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BMW X3 hesitation on acceleration
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Comments
Although, there was one person I spoke with, and I do not know their title, actually told me that the car was perfectly fine, but BMW would program it for my driving style. I find it hard to believe that I would get my own custom programming! That was nonsense. :lemon:
Hope you folks are able to enjoy your car as much as I do. I too have felt the hesitation and jerk and it is very easy to explain why it is happening. That is why not doing what causes it to downshift will require some adaptation of the driving habits.
The manufacturers have to meet their mpg efficiency quotas. That is why they have such tricks like starting from the 2nd gear, or reducing gas when it anticipates a stop.
Instead of lawyers, NHTSA, etc., why dont you give it a try?
Cars have been around for years and years, and now you think that thousands of x3 owners should suddenly change the way they drive? Is this precious BMW so utterly ahead of our time? That is absurd! Listen....when I press the gas with constant pressure, without letting up, it still hesitates. I can press it gently, or floor it, and it will still stumble and hesitate at times. I pulled out the other day and it stumbled and hesitated so bad, that I had to slam it in reverse so I would not annoy the oncoming traffic. Did you ever have to do that with ANY car? So much for that theory.
And as far as mpg efficiency quotas are concerned, this car is not really fuel efficient at all. I did not buy it for that purpose. I only get 16mpg in the city-not very impressive at all.
I can explain the hesitation very easily-the software program that controls the transmission and throttle control still has issues!
My car is going in next week for the third time in 3 months of owning it. How can I be happy with my purchase? How can I be enjoying this vehicle?
A BMW engineer is going to look at it.
If I try hard, I can reproduce the transmission behavior you have referred to. Luckily my driving style does not result in that behavior under normal driving conditions.
I like hitting it hard at the apex of the turn as much as I can; so the hesitation when you slow down during the turn does not come into play.
I either accelerate slowly from a straight-line stop (so that it doesnt downshift to 1st from 2nd) or put it in S/M1 to let it rock. The downshift from 2 to 1 does take time, since the RPMs have to go up significantly and the engine will take time to react. That is why there is the long "hesitation" before the power kicks in again.
The reason I am suggesting a change in the driving style is that most likely this is a software issue (as many of you agree). If our software is the same, then clearly it is the driving style which is affecting the reaction of the car.
We have multiple BMWs in our extended family, including two X3s, and people are very happy with the experience including the X3s.
If you value silky smooth trannies more than the blend of efficiency and performance which the BMW offers, you should have seriously driven the Lexus. And never buy a new car, especially if it is a new brand, without a good test-drive.
It isn't hard to experience the transmission issue since it happens all the time without regard to dirving style.
Unlike what you seem to think, the problem happens especially bad whne accelerating slowly from a stop. It isn't as severe with more agressive driving, although still bad.
We have also had multiple BMW's, have enjoyed them tremendously, but we are willing to admit when they have a problem.
While you are gloating, keep in mind that we did drive the X-3, it did not have a problem, and BMW is not a new brand to us.
As I think more about it, it could be an issue related to sensors. The 2006 5 series had a bad steering position sensor which had to be recalled. When a car has such complex systems, any part of the chain can cause a problem. The 2007 x3 has a new tranny which might be exacerbating the problem. One big challenge with such systems is that if the self-check diagnostics do not detect the problem, it is almost impossible to diagnose except on a test-rig in a lab.
The only thing even remotely resembling hesitation that I've experienced has come after my Volvo driving wife has spent some time in the X3's driver's seat where the adaptive transmission has come to expect lead-footed pressure on the accelerator. But the X3 has also quickly "re"-adapted to my style.
3000 miles on a brand new car. Latest software update. Sure it is better, but it STILL hesitates, and you dont know when it will happen. There is NO performance in hesitation! So I know BMW did not engineer performance into this tranny.
SD mode is useless because the downshifting is horribly rough and uncomfortable. Steptronic is lame as well, since the tranny program will override your commands. This is a sav. It should not drive like a MACK truck.
