Good to see you've got a response!

 

Hello folks,

First, a huge thanks to Pharding, Iceman (et al) for your efforts around the Bluetooth issue. As a newbie it's certainly helpful to have all this info in one place (more or less).

I am disappointed, however, that it sounds like the first e60's may find the BT upgrade impossible. As a September 2003 build (I think I got the first non-inventory one in the state of Iowa) I was very excited about the BT option; it was even touted to me by my salesman in March 2003 when I put my deposit down. I have patiently waited (well, not so patiently) for 13 months for a BT solution that appears may never materialize.

My question is this: does anyone have a sense of the total number of e60's built for the US from the release date to March 2004 such that when I log my official complaint to BMWNA I can include some statistics that might make my case more convincing? Is there a known VIN sequence that might help track that data down? I understand this may all be moot, particularly if a fix would require a wiring harness change (or worse a TCU replacement) that the customer is on the hook for. I'm not willing to pay a grand+ for a phone solution (I think?).

Thanks in advance.

PS. Not that you need reassurance, but I can say with no equivocation that over a year later this car continues to rock....sometimes I lay awake at night wondering if I should have exercised more patience and waited for the 545 to become available. Instead I tell myself to start saving for the M.....

 

Welcome aboard!

Please list your location on your signature.

Writing BMW is a fine idea. However the fix will be expensive if offered by BMW. I would suggest getting a Bluetooth phone that has voice dialing and a Bluetooth headset.

Good luck.

 

My car is a March 2003 build and it has Bluetooth.

The previous owner was the factory itself in Dingolfing so maybe it was used as a test car or something

 

Welcome aboard, Sans !

 

Hi,

I guess that everyone already knows, that a retrofit option IS available for the European market. Mine has worked without any problem at all since I got it.

One of the best options in the e60, to my opinion.

Greetings from Sweden

Peter

 

Welcome Sans

 

Is it a software retrofit or a hardware retrofit involving a new wiring harness and TCU? Thanks.

 

Software, as I ordered the #640 Preparation Kit uppfront.

Rrds

Peter

 

Thanks to all for the warm welcome - this board is cool. Now I can be a geek about my car to someone more appreciative than my wife.

So, this is what I've gathered so far:
Production for the e60 began in the second quarter of 2003. Ignoring that quarter altogether there were 163,334 5-series sold world wide from July 2003 through March 2004 (Q3 03: 50,173; Q4 03: 59,683; Q1 04: 53,478). Conservatively assuming that 50% of Q3's 5-series and 20% of Q4's 5's were e39 inventory that would leave 126,311 e60's produced in the first three full quarters of the cars life. In other words 126k+ cars without the ability to upgrade to Bluetooth without a hardware fix. This is approximately 65%+ of any given year of 5 series sales - a pretty big number in my opinion.

I had hoped I could make a better economic argument on why BMW should address the problem but I can't. Margins on service are very low (3-5%) and corporate gets none of that unless they own the dealership (and I know for fact they don't own my dealer here). Replacement parts are better (10%?) so with a guestimate of $500 in hardware per car they could clear $50/unit? Assume a 15% take rate (ie 85% of people don't bother with the upgrade) and you're at ~$1m to BMW. Tack on 4 hours of service at $125 and you've got $1000 per car gamble to maybe make $1m. If the techs don't do it right, the cost goes up in leaps and bounds - and the dealer is on the hook for that.

So now that I've thoroughly depressed myself, I still plan to pass this on to BMWNA and see if I can get them to make BT available. If anyone is interested in tagging along, let me know.