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Problems with "early" M3 production cars??

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peter67

Member
May 15, 2018
16
10
Thornhill
#1
Hi everyone,

I LOVE my RWD M3. Best car I've owned. However, I must admit that it hasn't been my most reliable car. I was a relatively early buyer. Delivery June 8, 2018 (VIN 29,xxx).
Over the past 2 years I have had both minor and major problems.
Minor: charge port freezing in winter (I live in Canada), windows that very rarely would not roll up when it was supposed to etc
Major: rear drive unit replaced (completely broke while driving), heated driver seat replaced, front right control arm replaced and separately front left control arm replaced.

Just curious if my issues are unique to my car or if other 2 year+ owners are having disproportionate issues as well??

Thanks
 
#2
That's a lot of bad luck to have with one car. DU failures are still fairly rare, but it does seem to be more common with the older cars. It's the one failure that I'm most concerned about at this time. May I ask how many miles you had when it occurred?

Early buyers of new models are always the guinea pigs. I was in that boat with my MazdaSpeed 3, but it was still a reliable car overall.
 
#3
My car is VIN 25XXX. I've had the same minor problems as you, and I live in Nashville. Early on I had a headlight problem that was solved OTA, and then a seatbelt sensor for the rear seat broke and mobile service came out and fixed it. Otherwise, none of the major problems you had.
 
#4
I'll provide feedback on my 2019 and 2020 Model 3.
July production 2019: Zero issues.
Oct. '19 production 2020: Driver side door sill plate missing a delivery. [mobile ranger put one on]
B-pillar rattle after few thousand miles. [Still not remedied due to limited service (COVID)]
Front axle clicking: LF shaft replaced. [still clicking and now slight clunking when turning sharp at slow speeds]

I believe major issues such as DU failures are a a problem with early production but the things like interior trim, common B-pillar rattles, suspension noises, seat problems are still apparent as those smaller items have not been updated and assembly can be part of the problem. (i.e. pushing to build as many as possible)
 
#6
Hi
I am VIN 18XXX also very early.. April 2018 all fixed under warranty with no push back ever
Drivers Headlight replaced twice...same thing each time.. the eyelash LED part would just stop working.
Control Arm I think Right... was squeaky so they replaced
My other half insisted the gen 1 rear seat was uncomfortable. They replaced it...but I truly think with another Gen 1 seat.. hehehe but spouse is happy.
glove box would open on it's own.. they put some sponges in. LOL
Drivers door handle sticks... shaved it down the first time. And I think it did it a year later and I think they replaced.
Smelly air.. I replaced the filters myself and did not spray anything.
passenger window would hit top roof...they adjusted all windows

All but one were done by Mobile at my work. The door handle and control arm at SC.

I asked for HW 3 upgrade and it happened quickly as soon as I heard Georgia was doing them.
 
#7
While I would like to think as time goes on they make improvements but I think there is a lot of luck involved. My sister was one of the people who pre ordered a 3, and to this day it has never been to the service center except for an AP upgrade. I have a March 2020 build, and I have had 5 Service visits so far with another one on Monday. A friend also bought a March 2020 3 and his hasn't had any issues so far. I still love the car but this is a new record for me on problems.
 
#9
Prolificant said:
While I would like to think as time goes on they make improvements but I think there is a lot of luck involved. My sister was one of the people who pre ordered a 3, and to this day it has never been to the service center except for an AP upgrade. I have a March 2020 build, and I have had 5 Service visits so far with another one on Monday. A friend also bought a March 2020 3 and his hasn't had any issues so far. I still love the car but this is a new record for me on problems.
Click to expand...

Fit and finish issues? Mechanical? Electrical?
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: JustSaying
#12
john5520 said:
That's a lot of bad luck to have with one car. DU failures are still fairly rare, but it does seem to be more common with the older cars. It's the one failure that I'm most concerned about at this time. May I ask how many miles you had when it occurred?

Early buyers of new models are always the guinea pigs. I was in that boat with my MazdaSpeed 3, but it was still a reliable car overall.
Click to expand...
Happened 14 months in at around 30,000km's (18,500 Miles). Was driving on a local road a couple minutes from getting on the highway when I heard a loud "thunk". Car basically died and warnings galore to pull over immediately and call service. Was unnerving but I guess lucky it didn't happen on the highway.
 
#13
john5520 said:
Fit and finish issues? Mechanical? Electrical?
Click to expand...
While there are some paint chips, door rattles, a really loud wind noise on the passenger side, panel alignment issues, and a passenger side door rattle, I knew this coming in that it is "life" with a Tesla, so I am not counting the fit and finish issues, and haven't made appointments to get those fixed. I will attempt to improve them myself. I have bought some felt tape, etc.

Rear view mirror was faulty. This took two visits, and seems like an uncommon issue.
Glove box would slam down instead of being dampened.
Water pours on the floor inside when it rains. I read that this used to happen more often in the past, so it seems they haven't fixed this very well yet in production. The Monday appointment was originally made for this.
Autopilot unavailable error. This has now happened for the second time They had my car for a few days a month ago, and it has come back. as of a week ago (this one sucks as most everything on the car stops working to include auto wipers, location based mirror unfolding, backup cameras, auto headlights, Sentry Mode, etc..


Again, Not "bashing" and look forward to my CyberTruck Pre-order still as I knew what I was getting into, but hot damn, as someone who primarily buys german cars, I thought i was ready for additional quirks, but My boss is starting to look at me weird when I take leave every other week to get my car fixed. lol.

Car just hit 2000 mi. BTW
 
#18
Prolificant said:
Again, Not "bashing" and look forward to my CyberTruck Pre-order still as I knew what I was getting into, but hot damn, as someone who primarily buys german cars, I thought i was ready for additional quirks, but My boss is starting to look at me weird when I take leave every other week to get my car fixed. lol.

Car just hit 2000 mi. BTW
Click to expand...
That's a lot of issues for only 2K miles.
 
#19
VIN 16,8xx built and delivered in 4/2018. These are the issues that we had, all addressed at no charge.

- Delivered with a 2.5" long, deep scratch in the driver's door sill. Repainted at a local body shop. 5 working days.
- Rear bumper cover was misaligned to adjacent sheet metal. We didn't notice this until after the above repainting. Drop in at service center and adjusted in 10 minutes in the drop off lane.
- Driver's door handle slowly stopped returning to the flush position at about 1 year age. Adjusted by Mobile Service. No further problem.
- Driver's side brake light housing had significant condensation inside that did not dissipate after 2 weeks of dry weather. Replaced in 10 minutes by Mobile Service.
 
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