Something that I do when in bumper to bumper crawling traffic is that I put the transmission into steptronic, select 2nd gear, and then leave it there until the traffic opens up. I can get stuck in long queues that can take 10 - 20 minutes to clear, so I feel that sitting in 2nd is better than having the tranny shifting into 1st every time I stop, going into 2nd if I move a few feet, and then shifting back to 1st when I stop again. I have the 3.0D, and it has so much torque that idling forward in 2nd gear from a standstill in no effort at all.

Putting the tranny in N at the lights is not good practice with a BMW as it will not go into drive again without your foot being on the brake. So if you forget, and try to accelerate away when the light changes, you then have to put your foot back on the brake again to get it to go into D, whilst you are messing around doing this the guy behind you just rammed into your tail!

This also applies when free wheeling to the lights, if you are still in motion it will go back into D without you having to brake, but as soon as you almost stop, the safety feature kicks in and now you have to touch the brake pedal to get it back into D. The guy crawling along on your rear fender see the light change and expects you to take off like a normal BMW driver... but you are suddenly grabbing the brake!

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X5 2006 3.0d M57N
GA6HP26Z Tranny
180,000km