Major mistake in leasing this SUV. With only 300 miles on it taking it in for service this Friday.
Marc
I’m just taking a few minutes to document what we’ve talk about yesterday. My 2007 X3 was brought in to Park Ave. BMW by my son for emergency service on the morning of 4/23/2007 with only a few thousand miles on it. The claim check number on the vehicle was #2318 (I have it). On the evening of 4/22/2007, I was traveling over the GW Bridge when the X3 lost all forward mobility and started to slow completely down in the middle of traffic. I pushed the gas pedal and the engine revved but it didn’t help. I noticed that the D indicator wasn’t showing. I also noticed a transmission waning indicator was amber on the console. I shifted the X3 into S for sports drive and the D came back up (not the S) and the vehicle continued to move staying in one gear until I was able to exit off of the bridge. When I pulled next to the curb and attempted to put the X3 in reverse it wouldn’t move. After turning the X3 off and letting the vehicle rest for 10 minutes, I was able to resume driving and the warning indicator did not appear again. The next morning the X3 was brought in by my son as mentioned above. After several hours, the vehicle was brought out and my son was told that alarms were cleared and adjustments made and that all would be OK. He wasn’t given any service report of the work done I am amazed that Park Ave BMW claims there is no record of this service. Especially since the X3 hasn’t been right since then. So, after four more visits to your service area and your recent statement that the car is functioning as it should, I started to do some research and here’s what I found and, I think the reason why BMW may not want anything specific recorded about this problem.
Please follow this URL, http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f11ffdc/13. The problems detailed about how dangerous the hesitation I am experiencing is explained by numerous other X3 owners and they say it better than I can. I am most upset at the fact that initially Larry W. told me he never heard of any problems with X3s of the type I am having. The best explaination I can give about what BMW did that caused some of my problem from the many postings was:
“In DRIVE mode the trans software is programmed to start off in second gear as an economy measure to help save gas. BMW did that on purpose. If you're fairly light on the throttle it will stay in Second, accelerate, and eventually shift into Third, Fourth and Fifth. Try it out and count the shifts. (You may need to watch the tach to notice the shifts, this trans can be really smooth at very light throttle and the higher gear shifts may only vary a few hundred rpm)
But if you put a little more foot into the throttle on take-off (i.e.: from a dead stop) the trans will shift down from Second to First to give you better acceleration. This is what it is supposed to do. It happens in an instant but you can still feel the car start to move, then "hesitate" from the shift, and then take off. If you have a light enough foot it may never even happen to you. If your foot is rather heavy you may notice it more at first but it will "teach" your trans really quick that you want a fast start most of the time.
Now in SPORT mode the trans ALWAYS starts in first, thus no "hesitation". The drawback to always using SPORT mode to avoid the "hesitation" (gear change) is that it almost NEVER shifts into Fifth gear in city driving. The vehicle has to reach a certain speed before it will upshift to Fifth. That can really hurt your mileage in town if you never get over 35-45 mph. AND your trans never gets a chance to "adapt" to your style in DRIVE mode.”
Nevertheless, what really sticks out is the concern about how dangerous many of the X3 owners feel the hesitation problem is. I have experienced it first hand and am afraid to pull out of a gas station onto a highway without a very large open window in the road – people honk at me, but I can’t trust the car. Moreover, my wife feels she cannot put our grandchildren safely in it.
Next, let’s discuss the other issue – I hit the jackpot – I have both of the major, hidden problems that BMW has with this vehicle. The transmission failure I experienced and the resulting inability to shift into reverse. It’s all over the place, Consumer Affairs knows it and it’s been there for several years – good job BMW on the PR front, if a potential buyer doesn’t do their homework on the internet, they’d never know there was a problem.
By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.Com
January 11, 2007
BMW owners find themselves facing thousands of dollars in transmission repair bills while the highly profitable German automaker refuses to accept any responsibility for the mounting number of failures.
