Our local BMW dealer had a load of them from their dealerships all over the UK, there were at least a dozen X3 cars (mix of 2.0D & 3.0D) to choose from last Summer when we bought it. I think they were(are?) a clearing house for their company pre-registered stock. Ours had been registered for approx 6 months with 14 miles on the clock. Only downside was its list price was over £40K which means we have to pay the extra VED for 5 years.
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Car parts are a scam?
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cosmicma
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talking of ripoff main dealer prices
front left ABS sensor for a honda civic from honda main dealers £165 https://www.coxmotorparts.co.uk/hon...-civic-front-left-abs-speed-sensor-2006-2011/
General Traffic motor factors ( a mile up the road ) £44
ebay less than £20 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Front-Le...h=item3acb676dd1:g:3UUAAOSwgGtbIcxJ:rk:2:pf:0
front left ABS sensor for a honda civic from honda main dealers £165 https://www.coxmotorparts.co.uk/hon...-civic-front-left-abs-speed-sensor-2006-2011/
General Traffic motor factors ( a mile up the road ) £44
ebay less than £20 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Front-Le...h=item3acb676dd1:g:3UUAAOSwgGtbIcxJ:rk:2:pf:0
gman
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And I'll bet that the Honda part probably isn't any better than the other ones with the exception of probably the cheapest. It's all rebranded anyway. 4th Gen CRV uses Showa shocks for example. In my opinion and experience they aren't what they used to be.
cosmicma
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i opted for the local motor factor at £44 and it's fine
as far as i am aware honda don't make ABS sensors so some 3rd party company is making them
the mark up is just plain robbery
at least mr turpin wore a mask so they say
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as longs as it isn't a rebadged generic chicom $1 junk... There are a lot of these about. I wonder how you can tell them apart from something like proper ZF or Bosch made parts?
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No manufacturers make almost anything other than the engine block (if you are lucky) or the exterior panels.... German ones are a combination of ZF, bosch and Siemens parts. Your BMW, VW and merc are probably more similar than different.
gman
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Yep, this is what I heard about Honda also, pretty much just the engine they make. The diesels in particular have a lot of shared parts, but it's not always a bad thing because if it's tried and tested then it should be reliable enough and if shared across multiple platforms then also less expensive - perhaps at an assembly level. To be fair I would say that you are less likely to get silly niggles with Honda, especially electrical and switches, and it's not so much the reliability but the quality which I find isn't what it used to be. Things just feel, well how can I put it... just meh? Still comes with a premium price though.
But it's when they rebrand it as their own and mark it up that annoys me. I mind the local motor engineer telling me that he was working on a Jaguar and he managed to source a Ford part at a third of the price - it had an identical part number but was just missing the Jaguar sticker! That really is shocking. As for Honda, I noticed that with more recent models it can be tricky to get factor parts (Honda CRV EX are OEM only and at £150 per rear shock! Honda also became very protective with workshop manuals, parts diagrams etc. Don't even get me started on Honda UK customer services - probably the worst and least loyal I've ever experienced.
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And same as Citronen / peugeot in most cases. This lot is pretty much responsible for the design of all the electrics and diesel running gear which explains our real life observations spectacularly well. Ironically Citroen C5 3.0D is probably a far batter car than the XF.
It depends what they are. If it is uprated premium off-road shock that lasts 100k I'd say fair enough. You could easily pay more for some good uprated ones.
Passat ones were like £58 each a couple years ago and I'd value them closer to £5-8 after they lasted just a few months. Ride quality was nice to begin with, and then they got mega bouncy. Now its TRW OE in the back, more reliable but annoyingly stiff.
gman
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Can't comment on the Citroen C5 3.0 engine, although my father-in-law had a C5 about 4 years ago and it was nasty on so many levels and I personally wouldn't put it anywhere near the XF, especially with regard to refinement and luxury. As far as I know the engine was Ford derived and was heavily reworked for the Jaguar application. Don't know much about the Citroen/Peugeot side of it but I think it was built in France rather than Dagenham.
