2007 - 2009 4.8 Owners

[Couper93]

Hi guys,
New guy here, first post...
I am considering a newer 4.8 but have read some reviews and folks complaining about transmission, bluetooth, etc....
Should a newer 4.8 not be considered? Gas mileage does not concern me, too much...
Great forum and hope to contribute soon..

[SANguru]

with any forum you will hear more complains when stuff either breaks or is not working. You are not going to hear as much about times when things do not break and are running fine.

With that said, 3 years and over 30,000 miles before we sold our 07 4.8i. It was flawless and very reliable with no issues outside of a passenger AC pipe breaking once which was covered under warranty.

[dbox]

my 2009 4.8 was great. traded it in at 20k miles for the 5.0.

[deutsch100]

My 2008 4.8i was much better than my 2007 3.0si. With that being said, my 4.8i was a nuisance. Transmission was the worst of any car, any brand any model I have ever had. It was rough, would hold gears to absurd and high rpms & then abruptly shift and just felt like crap. Tons of error messages, constant battery warning messages, iDrive screen would freeze, date and time was constantly erasing, satellite/radio presets were always erasing, or even changing (on their own!!). HVAC was dismal...always too cold, too hot and too weak.

I'm honestly very happy there are E70 4.8i owners who have had & are having a good experience with theirs, but mine was dreadful.

Also, I think we all need to be concerned with gas mileage. In the city, I always got 8-10 mpg in my 4.8i. So, when gas was almost $5/gallon (which it will be again..the USA cannot keep having such low prices compared to most of the world), it would cost me $10 to pick my son up from school and $5 just to go to the grocery store if we needed something. Very sad!

[Couper93]

Sure, I understand that the bad is always highlighted. It just seems somewhat consistent with some 4.8, 2007s more than others.
Thanks for the inputs so far.

[aeggroup]

Mine is 2007 4.8i. Now it has 43K miles. Basically very reliable vehicle. I agree with previous post about rough transmission, but you just have to get used to it and know how to drive it. If my wife does it smoothly - anybody can do it . Also, agree that Idrive system could be better, but even 2011 Idrive is not user friendly IMO compared to my 2010 E-class Mercedes Command system. Gas mileage sucks, but if you wanna have a power - you have to pay for it, otherwise buy KIA . I think if you wanna have powerful SUV and don't wanna spent a lot of money for brand new - 2007-2008 model, which is still on factory warranty for sometime is very wise choice. Good luck.

[EVIL SSP]

I've got a 2007 4.8i with 42,xxx on it. It has been a great vehicle. Much better than my previous supercharged Range Rover...

[PUZZ]

My 08 4.8i has approx. 25,000 miles on it. Overall I've been very pleased - in fact pleased to the point that I may buy it when my lease ends in May '11. Having said that, I've had the tranny issues that have been well telegraphed on this forum (i.e. choppy shifting, hesitation, etc.) and the gas mileage is terrible. If I do not buy this car (and keep for 4 more years), I will likely lease a new diesel. The fact that I plan on being in an X5 (either my present one or a new one) for the foreseeable future says something as I'm always looking for something new. Good luck in your decision.

[eticket]

Just got my 07 4.8, it has 53K miles and is a wonderful truck! I don't have the tranny problems (at least I don't think so), truck runs great and I am very happy with it...

[bimmerpwr]

08 4.8, about 52k now. No issues so far, very reliable. I think 08 is the last model year that had 12 speakers without having premium sound option. After 09 or 10, BMW starting putting in less quality sound system with less # of speakers. Head-up and adaptive drive is a must, I think. Comfort seat is great in that whenever I get in my car, the lumber support squeezes me to my setting, and it opens up when I am about to get out of the car. Tranny is smooth after the software update. I do maybe 80% highway, 20% local commute and my gas milage is about 16.5 and I take the car past 5000 rpm quite often too. Honestly, for what it is (sporty SUV), I do not know if there is anything that I do not like about this car. Although night vision via HUD option would be nice, perhaps on 12 model?