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Daniel, Peter and all at PMW, Where do I start? I guess I’ll tell the whole story! At 31 years old and on my fifth BMW I can’t believe it has taken me so long to find you! Having been messed around previously by a major BMW dealership I knew it was time to consider other options. I was introduced to your firm by a friend that owns an E90 M3 and was impressed by your service. In the same week, another friend recommended you. Two recommendations in one week, it had to be a sign. Both could not speak highly enough of your attitude, professionalism and end product. Time to call!…………… I originally spoke to Jayne who was warm, friendly and personable. I was passed to Peter and immediately knew that my car was going to PMW and nowhere else. Car rental was arranged and so when I dropped the car off, I had a car to drive away with and with minimum fuss. Having been dealing with main dealerships for so long, I predicted a call either at the end of the first day it was in the garage or the next morning. So, it came as a surprise to hear from Peter whilst I was driving home, some 30 minutes to an hour after I had dropped the car off. Peter knew there were things I personally wanted to do to the car, but suggested we prioritise works in order to mitigate the total costs. Hang on a second… A car garage worrying about MY money? This was getting too good to be true, surely. By the end of the first day, Peter had pointed out issues which he felt needed attention and we agreed to start works, costs were made clear before a spanner had been picked up. Whilst in the garage, I never had to call to find out what stage the repairs were at, I was always called and kept updated. Again, in stark contrast to my usual dealings with BMW dealerships. I picked my car up a few days later and Peter asked if I wanted to drive the car with him. I was just amazed that he was willing to take 5 minutes out of his day to make sure I was satisfied. Every garage should do it, but it really made it clear to me that PMW care about their clients. They care about their reputation and it shows in everything they do. The car was a dream, it just drove beautifully. A few days after the service, I booked the car into a BMW dealership to get the alloys re-furbed and a dent taken out. Having just been serviced by PWM, I only wanted aesthetic work done. So it came as a surprise when they called me (a day later!) to say the diff seals and gearbox seals needed replacing. Alarm bells ringing. Firstly, why are they checking mechanics when I didn’t ask for this, and secondly did PMW not do this work? I called Peter and he confirmed the seals were changed so back on the phone to BMW. I asked the BMW dealership what gave them the impression this work needed doing and they pointed to oil residue. I asked them if they had actually checked the seals and they hadn’t. After inspecting again, they (BMW) admitted the work had already been done and that they would have charged me for work that already been carried out. What a f******g liberty. I asked BMW not to look at my car anymore and to carry out the works I originally asked them to do. I have lost all faith in them, they really should be taking a leaf out of PMW’s book. The car was in the garage for three days for this work and I was called twice. Owning a business myself, my feelings are that any business shows it true colours when things go wrong, not when they are going smoothly. This leads to chapter two!………. Two weeks later, the car came up with a transmission fault whilst my wife was driving home. Straight on the phone to Daniel. Daniel agreed a tow would be best so as not to cause anymore issues and said he would arrange this immediately. He called me back within 15 minutes and the car was collected within the hour. Unbelievably efficient.The fault was found that day; a faulty pin in the transmission electrical plug. No bullshit, no messing around. An apology and the problem fixed within 24 hours. The entire situation was dealt with perfectly.I really cannot sing your praises enough PMW. I can only try to put into words how impressed I am and have been with your service, communication and the overall experience. Even my wife smiles like a Cheshire cat now and has asked me not to change cars as I usually do every 12 months. My Wife! Someone who just does not care about cars. So, not only have you made my car drive like a dream and made me the happiest car owner in London but you’ve also managed to make the wife happy as well, that deserves a bonus point.All my staff are bringing their cars to you (as you know). If I meet anyone in the street that owns a BMW, will be sending them you way, PMW are just on a different level. You are in a league of your own.Genuinely, keep up the amazing work Guys & thank you very , very much for everything. My car will not be going anywhere else in future, even if I moved abroad!Though I guess that’ll be a good excuse for a long drive?
Hi just wanted to leave some feedback to say thanks for dealing with my request
for swirl flap blanks so quickly. I ordered these at 12pm and they were with me
in the Western Isles before 11am the next morning! I needed to ask for some
advice when putting everything back together which I was given immediately over
the phone. All in all, a fantastic company which offered a customer service
level that was second to none!
Thank You!
After a bodged repair by a local London garage to my swirl flaps and deep concerns about my 2001 BMW 530D Touring I consulted Peter from pmwltd about the condition of my car. My regular mechanic whom I have known for 20 years simply took out my swirl flaps and replaced the shafts with bolts. This at some time later, only (900 miles) caused an ingestion into the chamber and ruined my piston and valves and looked like a very time consuming and costly repair. After completion I took my car to peter at pmw and discussed the works. He had his guys strip out the existing bolts that were very unprofessional and replaced with his swirl flap blanking plates. Now I have heard a lot about these plates and swirl flap damage and I can tell you as an ex AA Patrol man that if not done correctly as Peter has done you will cause serious damage to your beloved engine. This is a guy with a great team and a wealth of knowledge behind them who know their stuff, not your usual bit mechanic who ”
knows a bit about engines”. I drove down from Lewisham London to his workshops in Chelmsford and it only took an hour and was easy to get to. If I was you I would call them for your piece of mind because you know like I do that you don’t want just anyone tinkering with your pride and joy. Its worth the drive knowing your car is in safe and knowledgeable hands at pmw. He,s not a rip off either, he is a very reasonable honest mechanic and cheaper than the main dealers out there. Thanks peter.
