Servicing recommendations

[Montegojones41]

It’s come to the time of year where I’ll need service done was looking for recommendations,I live in Hampshire , any decent garages that all of you use that have been decent prices and use quality oil?
My car is sitting on roughly 103000 miles so not sure on the type of service needed.
Thanks in advance

 

[Mr Tidy]

Hi there, sorry we lost track at the Black Swan the other weekend!

Anyway, I and at least 2 other forum members I know use TWG Automotive in Camberley. Will, the principal, and at least one of his techs are ex-Sytner so they are familiar with BMW4s of our era - they just charge about half the labour rate! He also used to race in the E36 Compact Cup series, so can help with set-up and do Hunter alignment if you want it.

The only down-side is they are usually pretty busy - when I called last week to book mine in the earliest date I could get was 17 June! I guess that's another recommendation though. If you need his courtesy car (Mini Clubman last time I was there) you'll probably get a later date.

Phone number is 01276 22733.

If your service book has been stamped up he'll be able to tell you what it needs based on what boxes were ticked the last few times.

 

[Capa]

So, you have a few options local to you:

* Iridium Engineering down in Allington Lane in Southampton. I've used these before for some fault finding and was pretty unimpressed if I'm honest. I'm in the minority there though and I'm sure they could manage a service. In my experience the mechanic seemed pretty convinced my e86 had an e46 motor in it, and so far as I'm aware that's patently false.
* Bartley BMW - the de-facto specialist in the area. I've no experience of them personally but I haven't heard anything negative. I seem to remember them being far from cheap, mind.
* Brystone BMW - I believe this was formed by some of the guys from Bartley who wanted to branch out. I've had a few mates who have said good things about this place, so it's where I will be going with anything I need to do in the future. That said, the Iridium experience has kinda put me off using garages in the short term...

... Alternatively, you can DIY. I've just done a service on mine at ~110k and it wasn't a problem. I think the most challenging element was getting the car on axle stands!

If I were you I'd have a look at your history. At 100k you might need to think about spark plugs/oil filter/gearbox & diff oil unless these have been done already.

 

[Scooba_Steve]

When you look at the schedule there is very little above a standard MOT. Oil change is easy enough if you can get under the car