[cairns]

Not sure why this came back up but allow me a brief owners report. After six months or so the car threw a check engine light. It kept throwing them and the the dealer (BMW of Rockville) kept returning the car saying they had fixed it. Drivability was getting consistently worse when it happened. On the fifth return that same dealer said that I had contaminated the fuel tank and they wanted $16K to fix it. The tech even said they had a few more cars with the same issue- from all over the DC metro area. I hit the roof.

I had the fuel checked (by the state gov) at the station I buy from- no issue. On the advice of friend who was formerly a tech at BMW of Rockville, I took the car to another dealer (BMW of Silver Spring). After the second try (and two months later) they found the problem- a failed fuel heater element that was throwing the wrong code. In all it took them about $12K to find and fix the problem but they (and BMW) never charged me a cent and provided me with a brand new 3 series the whole time the car was out of service. They stated, in writing, that there was no evidence of fuel contamination.

BMW was silent (to me) throughout this whole episode but they did work with the folks at Silver Spring to fix the problem and paid them to do it. BMW of Rockville lied through their teeth when confronted with the evidence.

The car has run fine ever since.

Bottom line is don't ever buy or take a car to BMW of Rockville. All of their best techs, BTW, have gone to other BMW dealers. Much praise to the folks at Silver Spring who diligently solved the problem and who were so supportive. Guess where I'm going when I buy a new one......