745I problems

I bought a 745I on Feb. 8. I currently have 3600 miles- so I am pretty used to the car. It drives like a charm but the I drive has problems with the 4 main functions that have still not been addressed by BMW in the last 6 weeks. They are as follows:
Phone: can not get call waiting unless you take the phone physcially out of the storage compartment (short cord) open it, push send to put your 1st call on hold and then try to get your second call. There is also no message waiting indicator- si everytime you go to your car- you have to take out the unit and check. In addition, the telecommander only stays lit for 3 minutes (great to get a call at night) and once you make a call you have to manually "clear" it- if you make a new call- the 1st one will be re dialed.
Navigation has a mind of its own- 1st it is extremely difficult to program a destination. If you want to delete it- no "can do" it stays locked in. When you complete a destination.....it has you make a U turn and sends you on you way "home'. Also, if you tke a short cut.........the remaining mileage once you reach tjhe destination stays on until you travel the additional mileage.
Radio= great to tune in to traffic reorts on FM band. The "TP" is on FM not AM. You can not scan for local stations. The scan is to scan what is alreday programmed in memory.
Other problems......when you use wiper washers and the headlights are sprayed........the hood gets soaked; there is no engine temperature gauge; very rough idle ; the key fob is very unreliable; intermittment problems with I drive (sometimes you have to shut off your engine and restart to get it working).
Everytime I wrote or called BMW they referred me to my dealer- hey- he didn't build it! It is very frustrating to spend $75,000 and not have simple items tested and then working! I welcome your comments.

Sorry that I can't help you with any of this. I did, however, want to say congratulations on your new car. I guess solving these kinds of problems is one of the drawbacks of buying a completely new design of car in its first model year, especially one using such unproven technology as the 745i. My '86 528e naturally doesn't have any of the neat features your car does, but if I'd spent that kind of money, I would want them to work too.

Good luck ironing out those issues!

Here is a list of problems of have encountered with 745i purchased in March with 3000 miles.

· At infrequent intervals, the automobile hesitates when pressing on the gas from a stationary state. This is not consistent nor can I recreate at will. Also, the acceleration is not smooth.

· The interval marks on the speedometer is for kilometers/hr and not miles. This is confusing and annoying. For example, it is difficult to determine when going 45 miles per hour. Also, this is not consistent with the pictures in the owner’s manual.

· At times, the remote does not work. Also, you need be very close to the car for the remote to work.

· The clear button on the slide out phone keypad does not work in a manner consistent with the clear button on the portable phone.

At times, the navigation display shows the measurement distance to be 50 miles when it is actually displaying 400 feet.

· The warning in the display that must be accepted via the iDrive every time the car started is very obtrusive. How many times does a person need to be told? It would be different if it could ignore it after first reading it like airbag warning on most car visors.

· The telephone has a lot of static when in the car cradle and playing sound through the car’s speakers. I can hear this immediately after pressing the send button before the call is connected so I know this is not the cellular network.

· My dealer originally told me that BMW would provide a phone for any cellular provider. However, when I went to pick up the phone, a day after purchasing the car, I was told a phone for my carrier was not available. I use Cingular GSM service. To use in the car phone and receive the BMW assistance feature I had to sign up with another provider.

· Three time, in three months, I have had to take the car into repair due to a fault in the passive restraint system. They do not know the cause of this fault.

· One time I have had to take the car in for repair because the radio, telephone and voice activation failed to work. I was told re-booting the phone computer fixed the problem.

· Infrequently, and I cannot consistently recreate, the iDrive fails to respond. This happens in the Telephone sub-menu.

· The automatic movement of the headrest when moving the seat forward or back is very, very annoying. The position it automatically adjusts to is not comfortable. I wish I could stop this.

· One time, the window would not stay down. It automatically kept going back up. Turning the car off and on again fixed this problem.

· The booklet titled “The most important functions of your BMW 7 Series at a glance” came with pages upside down and I could not make sense how it was assembled.

· The pictures and instructions for CPT 8000 phone manual do not match the car. It is for a different BMW model.

· When the front seats are raised higher, as is probably required due to the hood line of the car, they do not go back as far. It is difficult to balance seating comfort with visibility. This was not a problem in the 740/750il.

· Changing to radio stations that are not preprogrammed is cumbersome. A tuner not accessed via the iDrive would be helpful.

