[LuvMyE92]

Two weeks ago the car - which has been suffering from a horrible idle, occasional stalling and surging under acceleration - started up with multiple warnings about "dynamic chassis" and "drivetrain - reduced power" so it went in for service last week. Also noted was the service indicator, which dropped from 14,000 to 2200 miles in one day. When I mentioned the latter, the SA said "it's all screwed-up".

Problems found? None. They reloaded the software (existing recall which was not explained to me) and could not find any problems afterwards. Service indicator now reads "16,000" which added to my 4800 miles means that the car probably won't ever get a proper oil change unless I do it myself. Which I'm not going to do because the idle STILL SUCKS and the car comes close to stalling sometimes and so I'm too pissed off to bother spending any more money on the car.

And when I say the idle sucks, I mean that the car shakes and shudders in neutral. Unacceptable for a $60K car. Hell, it's unacceptable in a $20K car.

I am not a happy camper.

[ghueser]

Originally Posted by LuvMyE92

Two weeks ago the car - which has been suffering from a horrible idle, occasional stalling and surging under acceleration - started up with multiple warnings about "dynamic chassis" and "drivetrain - reduced power" so it went in for service last week. Also noted was the service indicator, which dropped from 14,000 to 2200 miles in one day. When I mentioned the latter, the SA said "it's all screwed-up".

Problems found? None. They reloaded the software (existing recall which was not explained to me) and could not find any problems afterwards. Service indicator now reads "16,000" which added to my 4800 miles means that the car probably won't ever get a proper oil change unless I do it myself. Which I'm not going to do because the idle STILL SUCKS and the car comes close to stalling sometimes and so I'm too pissed off to bother spending any more money on the car.

And when I say the idle sucks, I mean that the car shakes and shudders in neutral. Unacceptable for a $60K car. Hell, it's unacceptable in a $20K car.

I am not a happy camper.

You should not be having those issues, especially the surging since you have a manual. I know it's a pain but would suggest you take back the car and let the shop foreman or lead tech go for a drive with you. Possibly let them keep it for a few days and get to the bottom of this. Also that you need to get an oil change, especially since they reloaded the software, thus screwing up the timing of when your car should get one. Write an e-mail to BMW as well, they will give it an incident number and most likely give you a call on this.

Good luck.

[JSH3]

Originally Posted by ghueser

You should not be having those issues..

Brilliant!

[ghueser]

Originally Posted by JSH3

Brilliant!

Yeah...............they call me Mr. Obvious.

[JSH3]

Originally Posted by ghueser

Yeah...............they call me Mr. Obvious.

Sorry... I couldn't resist. All in fun...

[540.M5.550]

More reason to lease a first year luxury car......my car has been in the shop for the last week and they are having challenges with a recall download and a "pulling to the right" download. They are bringing in an expert as the foreman can not figure out why the downloads do not work.

I am trying to stay positive as there is not anything else that can be done, but wait patiently to drive my car. Fortunately I have a 328 loaner.

[77562887]

How about taking your car to another dealership? I know it's painful to not have a loaner provided only by the dealership you bought the car, but I suppose that this wouldn't be too much of a pain to suffer for a possibility to fix the car?
I live in an area which the dealership is small and I would say that best technicians won't be staying around. Whenever I got a major problem I would go to the capital and have it looked by someone more professional.
Don't know if this case apply to you but it can be one of the last resorts.

[EV0LVE]

540,

the loaner policy varies from dealer to dealer. I bought my car from a dealer that I now know is incompetent so I now take my car to Center BMW in Van Nuys and they appreciate that they've earned my business so they have provided me with loaner(s) when I go there, you do have to make an appointment to reserve a loaner though.

I also have a friend that bought a car from another dealership in OC and they were not very service oriented, so he took it to Newport Beach and they treated him very well, complete with loaner and proper work on his car.

Being in OC, you have plenty of choices.

to the OP, sorry for thread jacking, are there no other dealership in the area?

[LuvMyE92]

Yes, there are other dealerships around, one is 45 minutes away, another about 90 minutes and yet another 2 hours. So I have options.

I'm just pissed because I'm having problems so early in the ownership experience, which has not been the best. I don't fault the technicians too much, since it is a very complex car, but I am a little discouraged that they didn't appear to give it much of a test drive, although I have not yet remembered to check the paperwork to compare "mileage in" with "mileage out". Otherwise the dealership meets my expectations for service.

I'll give them another chance, it's only fair. Problem is - since it is most likely a software issue, I have little confidence that they can fix it.

And yes, I leased this car. I agree with 540 on that - plus I got so hammered on resale on my 335 (E92) due to all of the HPFP issues that I had to protect myself this time.