Honda CRV shocks are definitely not off-road and besides the AWD system is a driving aid at best. Apparently SACHS are also used with OEM application in Honda, these are all factor parts as far as I'm concerned. You can get KYB ones for half the price but they aren't sided so are missing a mounting bracket for some sensor on one side. I also believe KYB are used as OEM fitting in many cars.
I can understand why so many people just do three year PCP and keep within manufacturer warranty periods, even if you are taking the depreciation hit. It's not for me though, I just find a lease car so impersonal and lacking in character. But I guess it depends how you feel about cars, I'm sure to many it's just a tool so it doesn't matter.
Honda CRV shocks are definitely not off-road and besides the AWD system is a driving aid at best. Apparently SACHS are also used with OEM application in Honda, these are all factor parts as far as I'm concerned. You can get KYB ones for half the price but they aren't sided so are missing a mounting bracket for some sensor on one side. I also believe KYB are used as OEM fitting in many cars.
I can understand why so many people just do three year PCP and keep within manufacturer warranty periods, even if you are taking the depreciation hit. It's not for me though, I just find a lease car so impersonal and lacking in character. But I guess it depends how you feel about cars, I'm sure to many it's just a tool so it doesn't matter.
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When I needed an egr valve for my Mondeo several years ago it was £240 from Ford, but exact same part could be bought from Jaguar for £120.
gman
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What was the part number?
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No idea, this was about 7 years ago.
gman
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Seems odd and also to be exactly half price.
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It was also cheaper than Ford employee discount price. The bloke in the Jaguar parts department was quite surprised when he asked for the Jaguar model and I said it was for a Mondeo.
Kell
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It frustrates me beyond belief that
a) Main dealers will blatantly lie to you about availability and,
b) Try to rip you off at every opportunity.
Our old 5-series Touring had self-levelling rear suspension. Which was great, until it started going wrong. When it did start going wrong, the car was out of warranty (of course).
It took a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and every now and again, we'd come out the house and the car would be on its bump stops and be undriveable. This meant us having to have the car recovered twice from Devon (to High Wycombe). And once meant I had to cut short a trip to Wales and use someone else's car.
The most annoying thing was that occasionally, we'd have a problem and then it magically fixed itself and run well for a week or two. The problem with that was that whenever the car 'bonged' its warning sound for anything, we though 'Here we go'. As it was the same sound for 'you're running low on fuel' or 'you've been driving for two hours' as it was for 'your suspension is knackered, pull over immediately and do not drive any further.'
It got to the point where we had no confidence in the car. Unfortunately, we had too much invested in it to make it financially viable to sell it.
The techs at our local Sytner couldn't figure it out. It burned through about four alternators as they wore themselves out trying to keep the suspension level. So even when the suspension was fine, we'd end up with no electrical power as the battery hadn't charged.
In the end, it had to be plugged in to the BMW main super-computer in Banbury and diagnosed that way. Though it's beyond me as to why that service is not available all the time. Would have saved us months of anguish.
Turned out to be a faulty connector that controlled the suspension. A part which cost about £20.
BMW wanted, get this, £3,900 to replace it.
Because it was part of the wiring loom, they 'couldn't fix it' and 'would have to replace the entire wiring loom'.
Wiring loom alone was £1,300 and the rest of the cost was their labour because to replace a wiring loom meant the entire interior had to come out, the loom had to be fitted and then the interior had to go back in.
Luckily, we already had a friendly BMW independent that we used who, once it had been diagnosed properly, said, "Oh that's the same connector they used to use on the old BMW whatever for the power windows. We're breaking one of those, so I'll just snip it off and solder it on."
They did exactly that, and we didn't have another problem with the car.
Total cost? £290 - and that included some of the original diagnostic work and fitting of one of the alternators.
I swore I'd never buy another BMW, and don't intend to anytime soon.
a) Main dealers will blatantly lie to you about availability and,
b) Try to rip you off at every opportunity.
Our old 5-series Touring had self-levelling rear suspension. Which was great, until it started going wrong. When it did start going wrong, the car was out of warranty (of course).
It took a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and every now and again, we'd come out the house and the car would be on its bump stops and be undriveable. This meant us having to have the car recovered twice from Devon (to High Wycombe). And once meant I had to cut short a trip to Wales and use someone else's car.