I have had my 745li for three months and not only have I had all the problems you have had I also have window shade, rear airbag, and fuel pump trouble. THIS CAR IS NOT READY FOR CONSUMERS and should have never been released for production. I also echo your comments on how unresponsive BMW customer service has been.

Scott, I warned you not to buy a BMW. You were lucky with your first one. You pushed your luck by buying another, especially during the first model year. It seems to be politically incorrect to criticize BMW's and MB's. People are embarrased to admit that they spent so much money for such a poor car. The American automitive press is also afraid to criticize a large advertiser. The magazines always cut BMW a break on models still in production. When they run an articloe on a new model, all of a sudden you read about the faults of the superceeded car. Remember, when the car goes out of warranty, BMW stands for "Bring My Wallet."
Also, the Germans keep very quiet the fact that taxes on the profits of BMW, MB, VW, Porsche and Audi go to help pay for pensions for SS veterans. Sieg Heil.
BMW didn't follow the first rule of business--Pay attention to the details.

BMW are having some real reliability problems of late. Now before i explain myself i know alot of people are going to tell me im talkin crap, but most of those people wont have had experience with working on various different BMW's.

BMW are introducing alot of new technology into their cars to try to give them the upper hand on Mercedes. Whilst Mercedes are happy to leave new technology in the development stages for many years until they are tried and tested, BMW puts them in the cars much sooner, and are therefore slightly underdeveloped. Due to this slight underdevelopment, the technology starts to develop faults, as you guys are seeing in you 7 series. This has been going on since the middle of the last 5 series (535 had serious engine troubles, i know of one guy who had 3 new engines put in his), and has been getting worse.

Until BMW stop throwing new, untested gadgets at their cars, they are going to get worse and worse until they will eventually learn.

Originally posted by stecot
Scott, I warned you not to buy a BMW. You were lucky with your first one. You pushed your luck by buying another, especially during the first model year. It seems to be politically incorrect to criticize BMW's and MB's. People are embarrased to admit that they spent so much money for such a poor car. The American automitive press is also afraid to criticize a large advertiser. The magazines always cut BMW a break on models still in production. When they run an articloe on a new model, all of a sudden you read about the faults of the superceeded car. Remember, when the car goes out of warranty, BMW stands for "Bring My Wallet."
Also, the Germans keep very quiet the fact that taxes on the profits of BMW, MB, VW, Porsche and Audi go to help pay for pensions for SS veterans. Sieg Heil.
BMW didn't follow the first rule of business--Pay attention to the details.


This is one of the most ill-informed posts of all time. It is riddled with cliches (Break My Wallet), conspiracy theories (magazines paid off), and generally bizaare theories (what's this crap about taxes?). And as for your comments on reliability - I am in a family who has owned BMWs since 1970. We currently have a 740iL and an MCoupe, and neither of them has ever given us reliability troubles. In fact, every BMW we have ever owned as been essentially bullet proof. And no, stecot, this is not an isolated experience. There's simply no way BMW could have the sales figures they have if they made unreliable cars - word of mouth is a powerful thing.

As for the 745, I'm disturbed by the iDrive problems I keep hearing about. It sounds like BMW should have spent more time testing it. But don't try to apply this one example to the entire model line or to the entire company.


Now go back to the mountains of Montana to your little cottage where you can come up with more peculiar theories. Idiot.

Originally posted by PookJP


And as for your comments on reliability - I am in a family who has owned BMWs since 1970. We currently have a 740iL and an MCoupe, and neither of them has ever given us reliability troubles. In fact, every BMW we have ever owned as been essentially bullet proof. And no, stecot, this is not an isolated experience. There's simply no way BMW could have the sales figures they have if they made unreliable cars - word of mouth is a powerful thing.



BMW's problems started in the mid 90's with the latest 5 series, and remained only in the 5 series. The X5 has had ever so slight troubles, but nothing much. The old 7 series was back from the early nineties, and was therefore bulletproof. All form of the 3 seem to have escaped the problems, its just the bigger cars that dont seem to be reliable anymore. Ill bet money that the new 5 series will be as bad as the new 7

Originally posted by PookJP


This is one of the most ill-informed posts of all time. It is riddled with cliches (Break My Wallet), conspiracy theories (magazines paid off), and generally bizaare theories (what's this crap about taxes?). And as for your comments on reliability - I am in a family who has owned BMWs since 1970. We currently have a 740iL and an MCoupe, and neither of them has ever given us reliability troubles. In fact, every BMW we have ever owned as been essentially bullet proof. And no, stecot, this is not an isolated experience. There's simply no way BMW could have the sales figures they have if they made unreliable cars - word of mouth is a powerful thing.

