Gearbox is much better so far, nice and smooth. Fuel consumption, need to run it a bit longer but seems to be coming better. Miss the TV and voice control which were standard on other X5.

So far so good.

David

nice one mate...probably faster as well given it has more power together with the new 8 speed gearbox.

i thought TV is standard in the innovation pack.

Now a $2800 extra on all models

the dealer service manager call me on Saturday morning that they will change the 2 defective panels for me swap from a brand new car. and told me i will be able to get my car on Monday afternoon. On Monday 4pm, he call me again said that my car wasn't ready yet, they need to send to body shop to realign the gap after panels installed, the car will be ready by today. I have call him 2pm today, and now he told me that they need to polish the car because it is new panels, and the car wouldn't be ready until Thursday evening.
That is crap, i have a bad feeling that they are not honest to me, do you think need to take 4 days to change 2 panels with few bolts ? they might sent my car to repaint for the 2nd time. i can't imagine what they have done to my brand new car, how many more damages they have created to the car. This is the way that Auto Classic treat their customer, i'm hopeless now without any help.
I have sent the complaint to BMW Australia on 1st September, they reply that the consultant will call me back soon, no phone call receive, re-sent the complaint again on 17th September, they reply that action will be taken within 24 working hours, no email nor phone call receive as well. I call them 2:30pm today, they said sorry, we will arrange some one to call you immediately, 4pm now, no one return call. hopeless & painfull. very bad experience of a car purchase, the worst i ever have.
they have give me a 323i as loader for a week, change to X5 48i last friday, i will suggest they keep the car and pay me full refund if it is not done properly within reasonable time this round, i will try Audi or Merc, i can imagine, nothing will be worst than all these crap that BMW given to a faithful fan & customer.

Does any one know the name and contact number of the Manager of BMW Australia ? I have called BMW Australia again this morning (since they didn't return call as promise after 22 days of complaint and call), but the customer support who handle my case was not friendy nor helpful. I was try to ask to talk to her manager but she refuse to transfer me to the manager nor provide me his name, she told me that I don't need to talk to other person.
i was almost give up now, no luck, but learn a good lesson this time. I suppose to buy another 5 to 6 new BMW for the rest of my life but i have just learn what i should not buy now. Hope my experience and story will help other forum member and friend, who plan to buy a new BMW.

I am so sorry to hear about this. Some people really just have bad luck.

Try contacting Stavros Yallouridis, who is the Managing Director of BMW Australia.

You could also try Piers Scott who is BMW Australia’s PR & Corporate Communications Manager.

Maybe the PR guy will say it's got nothing to do with me, but you can tell him it will have when you go to Today Tonight or A Current Affair and explain the shoddy service you have been receiving from their premium brand.

It sounds like your dealer is really poor and I'd take it up with BMW Australia via the contacts mentioned by Terry.S.

BTW: I've had four BMWs over a period of 15 years or so without any notable problems at all, with either the vehicles or the dealers.

BMW Australia doen't help at all in the whole process. their customer care ppl were very unfriendly, they never call me or drop me an email respond to my queries. When i call them, they even don't want to talk properly to me, don't want to tranfer the call to their manager, they keep on telling me that they will work out with the dealer, but no progress seen from that. they were just hopeless to me.
luckily i manage to force the dealer to swap the 2 panels from other new car for me finally. after a big fight with the dealer, after 2 weeks my car in the dealer workshop.
my car going for warranty repair again yesterday, door rattle came back again, driver side door trim come out every time i close the door, the steering wheel lether trim peel off (since delivery, they only agree to change for me now). hopefully can get it back today.

I wouldn't bother with BMW Australia's customer care people. If the problems persist you should go straight to the people mentioned by Terry.S and with the threat of going to a TV current affairs programme. I'm sure Western Australia should also have some sort of government body that deals with consumer complaints. In NSW it's called FairTrading. If your X5 is a lemon you need to complain long and loud to everyone you can while the warranty is still in place.