Centurion

I'm with others who say sell it, but get a manual shift. BMW builds one of the best.

Just be glad you don't have this kind of tranny problem:

drjochen

Update: I will meet with the BMW field service engineer next week.
Keep your fingers crossed.

I drobe 300 miles of Interstate yesterday and I am back in love with my car. I can't feel any of the SMG issues there, since I don't need 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. Standing in line for one of the toll booths was VERY jerky, though.

BUT - the navi system dropped the ball 3 times on the NJ turnpuke.
It just gave me a message: "No guidance possible", but the map showed me right on the turnpike...... I cancelled guidance, started it again, and it worked for ~ 10 minutes, then the same thing...strange.

pedrollo

I am sorry that you are having problems, tough call.

Unfortunately it is inevitable that the guys leading the way in car software, like BMW, are going to be the first to hit the problems. In 10 years even ecomony cars will have software control and reliability will be sorted. Doesn't help you now, I know.

I have had nightmare cars in the past, my first brand new car was when they had just changed to water based paint and it had to be completely resprayed at 3 months old. Paint job by the dealer was fantastic, but still ended up trading at 11 months old as I had had enough of all the other niggly faults.

Think I agree with the others, cut the best deal you can on a replacement E60, lightning doesn't strike twice...and all that. Good luck.

gwf545

drjochen,

Although I am not happy about the Steptronic slam problem, I don't think you should necessarily write it off if you really prefer auto. In all other aspects, the Step is really quite good. I have nearly 20k miles on my car and have experienced the slam 5 times. Since it can be avoided by popping into manual mode, I just do that whenever I feel I am at risk for the slam. I still think ZF and BMW need to come up with a solution for it, but if I were in the market for a new car I would not avoid the Step even knowing that the problem apparently still exists.

cocogigio

I risk being flamed here but I experienced many similar problems with my car and ended up selling it in October. I am now driving an Infiniti M35x that has been flawless. I still miss the 545i when I am doing some hard driving but that is less frequent and I needed something that worked every day.

I still pop in to view the best forum on the net from time to time. Hello to all. Maybe I'll buy another 5 series the year before they change to the next body style instead of being an early adopter!

drjochen

So, I just got back from driving a Lexus GS 300. Not bad, I must admit. Definitely better than the M35 I drove before. It much quieter inside over the bumpy DE roads. The automatic is a dream, you cannot feel the shifts. The steering/brakes/controls are not as mushy as I expected.

Here comes the bomb: they offered me $37,000 for my 2004 545i!!!!!!!!!!! Thats a $29,000 loss in value in 20 months!

The Lexus was offered at $4,000 off MSRP.

They say they would prefer to not take the BMW at all, since the 545i is not desirable and so full of problems!
He basically implied that I am yet another E60 owner that wants to get rid of his car..................

The salesguy logged into some computer system (scam or not, who knowes...) showing me all 2004 545i that were sold at auctions in the past 8 weeks in the East and there were 6, all for well below $40,000.

On the way back from the Lexus dealer, my car drove awfully. The click-clack sound from the tranny/drveshaft is not louder than the radio and the shaking was unbearable. The car "forgot" the cell phone yet again and the sound dropouts were back. I just hope the BMW engineer next week will agree that my car has problems....

EBMCS03

What! $37K! goto another Lexus dealer. Tell them you've have had nothing but trouble free from your 545 and that they're smoking! You're a person that dont keep cars for very long havent they thought about that?

Let the BMW engineer take your car for a drive for a few days... let them keep it. Insist on it so they can experience first hand the problems...

ImolaRedM

"Hmm... yeah... uh... your old car sux... no one wants it but I'll tell you what... if you buy my new car off the lot I'll do you a favor and take your old one off your hands for a price. I'll take a big hit on it since no one really wants them but you seem like a nice guy and I need the sale. "



I hate it when they play that game. Find another dealer.

Centurion

Agreed.
Dealer's want to make a sale no matter what. You're more than likely going to hear yet another BS story at another dealership.

Best thing to do is find out the Kelley Blue Book value of your car so you know what you're bringing to the table without getting ripped off. If you have enough patience, you may be able to make more money selling it yourself.

drjochen

I did all my research before and KBB is ~ $41,000, which is still 25,000 less that the MSRP after less than 2 years!

What got me was that the dealer specifically mentioned E60s as being unreliable and that several people had traded in one in that were fed up with their car after less that one year! And I had heard a similar rundown from the Infiniti dealer 2 weeks ago.

This has never happened to me in this form. Its not the general BS you get when you try to trade in, buts its very E60 specific.