As for the 745, I'm disturbed by the iDrive problems I keep hearing about. It sounds like BMW should have spent more time testing it. But don't try to apply this one example to the entire model line or to the entire company.


Now go back to the mountains of Montana to your little cottage where you can come up with more peculiar theories. Idiot.

I'm not ill informed. My BMW 530i had 21 items on the punch list, one of which was life threatening. I had a friend and also a customer with identical cars. My cars engine cought on fire the second day I had it. My customers car burnt to the ground as his father bailed out of it, and my friends car had all of the same problems and more than my car. Another friend has a 528e and it's ALWAYS in the shop. You have just been fortunate not to have had problems with yours. The tax proceed statement is a fact not a fairy tail. If you look at another posting I made, you will see that I have had 9 German cars and two of my kids currently own VW's. I lived in Germany for a few years. I'm not prejudiced against Germans, just bad cars. What frosts my cake is the treatment I received from both the dealer and the BMW zone rep. I replaced the car with a Cadillac and had NO problems. I sold the car to an employee who put over 175,000 miles on it. Then I went to MB for 21 years and owned 6 before I got the terrible S430 I now have. About the automotive press, notice how they praised the Z3? Now with the replacement only months away, they are starting to tell the truth about the lousy and dangerous rear suspension. None of them had the guts to do that during the life of the current car.
One of the definitions of insanity is doing something repeatedly the same way and expecting different results. Good luck on buying your future BMW's. You'll need it. I will restain my self from answering you idiot epitath. Takes one to know one.

Pennzoil GT-R, you mentioned some problems with 535 engines. I'm thinking of buying either an E34 525i or 535i for my next car (currently have an '86 528e). Over at the Benz forum, many M-B/BMW owners said the 535i is near-bulletproof, especially its engine.

Could you give me some more details as to your experience? I'd really appreciate it as any comments will help me make an informed decision.

Sorry to hear about the problems with the new 745i's :(

Craig

Originally posted by Craig Sieminski
Pennzoil GT-R, you mentioned some problems with 535 engines. I'm thinking of buying either an E34 525i or 535i for my next car (currently have an '86 528e). Over at the Benz forum, many M-B/BMW owners said the 535i is near-bulletproof, especially its engine.

Could you give me some more details as to your experience? I'd really appreciate it as any comments will help me make an informed decision.

Sorry to hear about the problems with the new 745i's :(

Craig

The experiences I had were with a '75 530i. I doubt that they have much value today. However, later year 521e's were dogs. No HP, no torque, wimpy engines. It seems that you either have a problem free car or a lemmon.
My problem was that the zone rep attempted to insult my intelligence by stating that all except for one item on the punch list was my fault. The life threatening was a two piece cast alluminum intake manifold. They had epoxied both pieces together instead of using gaskets and bolts. When the epoxy joint started to open, raw vaporized fuel spilled on the engine and caused explosions and fires. I later learned that BMW had a SECRET recall for this problem. I found a pile of 13 intake manifolds in the dealers parts room. My car cought fire from another problem the second day I had it. Other problems included brakes that lasted only 13,000 miles. He blamed it on my driving style. On my previous car, an Olds Cutless I got over 70,000 miles out of a set of brake pads. All of the beautiful aircraft woven hoses rotted and had to be replaced at 13,000 miles. Same with all the belts. The clock crapped out at 5200mi. I was on my third trans by the time I unloaded the car. BMW's arrogant zone Rep said I didn't know how to shift despite my 250,000 previous experience with manual transmissions. He said I must have shifted into reverse before the car came to a complete stop. The last set of gears was still in the parts room. We went down to inspect them and found no evidence of abuse or chipped teeth. The gears had been ground wrong during manufacture and wined in reverse. There were other serious problems such as the water pump being replaced at about 5000 miles. The car continually overheated on hot days. The air conditioner was completely ineffective. The straw that broke the camels back when I had to have the car towed in because of a serious oil leak. It turned out to be the head gasket for which they charged me $450 in 1978 $ to replace. I rebuilt 2 Chrysler 330 marine engines for $35/ea at around the same time. When I asked why the price was so high, I was given a cock and bull story how much more time it took to change the head gasket on an overhead cam engine. I was chest deep in BS. The service manager informed me that they were having trouble with head gaskets on the 530i's. This engine design was more than 10 years old by that time. I think they should have had it right by 10 years later, don't you? I have heard that there hasn't been much improvement in BMW in the last 25 years. That's why I'll never buy one of their overpriced unreliable lemmons again.
The people who have reliable BMWs are lucky as hell. I hear that the 3 series is mostly bullit proof. The 5s and 7s have always been problematic.