The complaints being filed with ConsumerAffairs.Com are similar and describe a transmission that hesitates or refuses to be shifted into reverse.
Therefore, Phil, please don’t insult my intelligence by offering that an expert take a ride with me in the car so I can show him what’s wrong. You know the problem is intermittent, persistent and for the most part unfixable. Either you get a good one or you don’t. If you get the good one, you are a happy X3 owner. If you get what I have, it’s a well-rehearsed policy line.
Let me know if you want to try the software fix again – it has improved some but not all of the issues for other owners as far as the hesitation goes. In the mean time, I’m looking for a new group that wants to do a class action against BMW and sending this e-mail to as many interested parties as I can find.
Who would have believed what BMW is knowingly doing to people.
Let me know if I should bring the loaner back today or if you want to try and improve the performance of the X3 to a non-dangerous state.
I have the transmission hesitation problem with the new X3 I leased and am trying to find out how to tell what software versions I have installed. Does anyone know?
Thanks!
Rallye BMW, Westbury
Here is our latest update with our X3 issue. Our car has been in 3 times for the same problem. Rallye Service tried putting the fix in for the 2nd time. They had their head man worked on the car. The head tech stated he had worked on 4 such cars out of 200 sold this year and not one had come back. To top it all off the head tech test drove the car with my wife for the sole purpose of seeing if she was an erratic driver. She noticed this in the notes of the service advisor. I guess this is such a temperamental car that BMW now needs to start putting folks through driving school? 25+ years of driving experience is not good enough to drive an X3. Maybe it’s the shoes we are wearing?
Well, they are getting this piece of crap back once again. My wife is absolutely livid - she was making a U-turn this morning and for several seconds the X3 went into la-la land, nothing, no engine noise, no acceleration, just stayed nice and quite in the intersection while the gas pedal was being pressed down and traffic was heading towards her. The fix was re-applied about a month ago and the car had been performing better. I had noticed many times where the car would hesitate and buck forward from dead stops or in making turns but not as much as before. It had started to get worse recently. I guess the nightmare of a transmission started to 'adapt'. My wife had been ok with the car as she claimed she did not notice any major issues - until this morning. She immediately called our service advisor and after a few hours of phone tag she finally get through to him. He stated he had to talk with the service manager because there were several other car issues. I don’t know if he meant X3 issues or general car issues. He assured my wife he would call back by the end of the day. No call. I am sure we will be talking with both Service and Sales in the AM as they must be putting their ducks in a row. I am sorry to say I strongly believe they will have no answers.
All and all the dealership, both sales and service, have been very accommodating - I don’t hold it personally against them that they have to sell and service this crap. This is clearly coming from the top down. BMW North America is clearly aware of this major safety issue yet they continue to sell these unsafe vehicles. We have leased for ~15 years and never had any issues. This is the first BMW we have leased. This car is a nightmare. You folks that feel the need to chime in on how great your cars are should feel very lucky as many of us are suffering months of agony and wasted time with this defective product.
BMW appears to be waiting for someone to get seriously injured or killed in this vehicle. I will be contacting my Attorney first thing in the morning to see what my legal options are. Its crystal clear there is no fix for this issue. I own a flawless 2004 330XI, what a disappoint.
tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper
If you really believe that, it seems strange that you would accept another X3 as a replacement for your "defective" X3.
But I think what I experienced on these test drives is by design to save gas. Does it get worse over time?
That's very interesting! Did that come from the Dealer or BMW Corporate?
I'm meeting with my dealer's VP of Quality Assurance next week and would love to be able to cite something officially about this as my X3 consistently hesitates and bumps/jerks when accelerating from stopped or low speeds.
Thanks!
Now I am writing to NTHSB and going to the local media here in NY area...this car is dangerous, unsafe, horrible, gross and disturbing. The transmission is the worst in any car I have ever had in 30+ years of driving.
BMW will regret I ever leased one.