Joe, My wife had the exact same thing happen to her. Went to the store, came back out and it wouldn't shift out of park. Turned it off and it wouldn't start, just cranked like the starter was going out. Had it towed to BMW and after a couple days they were ready to give it back saying it was a fluke (said it threw a transmission code is all they could find). I told them BS and it wasn't coming back to me until I knew exactly what happened and that it was resolved, this issue has the potential to strand a family on a road trip where it may not be as easy to get help.

They called BMW USA and BMW told them to reprogram every system in the entire car and update all the software. They had the car for about 6 days and it was fixed but then a day after we got it back the rear lift gate quit opening on its own! That started working again and now randomly quits and resumes working. My wife drives it daily and says that every once in a while it doesn't start instantly and cranks a little, or it won't shift immediately out of park quickly or hesitates. It is an 08 with 58,000 miles but the CPO warranty is up in February 14. I think we are going to get rid of it before the warranty is up as I don't want to deal with issues like this on my own dime, we shouldn't have to. I will stay with an X5 but look for something 2010 or newer as they seem to have a lot less of these issues, BMW has solved the problems that plague the earlier models. Its a shame though, its a beautiful car with really low miles, we should be able to keep it until its over 100k! Hope this helps. -J