as stecot said, with BMW's you either get a good one, or you get a lemon. The 535 that had 3 engines just kept blowing on him, i never got round as to finding out what happened, just vowed never to buy a BMW. I have no idea why some are good, and some are bad, but thats the way it is. If you really want a BMW then be sure to check all the service manuals and make an effort to find out if its had any major repairs. And DEFINITELY get an independant mechanic to check it over when you go to view it. Me, and especially my dad, have had years of experience working with cars, and we both think the same thing of the majority of BMW's, they are crap. As i said before, the problem is new technology. all the new systems work brilliantly, but they havent always been developed thoroughly, and as a result have a tendency to break

To say the least, my family currently owns a 740iL and a 735i, and they BOTH have been pretty darn reliable over the 5 or so years with which we have owned them. Also, about BMW putting out untested technology..... isn't that what MB did? I've heard from more than one person that the S-Class is pretty darn unreliable. And the New-7 has gone through in excess of 1 million miles, so don't say BMW didn't test it.

And it's rather intersting how the majority of the people who state the problems with the New-7 have got a post count of 1 or 2.

as both me and stecot said. you either get a good one, or a lemon. and i dont know if i did or didnt say this earlier, but the old 7 series was a perfectly good car. Yes MB did put out new technology with the S-Class, but BMW were doing that first with the 5 series. and as you can see from the MB forums, the S-Class HAS had problems.

Answer me this....If the new 7 series has gone through 1 million testing miles, why does it keep breaking?!?

and as for the low post counts, everyone has to start somewhere, and you arent too far above them all at the time of me writing this!!!:D ;)

Well, I guess you win some, you loose some. However, I'm pretty confident that BMW has put through in excess of 1,000,000 of testing... which is what they said in one of their launch videos.

Well here's a rule that I've learned to swear by, and although it's by no means for everyone, I will never buy a car within its first 2 model years. That way you are guaranteed to have most of the major crap that happens ironed out before you get your ride.
:greenchai

Originally posted by Anarki_Renegades
Well here's a rule that I've learned to swear by, and although it's by no means for everyone, I will never buy a car within its first 2 model years. That way you are guaranteed to have most of the major crap that happens ironed out before you get your ride.
:greenchai

thats seems a pretty sensible way to go about things:)

I'm like a couple of the posts above completely disguisted with my 745i purchased in March with 3500 miles. I've been talking to BMW for about a month or more trying to get a refund. I've had all the problems mentioned above plus my back doors wouldn't open and I had to have people crawl into the front seat to get out of the car (embarassing). I also had a scarey experience. A high pitched whistle would go off intermittently and would make it almost impossible to stay in the car. The dealer told me that it was a problem with the i drive controller (the one that controls the tape deck). I'm not going to stop until I get my money back. This is my 7th BMW, including an couple of 6 series L6) in the 80s, and the rest 740i's. The 740s were mostly fairly reliable. I never owned a MB, but I'm thinking about it right now. I wish they had a restyled S500. I sure am a sucker for the latest and greatest. I wonder if I'll ever learn.

Originally posted by talentwave
I'm like a c eries L6) in the 80s, and the rest 740i's. The 740s were mostly fairly reliable. I never owned a MB, but I'm thinking about it right now. I wish they had a restyled S500. I ssomure am a sucker for the latest and greatest. I wonder if I'll ever learn.

Stay away from the S-Class. You must be a glutton for punishment to have owned so many BMW's. There are serious problems on some S-Class MB's. Mine was a disaster. I've spoken to many other S-Class owners. While none of them has experienced as many serious problems as I did, many had serious problems with the cars electronics. I had 7 MB's. My last and final car was replaced with a Lexus LS430. It has almost all of the features that the MB has, some that the MB doesn't have, was $25K less expensive, and best of all the quality and reliability are at least 2 sigma better than the S-Class.

It may be two sigmas better, but I think it is ugly. So what other choices are there?

