Picked up my 550 Thursday morning and yesterday as I was approaching 220 miles, my "Service Engine Soon" idiot light came on. Needless to say, I was less then thrilled especially since the service folder on my M3 was over 60 pages. Took it to the dealer who was kind enough to have a tech working on it within 2 minutes. Seems a filter was bad that, unfortunately, had to be ordered. Should be in on Wednesday. Guess I will have them install my wood shift knob and e-brake while it's there, too.

That aside, I absolutely LOVE the car. Do not miss my convertible one bit....yet. The car has incredible power and control. The premium sound is incredible. I find that with I-drive it is almost necessary to use voice commands to simplify navigation of the various menus. The voice recognition is decent, not great, when the cabin is quiet. Since I am pretty much of a fresh air fiend and always drive with the windows and sunroof open, using voice is often futile. A few things onthe I-drive disappoint me. I wish that I could split the screen having the navigation window on the left and the entertainment controls (radio, CD, etc) on the right but it is either impossible or I simply haven't figured out how to do it yet. In my M3 I kept the map up all the time (looked cool) but as soon as I used a radio control, the map went away and was replaced by audio display for a few seconds. In threee days I have gotten used to saying "perspective" right after I start the car so the nav map pops right up. Being an extremely computer saavy person, I have to figure that there is a large population of BMW owners, especially those who are older, who must use only the most basic of I-Drive controls. It's not overly complicated but it does take a little while to master. After seeing my father fumble with the buttons on his Cadillac, I think that I-Drive would be like programming the VCR revisited.

All in all I do love the car and am almost regretting not taking a longer lease. Oh well, in 24 months either I'll still be here or maybe back to www.e90fanatics.com or somewhere else Love this site.

 

Welcome, and glad you were reassured by their ability to find and order/cure with a proper part. Mine has been in for a week now, trying to track down an "Electronic Failure" warning that I get just about every morning, about 10-12 mins into my commute. BMWNA has given them a string of tests to perform, but nothing yet. In the meantime, I have a Hemi Charger (yee haw) rental as a loaner. Lots of straight line balls, but you want to be REAL careful pouring that thing into a curve....lol

Good luck, have fun,
Ray Hull

 

I'm glad that you're satisfied with your car. It was good that it was nothing more then the bad filter. Enjoy your car!