nisonger212

Hello everyone i used to be on this site back in 04/05 sharing my common complaints on my early 545i Sport.

I have to admit the car still to this day has been the best driving one i ever owned hands down it blew away cars at double the price in its driving dynamics.

However i did not have it very long 7 months and 72 days of that it was in service for a number of repairs.
Active steering
seat heaters
rattles
push button start would not work
gearbox leaks
steering leaks
I drive blackouts
SRS malfuncton
Engine malfunction
Navigation freezing up
No throttle rsponse

So you can understand what i went through BMW service at the dealer and corporate was just awesome and no questions asked they took the car back and we made a cash settlement.


I have then owned a Mercedes E500 Sport, decent car but very boring, I currently have a 2005 Jaguar S Type R and the lease has expired. The Benz had some silly issues but nothing like the BMW. The Jaguar has been trouble free from day 1 and i had upgraded the cars suspension, power and wheels its a pretty sslick car and give a great bang for the buck.

Im back to car shoping, I love the BMW M5, CLS 63 but they are too $$$ on a lease I recently saw the updated 550 Sport and its HOT.

I really would like to get one but am quite fearfull after my past experiences and similar issues a few friends have on their new 335 and X5 4.8


I clearly just want to hear some feedback and i wonder if all of us back in 04/05 ever went back to BMW after all our horror stories.


Thanks

drjochen

I got rid of my 545i too since I spent a lot of time at the dealer with a variety of issues.
My 2007 530i, however, has been (almost) perfect so far. No tow trucks, freezing IDrive, etc.

gwf545

My 2005 545 has been great. No complaints other than a few minor software issues and the very infrequent Steptronic slam that all seem to have been fixed with V25 under warranty. If I were in the market for a replacement I would not hesitate to go for a 550.

Hormazd

Many issues resolved MY05, more issues resolved MY06. Close to perfect MY07.

MY08 ??? Who knows but my guess based on the improvements with CIP25 are that they nailed it. Go for it.

nisonger212

Hi what is CIP25? Were most of these problems software related? All I know is that these cars are difficult to fix and whenever it went into service something else went wrong. 5 times they did a software update and 5 times they crashed hardware via the download it was just silly to deal with.


I am fortunate to have a factory store and their service is awesome i am mostly concered with the the cars ignition not starting etc, i do frequent long trips and if i get stuck and stranded like i did in my 545 it will just be torture. A friend has had this push button start issue happen 4 times on his 335 so far he is a bit alarmed as well.


I suspect the 2008 will be a better car it just has to be after 4 years out and BMW working hard to get things right. It all comes down to an over engineered vehicle with not enough testing before offering it to the end user. I guess this is why the Jaguar i have now was so problem free, there is nothing in that car that is a technological advanced gimic, you turn the key and go.



What other cars did yo guys look at when you got yout 550? I wont ever consider an AUDI or LEXUS

LowOrbit

Always keep an open mind - the S6 is a great car and the LS460 is nice but bland.

I have a 2005 545i and have had zero problems except the infrequent transmission slam which is now fixed.

hinckley

The very-early build 04s were especially problematic. I had a later build 04 and really had no problems at all, but I may have been lucky compared to others. If you had push button start, you must have had an 06 or later, though. Is that right?

In any event, I drove my new 08 550 Sport in Europe for about a week and a half (now waiting for redelivery) and I can tell you that dynamically, it's far superior to the 04 model.

With that said, I understand your trepedation and if "once burned" is enough for you (perfectly understandable), I too would consider the S6. If I didn't want a manual transmission, I would have been sorely tempted to go in that directlon.

geobmw

25 months of ownership with 0 problems. She was only 1 full day in dealership for software upgrade.
I have 2005 545i.

KCooke82

I have had no real problems with my March 2004 build after putting 24,000 miles on it. Note, my car is a manual, which I think helps a good deal. But it seems most problems among pre LCI models are fixed with a PROGMAN update.

narvselius

As I understand it, the early problems where partly due to electronic failures, and partly due to BMW stressing the launch date for the E60 as the E39 sales plummeted "too soon". So suppliers didn't have enough time to react and quality went down. This was fixed "ongoingly" late 2003 and early 2004.