Originally posted by talentwave
It may be two sigmas better, but I think it is ugly. So what other choices are there?
The BMW is no raving beauty either. The i-drive system is a disaster. I don't think the LS 430 is ugly, just not very distinctive. The build quality is much better than BMW or MB. The nice thing is that I don't have to go to my MB dealer to see it.

The amount of rhetoric is almost amazing...

BMW has been a producer of great autos for a long time with a good rep in the engineering dept (save a few black sheep)... one of the major problems is with people who don't have an eye for used autos with good repair histories. Always look for repair records, run ckecks through VIN numbers, have a specialist who is used to the specific model of vehicle check it out before buying. I have owned a shitload of older and more recent beemers and through scheduled maintainance (most of which my dad and myself peformed on our own with certified parts) I have had very few problems at all. I agree with Anarki_Renegades philosophy on avoiding early production models... but again that is not specific to one auto maker but to all.

The relation to "the Germans" paying taxes to ex ss officers, I think steco needs to go do a bit more research, and mind his manners as well.

PS, my 73 Bavaria just clocked in at over 300,000 miles and STILL looks good(with loving scheduled maintanance and some minor upgrades)

To the best of my knowledge, all companies with facilities in Germany pay federal taxes. Part of those taxes are allocated to paying the pensions of military veterans, which unfortunately includes the despicable SS. As far as minding my manners, I have nothing to apologize for, which can't be said by SS veterans. Where I come from it is not impolite to freely express ones opinions. In fact it is not only our right to do so but ethical and honest as well. The European weanies would do well to develop a culture of ethics and honesty. Europeans are generally self absorbed, selfish and have convenient memories. The USA has saved European barbarians from destroying themselves twice in the last century and an additional time for the ungrateful French. Now, after the 9/11 attacks on US soil and terrorist attacks with Europeans as targets, they have conveniently forgotten Munich. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Since France and Russia have major stakes in Iraqi trade, they once again seem to value money more than the security of themselves and the rest of the world. They have lulled themselves into the illusion that they can once again deal with a meglomaniacal dictator.

Originally posted by stecot
To the best of my knowledge, all companies with facilities in Germany pay federal taxes. Part of those taxes are allocated to paying the pensions of military veterans, which unfortunately includes the despicable SS. As far as minding my manners, I have nothing to apologize for, which can't be said by SS veterans. Where I come from it is not impolite to freely express ones opinions. In fact it is not only our right to do so but ethical and honest as well. The European weanies would do well to develop a culture of ethics and honesty. Europeans are generally self absorbed, selfish and have convenient memories. The USA has saved European barbarians from destroying themselves twice in the last century and an additional time for the ungrateful French. Now, after the 9/11 attacks on US soil and terrorist attacks with Europeans as targets, they have conveniently forgotten Munich. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Since France and Russia have major stakes in Iraqi trade, they once again seem to value money more than the security of themselves and the rest of the world. They have lulled themselves into the illusion that they can once again deal with a meglomaniacal dictator.

and dont ever forget who exactly it was who got the USA on its feet. And who is gonna end up causing World War 3 if that lemon you call a president doesnt watch himself?

and anyway, this is about cars, not politics, lets try to keep it that way.

Originally posted by Pennzoil GT-R


and dont ever forget who exactly it was who got the USA on its feet. And who is gonna end up causing World War 3 if that lemon you call a president doesnt watch himself?

WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN? IF YOU MEAN WE WERE FLOODED BY IMMIGRANTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD WHO CAME HERE BECAUSE THEY WANTED AN OPPORTUNITY TO RAISE, EDUCATE, FEED, HOUSE AND CLOTHE THEIR FAMILIES. WHY DID THEY TRAVEL TO AMERICA? BECAUSE THEY WERE STUCK IN COUNTRIES THAT HAS RIGID CLASS AND CASTE SYSTEMS. I GUESS YOU MEAN THAT EUOROPE PUT US ON OUR FEET BY CHASING MILLIONS OF ITS CITIZENS OUT DURING THE LAST CENTURY WHEN THE SOPHISTICATED(?) EUROPEAN GENTRY AND LEADERSHIP MANAGED TO MASSACRE 50+ MILLION OF ITS CITIZENS.
ABOUT BUSH. IT SEEMS LIKE THE WHOLE SECURITY COUNCIL AND THE US CONGRESS AGREE WITH HIS PLAN TO STOP HUSSEIN. THE WORLD NEEDS A LEADER. EXCEPT FOR TONY BLAIR, EUROPE ARE A BUNCH OF CORRUPT WUSSES.

