Took my car in again yesterday as the car is still not shifting into 1st when I pull up every time.
The guy from the BMW dealers took it out and drove it, then said "that's what they all do, nothing we can do about it"
I feel a bit cheated, just because they all do it doesn't make it right, anyone else come up against this?

 

afaik they all start in 2nd gear unless your in DS ?

Only from what I read on these forums, so I may be mistaken.

 

Correct!

 

Not just BMW, all automatic vehicle start with the 2nd gear. Put it in DS or Steptronic.

 

That's not exactly true, sometimes my car starts in 1 sometimes in 2 and I always drive in D.
When its starts off in 2 and the car realises that its not pulling away quick enough, it drops into 1st violently. And you guys think that's acceptable?

 

Hmmm.

mine appears to do a slam ONLY when the car is pointing down hill and stationary in D. If I release the footbrake brake and hit the accelerator, I get an almighty slam - like you see in F1 sometimes where the car starts is on the jacks and the driver engages 1st...you see the rear wheels jolt 1/20th of a turn and a jolt thro' the body of the drivr/neck...is that what you guys are talking about? It happens every so often...and something I will mention when my first service comes up.

Is it the hill brake causing this, or am I talking about something totally different?

 

How can you tell if you dropped to 1 or 2 btw ??

No indication on my dash when only D or DS, display only shows when in manual override ?

I get none of this "slam" effect on mine, I dont think at least.....I get a little movement in the car but nothing which feels "wrong" ?

 

When it does this are you flooring it or just pulling away normally?

 

Chris,
I have exactly the same issue as you. I've been into BMW a few times now, and even went out with a technician who drove the car and was able to replicate the fault. He said it shouldn't be doing it and it's probably a software problem. Anyway, they checked the tranmission fluid and it was a little high so they removed some, and they reset the adaptation values. That worked for about 100 miles maybe, and the slam returned.
Car was then due in to have the HUD replaced, during which time they did a software update (which should have cured the gearbox fault according the technician). It seemed ok for about 50 miles, then the slam returned and it's been the same ever since. I am convinced it should not be doing this and there is a genuine fault somewhere - I was reading on another thread of people having the same problem and having gearbox module, and even the actual gearbox replaced!
I'm due a service in a couple of thousand miles, when it goes in for that i'll get onto them again about the gearbox as a car of this calibre shouldn't be having these kind of problems...

 

Try the 25 sec trick. I was having a very similar problem in that it was slamming as I pulled off after coming up to a roundabout but not stopping fully. This trick seemed to sort it out.

Give it a go.

Marc