Hi Boatdryver,
I think contacting BMW directly is a good idea...sometimes I wonder how much the dealer tells you about their communications. I was contacted by Bmw Aus as a new customer, however, I was just about to call them....I was very frank with them about my satisfaction.
I was having tranny slams/ issues and flat out said I'm not buying another BMW because a car this up market should not have these issues/ I was almost just out of warranty when the dealer received a call from bmw aus.
They bent over backwards to get my car in for repairs before warranty ran out and believe me this dealer is always booked out weeks ahead. And on top of that the beating around the bush routine with SW updates and other things ended full stop BMW Aus ordered a tranny rebuild end of story.
Also around this time a had the rough startup and they checked it and said nothing was wrong no faults logged so I forgot about it. However I am now outside warranty but had them check it again recently cause I got the symptoms again. This time they said faults logged/ Intermediate levers/ bmw aus. So now I am contemplating arguing that I raised this issue whilst under warranty got a bad initial diagnosis so they should cover repair if needs be.....
lets keep each other informed....cheers