Test drove a 4.8 2004 today
 

Ok, the following is just my opinion, and only my opinion.

I test drove a 4.8 yesterday afternoon, while I was getting my oil change. Is it me, or is the 4.8 not as fast as I thought it to be? It feels like I'm driving my X5. I have an 01 4.4i sport. I swear it accelerates like mine, when I floored it, it hesitated like no other, it didn't feel any faster then my X. I understand what the stats are on the this type of car, but guy's I'm sorry, I didn't like it one bit:thumbdown . The only thing that I liked was that the steering was a lot easier to turn. That's it. Maybe I was waiting for a rocket lunch or something. I drove a 4.4i 2006, 4.8is 2004 and a 4.6is 2002. The winner by far is the 4.6is. This thing is a rocket. So much more punch then the 4.8is. Maybe the whole tranny thing gives it the slight hesitation, but come on! I would like others to try each of these cars and post there opinions as soon as possible. I was even thinking of trading mine in for a 4.8is. Forget that. I'm keeping mine and just upgrading to the 4.6 body kit. Just thought I would share my thoughts. Thanks..

Mine did the same thing, until I went back to the dealer last Friday and they updated the computer. Man, now it drives like it should have when I bought it, no hesitation it's all go now and none of that harsh 2-1 downshifting. I am very happy with my X5 now and it is a lot of fun to drive, I am glad I went to the dealer and got this fixed because it sucked without the fix.

Simple fix. The last owner must have not driven it very spiritedly...

Simply turn the key to position 2. Hold the accelerator to the click point for 25 seconds. Let go of the accelerator, start the engine and off you go...

The transmission's learning algorithm will be reset to 0. Therefore, it will lose the slow and gentle acceleration that the previous owner used...

Try it, and repost your results :) I guarantee your experience will be very different...

That sounds more like a throttle response fix to me:confused: but good info nonetheless!

Don't forget that shifter has the sport mode option. If I want to drive fast, I put my X in sport mode and then it gets much quicker.

SG felt the same way at the DC meet. He blames the Valvetronic.

That's really odd. I test drove a 4.4i and a 4.6is later. The 4.6is had nothing to do with the 4.4i (suspension, steering, power, transmission, etc). Then I ended up buying a 4.8is. I didn't know about the resetting thing, maybe I'll try that, I do think however that my 4.8 has tons of balls and that's coming from an E36 M3 with a few mods.

Bulldog what is involved with the computer update?Do you know specifically what they altered? Is is a set program or did they tweak something?

Yea but were you driving new cars or used ones?

I think BimmerDude's bad experience with a 4.8is comes from his previous owner babying it... Hence the tranny learning the bad habits of its previous owner...

All cars I mentionned in my post were used. That sounds like an odd problem and I'm interested to hear about the computer update including the shifts between 1st and 2nd.

Will this work on all years?