Yet to be confirmed by our own sources, apparently the recently unveiled BMW Gran Coupe will go into production in the second quarter of 2012 and will carry the 6 Series badge. The information comes from the UK magazine Autocar citing a BMW source.
The new concept from BMW is built on the ‘backbone’ platform that underpins the current 5-series, 7-series and 5 GT. Design wise, despite having an unique look, the BMW Gran Coupe takes some design cues from the now defunct CS Concept, the beautiful four door sporty car that was unveiled in 2008 at another Chinese motor show, Shanghai Auto Show, and canceled two years later when BMW decided to pursue their EfficientDynamics plans.
Article continues over at BMW blog online
BimmerToday magazine and its own Managing Editor, Benny, participated at the official launch of the new BMW 5 Series Touring. Along with some exclusive photos, we are bringing some behind the scene news around the 2011 5 Series Sedan and Touring.
The sales of the new 5er Sedan have been nothing but excellent for BMW. Since its launch in Germany on March 18, BMW sold over 13,000 units and new customers anticipate delays up to three months, despite the Dingolfing plant working at full load.
Also, BMW confirmed that the 5 Series full hybrid will come to market in 2011. This fall, BMW will also launch the 535d, a twin-turbo diesel developing 300 horsepower.
Full article contines over at BMW blog
I’ve been coming across some quite unusual write-ups and reviews of SUV’s in recent weeks, mainly along the lines of their environmental credentials, which seem to sometimes be better than I expected and, in some cases, much, much better.
Now, I’m not talking about standard petrol or diesel engine SUV’s - which, as we all know, are notoriously inefficient regarding fuel consumption, and hence produce rather hefty CO2 emissions (and cost a lot to tax in the UK as a result). Hybrids, however, seem to be quite a different story altogether…
For example, Land Rover recently announced their plans to launch a Range Rover hybrid in 2013 which will boast CO2 emissions of less than 100g/km CO2 - i.e. the same as most Ford Fiestas produce these days. Similarly, a Porsche Cayenne hybrid is already on sale which offers CO2 emissions of 193g/km - which is not much more than my old Ford Escort used to produce.
In other words, it seems the major manufacturers of SUV’s have realised that green must be the future, especially with fuel costs escalating by the month and new systems of road tax being introduced based on CO2 emissions (as is the case in the UK). Of course, it must have been much easier for the manufacturers to accept this greener future with the aid of massive grants from our governments in order to help develop the technologies, but nonetheless, it does seem that some pretty effective engineering and design work is being carried out.
The reality is that, in the UK at least, a new Range Rover will cost £950/year to tax, while the hybrid version which we can expect to see around 2013, would fall into the free category - which makes a pretty massive financial difference to almost anyone considering such a purchase.
We shouldn’t get too confused just yet - standard SUV’s are still extremely fuel inefficient and represent pretty bad news for your wallet and the environment: however, it does seem that with the next generation of hybrid SUV’s this might no longer necessarily be the case. Perhaps there will be a future for the formerly notorious gas-guzzlers after all, unlike other previously popular models such as hummers, which seem to be firmly consigned to the dustbin of auto history.
Dejan Levi
Dejan Levi, green motoring, Hybrid cars, Land Rover, Porsche Cayenne, Range Rover, SUV's
It may seem like a silly question – especially to enthusiasts – but there has only been one true BMW supercar in the entire history of the company. Yes, they’ve produced sports cars and GT cars with the likes of the M Coupe and M6, respectively, but there hasn’t been a true “supercar” BMW since E26 M1 went out of production in 1981 – leaving its place in history as the first fully developed M car. The E26 M1 was the product of a difficult birth which laid the ground work for a very short production run and racing history.
The M1, based on the BMW Turbo concept of the early 70’s, was penned by car design icon Giorgetto Giugiaro and powered by the “big six” M88 3.5L inline-6 churning out 273HP. Construction and some technical points for the M1 were outsourced to Lamborghini, S.p.A. which went into receivership in 1978 and caused BMW to reportedly steal back M1 blueprints to continue production on their own with Baur – the notable German coach and convertible builder.
Full article continues at BMW blog
The Mercedes Benz S-Class has been crowned Best Luxury Car at the 2010 Fleet World Honours.
The Best Luxury Car award for the Mercedes Benz S-Class was presented to Adrian Freeman, Regional Corporate Sales Manager for Mercedes Benz UK at a special ceremony at the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall on Tuesday 18th May 2010.
Steve Moody, Editor of Fleet World commented: “The luxury sector is about to become even more competitive, but all new entrants have one model to beat, a model that continues to define the very best in corporate motoring and luxury: the Mercedes Benz S-Class. New more efficient engines have made the line-up even more formidable than ever before.”