The most annoying thing was that occasionally, we'd have a problem and then it magically fixed itself and run well for a week or two. The problem with that was that whenever the car 'bonged' its warning sound for anything, we though 'Here we go'. As it was the same sound for 'you're running low on fuel' or 'you've been driving for two hours' as it was for 'your suspension is knackered, pull over immediately and do not drive any further.'
It got to the point where we had no confidence in the car. Unfortunately, we had too much invested in it to make it financially viable to sell it.
The techs at our local Sytner couldn't figure it out. It burned through about four alternators as they wore themselves out trying to keep the suspension level. So even when the suspension was fine, we'd end up with no electrical power as the battery hadn't charged.
In the end, it had to be plugged in to the BMW main super-computer in Banbury and diagnosed that way. Though it's beyond me as to why that service is not available all the time. Would have saved us months of anguish.
Turned out to be a faulty connector that controlled the suspension. A part which cost about £20.
BMW wanted, get this, £3,900 to replace it.
Because it was part of the wiring loom, they 'couldn't fix it' and 'would have to replace the entire wiring loom'.
Wiring loom alone was £1,300 and the rest of the cost was their labour because to replace a wiring loom meant the entire interior had to come out, the loom had to be fitted and then the interior had to go back in.
Luckily, we already had a friendly BMW independent that we used who, once it had been diagnosed properly, said, "Oh that's the same connector they used to use on the old BMW whatever for the power windows. We're breaking one of those, so I'll just snip it off and solder it on."
They did exactly that, and we didn't have another problem with the car.
Total cost? £290 - and that included some of the original diagnostic work and fitting of one of the alternators.
I swore I'd never buy another BMW, and don't intend to anytime soon.
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Kell
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Mind you, Audi are no better.
Our most recent car is just new enough to have a digital service.
As it's the first car we've had to have this option (and is second hand) I didn't think anything of it until we took it to the independent mentioned above who said "where's your service book?"
As we couldn't find it, I called the garage we bought it from who said "it's digital".
We'd already paid for the service, so I emailed Audi customer services to ask about getting the new service added to the car's digital version.
Heard nothing for a few days, so then called them and was told the independent COULD register on a site called ERwin and upload the details.
I then got an email back from Audi which said there was NO WAY that an independent could upload a service to the digital schedule and the car would have to come in to Audi in order to keep the record intact.
At which point I told them about my phone call and they responded with NO SHAME that 'Oh yeah, you can also do that'.
Same person. No apology. No 'sorry we made a mistake' or 'sorry we told you an outright lie'
In the end, it was hassle trying to get the independent to register to be able to upload the info, so I bought a paper service book from Audi, and got them to stamp that.
It annoys me because I thought the whole point of the new digital service schedules was so that it was harder to fake a car's history, but I naiively assumed it would be some sort of centralised record. Like MOTs or insurance. But it seems each manufacturer is like this.
Our most recent car is just new enough to have a digital service.
As it's the first car we've had to have this option (and is second hand) I didn't think anything of it until we took it to the independent mentioned above who said "where's your service book?"
As we couldn't find it, I called the garage we bought it from who said "it's digital".
We'd already paid for the service, so I emailed Audi customer services to ask about getting the new service added to the car's digital version.
Heard nothing for a few days, so then called them and was told the independent COULD register on a site called ERwin and upload the details.
I then got an email back from Audi which said there was NO WAY that an independent could upload a service to the digital schedule and the car would have to come in to Audi in order to keep the record intact.
At which point I told them about my phone call and they responded with NO SHAME that 'Oh yeah, you can also do that'.
Same person. No apology. No 'sorry we made a mistake' or 'sorry we told you an outright lie'
In the end, it was hassle trying to get the independent to register to be able to upload the info, so I bought a paper service book from Audi, and got them to stamp that.
It annoys me because I thought the whole point of the new digital service schedules was so that it was harder to fake a car's history, but I naiively assumed it would be some sort of centralised record. Like MOTs or insurance. But it seems each manufacturer is like this.
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