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...

[masq]

I've been driving my 2007 4.8 as a daily driver for about 4 months now.

This is what I don't like about it:

- damn thing drinks too much gas.
- it feels like the tranny is deliberately slowing down the car, unless i flip it over to the sport drive mode.
- the audio system sounds like crap... but then again, i don't have the premium sound pkg.
- the grease that they use on the seat rails and sunroof rails smells like old rotten rags.
- my 20" wheels somehow end up with curb rash, even when i didn't even know i hit a curb.
- the grainy looking rear-view camera is the worst i've seen in any other luxury vehicle.

What I DO like about the car:

- the 4.8 is AWESOME. even after coming from my daily-driver Porsche 996, this motor has kept me pretty content with the driving experience.
- this huge box on wheels actually drives very well. not quite a Porsche, but exceeds any normal to hard driving conditions found on city streets.
- the factory exhaust sounds incredibly throaty and nice. i'm really happy with the note.
- it's a very comfortable car to drive. not many blind spots to worry about, as quiet as it will get for a truck with 20" wheels, i-drive is actually pretty nice to control all million electronic features built in to it.
- air-conditioned seats, and the butt massager is awesome during the middle of TX summers and long-drives.
- JUST enough cargo space to fit pretty much everything i've wanted to haul on a regular basis.
- large panoramic sunroof is really nice.
- leather seats are actually pretty high quality.
- fit and finish is nearly perfect inside the cabin. if there's a rattle in any car that i own, i whine and bitch to the stealership to get it fixed. i haven't had to do that in this car yet.... and it's already 3 years old.

there's really plenty more, but i think you get the point. it's a really great car, i promise.