I was initially unhappy that the US cars get hydraulic only, but when given the option to pay for the electric in the UK, does it make any financial sense to do so (even at UK petrol prices)????

Those are such ludicrous policies. How would putting standard tires on damage the car or suspension? If anything, the car should feel much better. Maybe that’s what they’re afraid of: a revolt against run-flats. Maybe they make too much money selling replacement tires. Who knows. When I probed some similiar recommendations at the dealer they only had strange anecdotal reasons that didn’t jive to me.

I wanted to put on a normal tyre instead of a runflat when I had to change my tyre after 42000km!! Yes, 42000km (and I drive normally with regular pressure checks) But BMW said that they will terminate my motorplan should they find that anything on the car is damaged due to the use of a normal tyre because their cars are designed for runflats! They also said that after putting on a normal, they will no longer cover the suspension, tyre balancing, wheel alignment, or anything to do with wheels. They are a bunch of liars and just want to make up non-sense to their customers. Even in cases like these where the only difference between a normal and run-flat is the thicker sidewall, which only comes into use when the tyre is sufficiently deflated. Also other differences like harded ride and half the life span of a normal tyre at a premium price tag of 50% more on average .

All I want BMW to do is to give me a choice when I have to change my tyres, which will allow me to either put on the run-flat or normal (give me the brand or recommended tyres), that will still allow my motorplan to be valid. (seeing that the only difference is th sidewall) This run-flat tyre non-sense is increasing the running costs of all BMWs by almost double that of an equivalent audi or lexus – check out Whatcar reports.

To make matters worse, I have just put on a new set of runflats for my car (1000km ago), which they explicitely said is designed for runflats only and shouldn;t put a normal tyre on; and they now launch a basic model with normal tyres! Has that basic model got motorplan with it??? I think it must have…. so this proves that BMW is always trying to get ways to force customers out of the motorplan, or not cover items so that they can spend less at the expense of customer satisfaction, whether it’s reasonable or not.

I remember my parents used to have E46, E36 and previous box model; they didn’t have any problems with their tyres at all, they could put on whatever brand they wanted, no worries about punctures (just fix them), and they used to last more than 80000km!!! Why must BMW bring out such rubbish to bug their owners?? You know, the worst warning light that can come on on my dash is the red Tyre Pressure Monitor light – telling me that I have a puncture and need a new tyre!!! That’s the worst feeling when you see it pop up with a gong