Full story continues over at Carpages
A new tuner goes full spead ahead into the BMW tuning world and the results are quite impressive. The popular BMW M3 has its engine replaced by a tuned up version of the powerplant found in the BMW X6 M. The original M3 engine is a 4.0-liter naturally aspirated V8 developing maximum output of 414 horsepower and maximum torque of 400 N·m (300 lb·ft) at 3,900 rpm.
Emotion Wheels upgraded the 4.4 liter V8 twin-scroll engine from the X6 M and it now produces 707 horsepower. The upgrade was made with a few tricks to the turbocharged V8 engine and some slight adjustments made to the chassis and suspension in order to handle the powerful upgrade. They also installed a modified sport exhaust system that also contributes to this power boost a bit.
Article continues over at BMW blog
There’s an interesting piece over at the Telegraph online from James May this week, in which he discusses the various complaints of motoring groups and individual motorists who had been of the view that the previous Labour government was somehow ‘anti-car’, as a result of the various escalations in the cost of driving during the last 13 years.
The fundamental point is that there is an inherent absurdity in this labeling - evident if we take another example, the sizable stamp duty tax on buying a house, and then decide that the previous gov’t was also ‘anti-houses’ (The whole ‘anti-car’ thing then starts to seem rather daft…).
The core issue according to James May is simply one of taxation - which any and every government will apply heavily to certain things, especially cigarettes, booze, fuel etc. None however will ban any of these things (which would be the true ‘anti-car’ position), but simply put a premium on consuming them which will go into the treasury budget.
Unfortunately the current economic reality for the incoming government would have been the same regardless of which party it was drawn from - that massive deficeit didn’t care if it was Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg or David Cameron in No.10, and hence it seems unlikely that any administration would have turned down the opportunity to generate the considerable income available from fuel and motoring taxes, just as no party would have suddenly turned around and slashed a coupe of quid off cigarette duties.
We have to recognise that fuel is more and more one of the core safe (but unpopular) sources of government income - in that as long as the rate of tax isn’t too steep, most of us will grumble slightly but continue to drive, though maybe with a smaller car, more efficient driving etc. Like beer and cigs (and unlike food for example), fuel/driving is something that will not directly be infringing anyone’s survival should they be forced to alter consumption habits significantly.
From the perspective of the motorist who thinks things are expensive now I have some bad news - in my opinion driving will never be this cheap again; in five years we’ll remember the £1.20 litre fondly while paying £2.10 or whatever. Looking at the the taxation trend on similar commodities (alcohol, cigarettes being the main ones) this conclusion is pretty obvious and the truth of the three main political parties’ stance on such is that there simply isn’t much difference - it’s not a point of party difference any more than the food they serve in the Whitehall canteens. If you like cheap driving I recommend instead a once annual holiday in Saudi Arabia where a litre of petrol will cost you around 20p right now, which is probably the amount fuel would simply increase by here while you’d be away…
Dejan Levi
Back in March, BMW’s CEO, Her Norbert Reithofer confirmed that a BMW front-wheel drive vehicle is on their roadmap and will launch in the near future. Back then, Reithofer outlined BMW’s medium term product strategy and also “touched” the latest survey on BMW 1 Series and the false assumption of a FWD vehicle: “It is true about 80 percent of the 1-series owners we surveyed either thought their car was front wheel drive or that they didn’t know the layout. But these were the drivers of the three and five-door hatchback models.” (Read our editorial on “A Brief History of Front Wheel Drive”)
Today, UK magazine Autocar reports that the first front-wheel bimmer will launch in 2013, in a hatchback form, and it will be positioned as a new entry-level model. The new car will be based on the next-generation MINI platform and surprisingly, it could carry the 1 Series badge name, giving buyers a choice between front or rear-wheel drive vehicles within that family.
Article continues over at BMW blog
After ten years away from Mercedes-Benz’s biggest right hand drive market, the Mercedes-Benz G-Class is set to return to UK roads in the Autumn, with a choice of diesel or supercharged petrol engines. This go anywhere, do anything icon celebrated its 30th birthday last year and still retains it robust classic design twinned with the very latest Mercedes-Benz technology – and peerless off-road credentials.
It is the unique timeless look and distinctive design which sets the G-Class apart from the crowd, and it has created a strong following of motorists looking for a luxury and very exclusive SUV. The virtually limitless off-road capability of the G-Class and its practicality as an everyday vehicle have also helped the vehicle to achieve sales of over 200,000 units worldwide since 1979.
Full article continues over at Carpages
A 90hp power-hike over the 911 GT2 combined with a 70kgs weight-saving makes the new 911 GT2 RS the fastest ’street-legal’ Porsche has ever built.
We showed you a sneaky preview of the car yesterday, but today Porsche has released official details and images of its new machine which will be unveiled in the metal at the Moscow motorshow on August 25th. (And not the later Paris show as all the pundits were suggesting.)
Read more at Pistonheads online
