X5 Opinion
 

My wife and I both drive BMW's. Her vehicle is a 2007 X5 4.8 sport model and mine is an 2002 330i. Before that we had an 2001 750iL. I feel like I have a pretty good feel of how a BMW should drive.

So here is my question....our X5 drives like a frigging truck....it is very jerky and anything but smooth ride. I hate driving the thing around town. I have complained on at least 4 different occasions but I never get very far (we have had the "truck" for two years) and it still under warranty. Am I out of luck and this is just the way the vehicle drives given it weighs 5,000 pounds?

Any opinions are greatly appreciated.....!

My 2008 X5 4.8 was jerky, rough and not pleasant in terms of comfort. It handled amazingly, but was the most uncomortable suv I have ever owned. For me, a lot of the jerkiness was the awful transmission. Seems like 2010/2011 has new trannies!

A significant portion of the ride/handling is the tires. What size and brand do you have? Are they run flats? Have you check tire pressures?
Also what packages might you have? Sport Activity? Active Suspension?

I can't answer from experience with an '07 X5 but my '11 X5 50i MSport is the smoothest riding BMW I've had in quite a while, noticeably better than my '08 550i with 19s.

I thought about the tire issue ( I have just installed the vehicles 3rd set of Lattitude runflats), but the problem isn't the bumpiness of the ride, rather the jerkiness of the transmission......on the highway it is fine...

Test drive an '11 with the 8-speed transmission before giving up on the X5. Very smooth shifting in non-d/s mode.

Otherwise, has the '07 always had that issue? Could be a fixable problem.

My '08 550i had a 6 speed sport auto. It was smooth until put in sport mode. The 2-1 downshift was quite jerky. In "D" it would start in 2nd, and would never do a 2-1.

The 8 speed in the '11 X5 is super smooth at all times.

In sport mode, my 330 shifts perfectly whereas my X5 is almost undrivable.

If you read old posts about 2007/2008 X5s, you will see a lot of complaints about rough transmissions, jerky shifting and the transmission holding gears and really letting the rpm go up, without a needed shift.

MANY software updates were provided by BMW, but none seemed to work. It seems the new transmission in the late 2010 and 2011 models solved the problem!

My 2008 4.8i had the worst transmission I have ever owned. Seriously, my M3 with SMG II was smoother (and that thing was a beast)!

Yep......i remember alot of those posts and had hoped something had changed. Fortunately, i do not drive the car much. I guess it is time to think about something different. Any recommendations for something similar in size?

While not perfect, and has it's own share of issues...the Mercedes ML is smooth, poised and super comfortable. I had an '08 and '09 ML63. The best and smoothest transmission. Also, it had Airmatic suspension, so you could select Comfort, Normal or Sport!

The Q7 is a great car, that several of my friends have. It is large, and does not handle quite as well as the X5 or ML63...but it is comfortable, smooth and great for long & even short hauls. The inside ergonomics, are of course Audi perfect.

The Cayenne (all new) is somewhat smaller than the X5, but the new interior design is great. We've had 2 Porsches, and they were surprisingly comfortable, super reliable and a lot of fun to drive. Depending on where you live though, there are not a lot of Porsche dealers, so service or maintenance could be an issue!

its the tranny, i just switched to Conti DWS and ride is softer and quieter but still jerks
i was worried that tranny was crapping out but after doing some research i found that they all do that.

i'm coming from a manual tranny and now want to go back.

otherwise its an amazing SUV in comparison to others

drove my friends X6 35i and tranny is different a bit softer and less jerky

I've changed my drive pattern to accomodate the jerky transmission. I'm mostly able to avoid most of the jerkiness by slowly accelerating off the line. Either that or I just floor it and take off (which you don't notice the jerkiness as much).

Noticed that the jerkiness is more pronouced with more load in the car. When I'm by myself, the car usually drives fine.

When I do have a lot of people in the car, I use the manual shifter. Then the car drives great.

Sucks that the transmission is bad. Just doesn't make financial sense for me to get rid of the car at this stage.

Perhaps you can have the ECU reset to eliminate any "learned" patterns of the tranny? Doesnt hurt to try at least.

update
 

our X5 fortunately through off a transmission error code so I got to bring the car in one more time to complain about how unsmooth the car drove (not terrible, but not what one would expect from $75,000 vehicle)

so.....it turns out the car has a defective crank position sensor and they updated the transmission software per a 2009 TSB (why the software wasn't updated on one of my other visits where I complained is beyond me!)

Well.......REMARKABLY the transmission is now smooth as silk. The gears change effortlessly and I (and more importantly my wife) are happy!

My fingers are crossed....its been a long time coming

Can you demonstrate the "jerky shifting" to the dealer? If it does it all the time and you can show them how the car responds, they should be able to do something about it. I have the same vehicle and no issues with the transmission. Take it back, make em fix it!

So much for 'they all do that'

Be sure you have ALL the transmission software updates. This helped my '07 X5 4.8i.

The other part of the problem is the run flat tires. They suck, and they're even worse the larger the rim and the wider the tire (I.E. the sport package wheels/tires).

I just took off my 20" Michelin summer run flat tires 315 R/275 F) and installed my 19" 255 f/r run flat winter tires, and even that improves the ride. I can only imagine how cush it would be on 18's with non-run-flat tires and 'normal' rear springs (vs air springs in the sport/third row cars).

How the car is equipped makes a big difference.

All that said, other than the choppy highway ride I like the way it handles the mountain passes... Life is full of trade-offs.