All the BMW documents I have seen (whether "technician" materials or "consumer" brochures) state that D/S = ES, and all 4 modes are available in D. However, it is not the first time I read this alternative (D/S = S+ES; D = E+EE) - do you have a source to verify it?

 

My 07 550i seems to be doing the same thing, but it's only slightly jerky on cold mornings. The car is garaged and temperature inside the garage is around 60ish degrees while the outside is more near 40ish degrees. When I pull out I just feather the throttle out my neighborhood and by the time I get onto the highway (2-3mins max) it shifts just fine.

One thing you guys can try is let your car warm up for a min or two, that's all it should take, unless you're parked outside in the freezing cold then you can bump it up to 5 mins or so, but either way I think it's almost normal for cold trannys to "jerk", even all my past manual cars shift hard on cold mornings, the oil isn't just slick enough.

Dan

 

I wonder if this is becoming less of a factor given the way oil technology has improved over recent years.

ABC

 

Could it be that it is holding longer (reving higher) in each gear and therefore shifting harder? If so, this would be normal behavior when the engine is cold. The reason for it is that the ECU is programmed to heat up the catalytic convertor as quickly as possible to the point where it can perform its job. The colder it is, the longer it stays in this mode. This is due to the emissions requirements that the car must meet.

 

No, you don't know that cold is!

Cold is below -25 C and then the transmission is a bit stiff after starting...
As the suspension etc...

 

It's all relative. I had lived in Canada for 6+ years. I know what -25 C is.