speedracerF4i

Hey Guys,

This is a continuation of an earlier thread what transmission do you have

My feeling towards my 545i and SMG now at 1,500 miles is a mixed one. I love the dynamics of the car, the fit and finish, the style and the technology in general. However, I am having second thoughts on the reliability of owning an SMG car.

My car has been great until one day at 1,200 miles, I woke up excited, ready to take a long drive to a golf tournament (2 things I love to do). I woke up early and got ready to start the car, but no cranking was heard upon turning the key, and no I-drive nor lights came up neither. Well, I said to myself, perhaps the I-drive had turn on my ventilation and radio on all night like it has done a few time before. I'll just jump start the car and take the car in for check up later after the game. So, I connected my jumper cable to my CRV's battery and gave The 545i another start. Every electrical component came on , but no crank. I thought that perhaps CRV's battery did not have enought cranking power for the V8, so I proceeded in starting the CRV and then turn the 545's key again. Suddenly, everything shut off as if their plug were pulled from the wall. Not a wise move, I can now kiss my serene morning drive and golf game good bye. I then called BMW roadside for help and when they asked me whether or not I was in a safe place, I mistakenly said yes. Well, I called at 7:15 AM and the flatbed came around 11:30 AM, only a little over 4 hours waiting.

7 days have passed and the dealer couldn't fix the problem. They said that BMWAG (Germany) is involved in determining the problem via e-mail. As it turned out, they traced the problem to be hardware related. Namely, the SMG transmission. So another 3 day's passed and now I have a brand new transmission to play with. They are shipping the entire transmission in a wooden crate that the new one come with back to see what went wrong.

The dealer was kind enough to loan me an X3 3.0 to drive and a small compensation for my lost driving time that I can't disclose. Now the car drives like new again.
The service advisor said that most of the cars that come back due to transmission faults are mainly SMGs. I love the way SMG drives, but now, I have to reconsider buying that extended warranty or selling the car before the warranty expires within 4 years.

Conclusion: Not all SMG's will have problems. But statistically speaking (NOTE: speculation with educated extrapolation from past occurances), Steptronic and the manual trannies may prove to be less problematic in the long run.

Note: The dealer did not update my software just to see if the problem I mentioned above will return or not.

Rudy

Since the SMG is relatively new, it certainly is going to have more issues than the old standards (meaning automatics and manuals).

That said, I've put almost 10 times the miles on my car and have had nothing but joy driving the SMG. No issues, no failures, etc.

I am curious about one thing -- they're sending an entirely new transmission. Isn't the SMG transmission and the 6-speed manual transmission one and the same? I thought that the clutch and some hydraulic actuators, etc. were the only difference between the two...

GER_545SMG

Some, I think Beewang, had some good perspective on this trans in that BMW is subsidizing whatshould be a $2K or so option. Expensive, next-gen technology that you get to enjoy for no additional cost...the downside is that this newer technology can be buggy. Let's ust hope they work these bugs out during the warranty period Good luck with the new unit!

beewang

Dude.... unload that old POS :winkcool:

beewang

speedracerF4i

I was as puzzled as you were Rudy. I got to see the transmission cone with what I think was the SMG actuators still attached to it in the wooden crate. The thing look spank new. They don't know why BMW asked them to replace my transmission either. I guess BMW wants my old transmission to find out what went wrong in the first place.

That being said. I love the way SMG drives. I just took off for 30 minutes from my work just to go to the post office 7 miles away. I could of just dropped my mails at the outgoing box, but well, any excuse to drive my car.

I hope after this repair, I can start having durable experiences with my SMG like you Rudy.

Now, if they can only fix the valve tapping noise I complained but not fixed... it would be heaven.

drjochen

I have the same feelings. I love the SMG, but my car had to get towed once because of it and now it is starting to act up again. It seems they were 80% done with the development and use us as "test engineers".

530iii

See if BMW can help you on a trade assist for a 550i!

andy545

Unlucky...still, I think it's just a one off.

Keep the faith.

Rudy

Don't forget that the same (or very similar) SMG system was used in the Z4 before the E60 came out. I don't feel like a "beta tester" with SMG (but I do feel like one with the software on the car!)

Good luck speedracer...I hope you get everything sorted out so you can go back to grinning from ear-to-ear!

speedracerF4i

I actually do enjoy SMG a lot!!!! But I still want to know what happened to my old trans. part. I don't think I abused it or did anything wrong, but I still like to know. So does BMW appearently.

One thing I did get out of this service is a scratched car with a lot of fine scratches, as they washed it without a lot of water. Next time, I will demand that they don't wash my car.