After waiting a week for a service appointment, I took my car in to Stevens Creek BMW for regular maintenance about 1,000 miles after the little warning notice appeared.

NOTE:
Peter Pan BMW wanted me to wait a day more, so I went with Stevens Creek even though they're still in the middle of constructing their new facility so that I could use my extended warranty at least once. Expect long delays at Stevens Creek for the next several months.

Oil, oil filter, microfilter, window washing fluid...the usual. I also told them that my interior fan was behaving erratically. Unfortunately, my service advisor didn't understand what I was saying and instead fixed the final stage resistor (or something like that) which he said would improve fan performance. This didn't fix the real problem, which is when my automatic climate control unexpectedly decides that it's really a convection oven.

Stevens Creek provided a rental car. I don't know what it is about my luck, but after a 45 minute wait I was given another minivan (see sidebar). When the rental lady handed me the keys, she quipped, "Well, you'll certainly appreciate your BMW after this." Indeed. Stevens Creek did a fine job on the maintenance check as usual.

Pontiac Montana Minivan Rental I respect people who own these only because I now know that they can't drive up the slightest incline without downshifting. Great radio, cool automatic rear windows, crappy ergonomics, and an unhappy feeling going up inclines. It does seat 10 people and I felt the incredible urge to haul something...like a load of brats to soccer practice. It's less lumbering than the first minivan I was given, but still drives more like a truck.

Hit 50,000 miles, which ends my extended warranty.

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