I?ve had my ?08 535i for a little over a month now. After some 1500 miles, I?m still struggling with its transmission. I?d like to hear the experience from other 535i owners.

At freeway speeds, the car is amazing. Very smooth. Very powerful. No complaints there. However, take off from a complete stop and the car shifts frequently and slowly. For example, starting from a stop at an intersection, it would shift 3 times before I?m through (at ~40mph). That means the car would be shifting (and not accelerating) most of that time. The shift point seems to be round 2000rpm. If I put the car into sport mode, the shift point moves to around 2500rpm and the car accelerates smoothly.

It behaves even worse when accelerating from a rolling stop, say from a yield. The car would hesitate, down shift, jerk forward, then accelerate. My wife?s Lexus does that. Not what I expect from a BMW. And my previous E39 530i did not have any of these problems.

I tried resetting its adaptive transmission by doing the hold down the gas pedal trick. It seems to help right after the reset. But it soon goes back to the above behavior. I wonder if this has anything to do with meeting gas mileage or emission requirements?

Does anyone have similar experience? Anything I can do about this?

 

maybe your not mashing down the pedal fast enough I mean an auto-I assume you have had autos before-shift into 3rd pretty quickly. COnsider D starts you out in 2nd so if you simply take off normally youll be into 3rd at 2500 RPMs easily. And starting out in DS will start you in 1st but if your barely touching the pedal will shift you into third quickly.

Obviously this is not the case on the freeway as there is no need-but try giving it a bit more gas and it should hang in gear longer, atleast in DS

 

I mean it shifts 3 times -- not just shifts into 3rd. I tried stepping on the gas harder. In that case, it down shifts (while other cars pass me), open up the throttle, and charges forward (passing everyone). Not exactly what I want either.

It's behavior in DS is fine. I just don't want to keep remembering to put the car into DS everytime.

Thanks for you suggestion though. I'll try stepping on the gas padel faster and see if it makes a differece.

I'd still like to hear others' experience with the 535i.

Thanks,

 

Unfortunately they are all like that. You'll have to use DS to make it move well.

 

Ouch. My previous E39 was not fast; but it was very smooth. Step on the gas lightly and it just keep accelerating. There was no hesitation, no erratic acceleration. After fighting this for the past month, I can?t help be wonder if I had made a mistake ? could it be the turbo, the 6 speed transmission? Maybe I should have waited for the sport transmission?

I can put it in DS. I?m resisting that perhaps because I?ve been spoiled by how well the E39 drives.

I?m still hoping that there is a better solution. Help!

 

I have an 07 530 and I feel exactly what you're experiencing. I am also driving an 08 328 demo now and it's the same. My old 2001 740 sport did not feel like that. It must be something about their new configuration. Your car is fine just use DS all the time like I do.

 

When I am driving in an unaggressive manner, I experience fast, smooth, and crisp shifts at low rpm's, whether I am in D or DS. When I am driving more aggressively, I still experience fast, smooth, and crisp shifts, but at higher rpm shift points. This contrast seems intuitive to me, and I speculate that the transmission is responding flawlessly, and as it is designed.

I have been impressed with the smoothness and quickness of the gear changes.

I am not experiencing any hesitation or jerking.

I also recall my e39 smoothing out a bit as it continued to break in. The shift points increased during break in. If memory serves me, the shift points increased by 1000 rpms over the first 10,000 miles.

 

Something does not sound right with that. I have the 2008 535xi with 2015 miles and it does not do what your describing. As a mater of fact it actually has a lot of power from a rolling position.

 

There are 4 pre-programmed shift patterns with the Steptronic transmission:

In D mode there is Economy and Extreme Economy. In DS mode there is Sport and Extreme Sport.

Adaptation to the driving type is reset each time the car is at a standstill ... there is no need to reset the 'training' of your transmission by disconnecting the battery or holding down the gas pedal.

Kicking the accelerator pedal down faster jumps you into the more aggressive shifting maps (Economy for D or Extreme Sport in DS). If you are gentle with the pedal, you will shift in the most economical mode ... which is why you get 3 quick shifts before hitting 40 MPH.

The attached explains all ...

 

Okay, accelerating from 0 to 40MPH across an 8 lane intersection is considered "gentle" driving! I guess I'll have to kick it up a couple of notches.

Thank you so much!! I feel much better!