed I couldn't reset the CBM system myself after I started doing my own oil changes after 4yrs... So, I'm hoping either Infiniti changes their TPMS in '10 for DIYers, or the dealership I buy from will sign up to lifetime TPMS resets for free as part of my deal. Otherwise, I may have to go buy the ugly Acura where the 6MT SHAWD with all-season tires still can pull .88g and do 0-60 in 5.2 (so no need to swap summer/winters) and I can reset the CBM system myself. I still have to confirm whether or not I can rotate the tires without involving the dealership, though.

To me, ideal long term ownership is having to only go to the dealership for service I can't do myself because of my skill level or unwillingness to do it - not because the car was designed to need a special tool only the dealership has, or needs a special procedure only the dealership knows.

So, poll to G Sport owners in the snow belt, how do you cope with winter/summer tire swaps?

1. Live with the idiot light on.
2. Pay up to have the dealer reset twice a year.
3. Something more innovative.

 

I'd personally would live with the light on if you really want to change the tires. But if you happy with all season tires on the Acura why aren't you happy with it on the G? Also, Have you ever looked at the new Acura closely? Talking about the front fascia. I'm sorry but that's just ugly. Of couse that's just my opinion. I know some of the dealers try to offer body color painted grills to save some sales so probably most people think that way.

 

I've never read of one of those complaints on any BMW forum. My 08 335 does none of the things you mentioned. The primary complaint is the HPFP, but even that is so few compared to the number of cars sold/failure rate.

 

Seeing your previous comment about resets and tire/wheel swaps, your comment above may just have been a mistake. But you do not have to reset anything if you change or rotate the tires, so long as you keep the same wheel. I would call Infiniti's TPMS a "dumb" sensor, in that all it does is monitor pressure regardless of which corner its on and it won't tell you the number either (unlike Acura's, for example, where it shows the PSI for each corner).

Personally, i don't even bother with it. I've had my warning light on for the past year since replacing both tire and wheel. Between checking pressures regularly and knowing that "feel" for when the tires are running low on air (or over-aired, as the case may be), TPMS doesn't contribute much in the end other than telling me that i've lost air at the last moment, at which point a blowout or bad flat is already imminent.

 

+1 for living with the dash light on. I dealt with it last year with the winter set-up on, its no biggee....

 

Live with the light for 4 months of the year. It's a small compromise and much less so than all season tires in the snow belt, regardless of all wheel drive. It's stopping and turning that snows help out with most importantly.

 

^^+1, live with the light for part of the season and get winter tires if you are dealing with snow.
Personally I leave my sensors in my winter rims so I don't have to check tire pressures in the frigid temps, I don't mind checking them in the summer.

 

Discount Tire can relearn the new sensors if you get new ones. They have the tools to reset them and relearn them.

 

I definitely would have liked if we could reset the TPMS ourselves. If that were the case, I would have sprung for new TPMS in my winter tires for sure. I bet it would have been a simple solution too.

 

Thanks all for the comments.

Per C&D's numbers the Acura with all-seasons posts the same skidpad numbers as a G with summers (the Acura with summers is another .04g higher). Of course, I'm aware of the all-season compromise. Perhaps the Acura's choice of all seasons has the compromise in favor of dry handling over winter conditions. I've owned 3 Hondas since 1991. The OEM Michelins sucked on all three. The '95 Prelude VTEC was the first car I experienced the no-compromise summer/winter separate sets. Despite rear-drive, my 335 with winter tires has given me the most confidence in snow than any car I've ever owned. Before I'd buy the Acura, I'd have to test drive it on snowy roads to see how bad the compromise is (may be much worse than an idiot light from November to February).

Yes, the Acura is ugly; but it's not too bad from the driver's seat. I got to test drive a 6MT a few weeks ago. That shifter and clutch *almost* make up for the looks. It made the G's clutch feel like an on/off switch and the shifter's throws feel as long as a truck's by comparison. I also think the Acura's 3.7 SOHC IVTEC has more useable power in the lower rpm range despite the higher peak hp of the Infiniti VVEL DOHC unit (and that's based on a same-day comparison test drive of a 6MT Infiniti coupe since there were no G37 6MT sedans to test drive in my area). More than the looks, the fact the TL is a fwd architecture and shows other evidence of cost cutting while it's MSRP is a fair amount higher than the G37 is what is making me shy away from it. That, and its front overhang would likely scrape my driveway every time I arrive home.

In response to the fellow BMW owner, I've seen posts of others talking about burning oil (mine burns a quart in about 6000 miles), losing coolant, and the dealerships calling it "normal". My '07 is the first year production of that twin turbo - I might be more confident if there was a long history of forced induction BMW engines lasting 250,000 miles+ like Nissan has with its VQ engines and Honda has with its engines (a buddy of mine still has his '96 Accord with 320K miles on original clutch, and his engine just started burning about 1/2 quart of oil between oil changes at 5K intervals). BTW, I'm still on my original HPFP, and I got the nice letter from BMW that says they'll replace it for free if it fails for as long as I own my car regardless of warranty period.

I see lots of complaints about Honda and Infiniti not going DI and turbocharging like competitors. Perhaps their engine improvements are chosen to be incremental to take less risk with reliability. With BMW you pay for cutting edge technology in more ways than one, IMHO. Nissan can do it on the GTR because those buyers are more like the BMW type who are willing to pay with compromise for buying the innovative, yet less proven, technology. I say great, let the wealthy prove out the technology on the GTR while the rest of us wait in earnest for it to trickle down to us.

 

There's no way I could go from a killer road carving 335i to a pimped-up Accord. The G is so much closer to 335i in the performance department, if the Accordura was rwd it could be a player, too bad they won't give it a try. I like Acuras in many ways, they just can't seem to complete the car by going
rwd.
I've also had a fun BMW experience having owned an 02 745Li. As great a car it is when all things are working it just got too expensive too quick to be able to justify keeping it. Lesson learned, NEVER buy a BMW out of warranty

 

No need to test drive. Any car with all seasons will have poorer stopping and handling on snow or ice compared to almost any car with snows. The Acura might make a good choice...but with snows. Dry pavement skid pad #'s don't enter the equation when talking about winter driving. Having an idiot light on for 4 months isn't remotely comparable to all seasons on snowy roads. You can get by but not safely.

 

I just paid my dealer 65 to program my TPMS, and yea I was not happy forking over money for such stupid service, I have TPMS sensors on both my rims and is pointless for me not to get them done since I paid for the summer rims to have TPMS, before I knew this was a problem.

 

Ouch my Dealer quoted me $45 and that was still ridiculous. Therefore I just have them in my winters.

 

I wonder if nissan can program the TPMS on our cars, I'm sure they would charge less or not even charge at all, the service lady at the dealer was really nice and told me that I should look for a tireshop that can program them, since most of them will do it for a fraction of what infiniti charges. She suggested for next season when I have to change rims that I should bring it in when I have to get my oil changed, than they usually do it for free.