Folks,

Thanks for sharing your experience on that re: my earlier post. Indeed, the whole unit needs to be replaced. Part $90, labor about 1.5 hrs. Access is really tricky, not much room to manuever but definitely a DIY job. A comment on parts. The original part was made in Germany in 1997, the replacement unit made in the Czech Republic. I am curious to see which one will last longer. It's as if these parts are deliberately design to have a short MTTF (mean time to failure). It be quite simple to have metal sliders and parts not the flimsy plastics that break. The whole mechanism went due to a tiny plastic fragment breaking off.

For years not, I have been struggling with the low quality of these cars - just as the I am with 2 BMWs that have many small problems as well. Frankly, if you look at the resale value, it's simply abyssmal. After 5 years my meticulously maintaned S70 T5 is worth no more than $12-$14K depending on the market. Of course I am keeping it for I cannot simply get a comparable car for $14 :-).

Sorry about venting but not 3 months go by with out some minor subcomponent breaking.

-JR