E-brake malfunctioning + other rants....
 

For those of you who just got the new E70 like me, i'm suprised at how the quality that went into this car. it's ridiculously below par in my opinion. anyways, at around 52XX miles my car e brake came saying there is a e-brake malfunction and that i should take it to the dealer. i should've leased this car but my first impression was this car is wonderful but little did i know i fell into a trap. please tell me what's up with this e-brake malfunctioning problem. i know i'm going to take it to the dealers tomorrow but am just curious of why this would happen. even the manual gave me instructions as to how to release the e-brake, which meant BMW knew this problem was going to happen.

also...the transmission seems to shift at weird RPMs...a little bit to late and it makes like the engine is struggling. becasue i've driven a manual for awhile i can tell which time it is best to shift as for optimum efficiency. and about 2 weeks ago i took it in to the dealer to repair the rubber liner on the door that melted the glue and started to dangle off the door. hmmmmm also that bottom piece of plastic attached to the seat sliding thing came off.

thanks for listening to me :) so far the dealership has been great to me during the previous services so that alone what keeps me owning this car.

The manual explains how to deal with this because they have to explain it to you, not because they "knew" it was coming. Nothing is perfect, and unfortunatly somthing has happened...I'm sure the dealer will correct it.

I do agree that some of the little things were not done right, but overall it is a fine vehicle.

I too have the problem with the rubber gasket on the door falling off....kinda odd and irritating.

regarding the transmission, complain to the dealer. I had a similar experience. Mine was reprogrammed and it shifts nicely now.

What is your build date? Do you have the latest progman version?

can you please tell me where i can look on the car to check the build date? and how do i approach the dealer on asking them to reprogram my transmission so they won't think i'm crazy.

thanks!!

its in the driver door panel on a sticker

simply tell them what you posted about the tranny...ask them to drive with you. they will figure it out.

thank you very much for responding to my post :)

Michael...

Regarding the transmission, I know exactly what you're talking about. Do you have the 3.0 or 4.8? I have the 4.8i and even then, I feel like the transmission shifts quite high and there the transmission is quite noisy. You can really hear the engine struggling when going up hills. I know this new X5 is much heavier than the old one, but I never one thought my old 4.4i struggled up this hill where I live. While I can live with it, I think BMW could have done a better job in this dept. I just had my car updated and I did bring it up with my dealer, and I have to say this version made some things worse.

Which leads me to the e-parking brake. I've had a number of cars with the new electro-magnetic brake...the Jag XK-R, and new S-class and those do a much better job. The X is lurchy, just like my old 745Li. When it switches from the service brake to the parking brake, you feel the whole car lurch a bit. The trick to solving that I learned is to not engage the parking brake until the car is off. That way it doesn't switch from service to parking while the car is on.

While I love this car overall, I also think the quality is subpar. The car looks great in and out, but BMW still uses a lot of hard plastics in the interior, especially the center console area and it's prone to squeaks and rattles. I'm still dealing with a bad rattle coming from my steering column.

-Chris

I own the 3.0 and I'm suprised to hear about the same problem with the 4.8 litre. And yes I too live in an area with hills, it does seem to struggle as you described it. I may try going without updating this problem as i'm afraid it would get worse.

About the electro-magnetic brake, I understand what you're saying, I will try that method once i get it fixed. Hopefully this problem will only happen once.

thank you for your response chris.

*update*

the car is now fixed and wow they even update the car with the new software (fixes tranny problem) and now the car drives AWESOME. I think BMW realize the problem and they took care of it. the display also changed to match the interior which is nice lol.

My eBrake also malfunctioned. I was going to head to work and could not drive away. I used the orange handle to pull the brake release cable and was able to drive away.

One note.... You have to keep pulling till you CLEARLY hear the clunk when it releases. I did not pull hard enough and it was frustrating. Thought I was going to break it.

Drove it to the dealer and they replaced some defective module. Runs fine now....

I too am having problems with my new X5, albeit with the DVD entertainment system, and I too am amazed by the attention my dealer is giving me. He also went as far as give me another X5 (a 3.0) with DVD entertainment to drive while they troubleshoot mine. I guess with us buying a generation 1 vehicle, we take some risk of being guinea pigs, but if BMW steps up to the plate and provides us with the rapid, priority support we deserve it makes it more painless. After all, it's in BMW's favor to sort out these problems as fast as possible so as not to tarnish the reputation of a new product in their line.