AND THE BMW IS STILL A PIECE OF CRAP.

Originally posted by stecot


WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN? IF YOU MEAN WE WERE FLOODED BY IMMIGRANTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD WHO CAME HERE BECAUSE THEY WANTED AN OPPORTUNITY TO RAISE, EDUCATE, FEED, HOUSE AND CLOTHE THEIR FAMILIES. WHY DID THEY TRAVEL TO AMERICA? BECAUSE THEY WERE STUCK IN COUNTRIES THAT HAS RIGID CLASS AND CASTE SYSTEMS. I GUESS YOU MEAN THAT EUOROPE PUT US ON OUR FEET BY CHASING MILLIONS OF ITS CITIZENS OUT DURING THE LAST CENTURY WHEN THE SOPHISTICATED(?) EUROPEAN GENTRY AND LEADERSHIP MANAGED TO MASSACRE 50+ MILLION OF ITS CITIZENS.
ABOUT BUSH. IT SEEMS LIKE THE WHOLE SECURITY COUNCIL AND THE US CONGRESS AGREE WITH HIS PLAN TO STOP HUSSEIN. THE WORLD NEEDS A LEADER. EXCEPT FOR TONY BLAIR, EUROPE ARE A BUNCH OF CORRUPT WUSSES.

AND THE BMW IS STILL A PIECE OF CRAP.

i mean it was the british and europeans who first gave the US a real civilisation. you cant deny Europe and especially Britain was by far the most advanced and powerful place on the earth back then, and we brought that to you.

And Bush is still an idiot. What exactly has he done with his war on terrorism except turn the entire middle east even further against the West, and try to start a potentially catastrophic war with Iraq.

And this is STILL about cars not politics. so i will say no more on this.

It is a perverse point of view that concludes that Europe gave the USA it's start because there were millions of repressed Europeans who came to our shores. They came because they were sick of the rigid caste/class system, which was dominant from the 15th through the 1st half of the 20th century Europe. Immigrants came here because of the hopelessness engendered by the lack of opportunity and freedom and the brutality visited upon them by their "governments" and had the courage to resettle in the new world. You also conveniently forgot the Revolutionary war. I suppose you also take credit for starting our unsophisticated America because the British had the good form to loose that war.
You may think that Bush is an idiot; you are entitled to that opinion. But aren't you just a wee bit curious as to why we have had freely elected presidents for over 225 years and Europe has produced Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and countless other dictatorial leaders. So-called sophisticated Europeans may turn up their collective noses when they characterize America. That is nothing more than a manifestation of jealousy. Europeans have been slaughtering each other from time immoral. Americans have had to intervene at the request of Europe to stop the senseless killing. I think an introspective look at many European societies will reveal cowardly barbarians under a thin veneer of civility.

Really, BMW's suck.

Here is a list of problems of have encountered with 745i purchased in March with 3000 miles.

· >>> At infrequent intervals, the automobile hesitates when pressing on the gas from a stationary state. This is not consistent nor can I recreate at will. Also, the acceleration is not smooth.

· The interval marks on the speedometer is for kilometers/hr and not miles. This is confusing and annoying. For example, it is difficult to determine when going 45 miles per hour. Also, this is not consistent with the pictures in the owner’s manual.

· At times, the remote does not work. Also, you need be very close to the car for the remote to work.

· The clear button on the slide out phone keypad does not work in a manner consistent with the clear button on the portable phone.

At times, the navigation display shows the measurement distance to be 50 miles when it is actually displaying 400 feet.

· The warning in the display that must be accepted via the iDrive every time the car started is very obtrusive. How many times does a person need to be told? It would be different if it could ignore it after first reading it like airbag warning on most car visors.

· The telephone has a lot of static when in the car cradle and playing sound through the car’s speakers. I can hear this immediately after pressing the send button before the call is connected so I know this is not the cellular network.

· My dealer originally told me that BMW would provide a phone for any cellular provider. However, when I went to pick up the phone, a day after purchasing the car, I was told a phone for my carrier was not available. I use Cingular GSM service. To use in the car phone and receive the BMW assistance feature I had to sign up with another provider.

· Three time, in three months, I have had to take the car into repair due to a fault in the passive restraint system. They do not know the cause of this fault.

· One time I have had to take the car in for repair because the radio, telephone and voice activation failed to work. I was told re-booting the phone computer fixed the problem.

· Infrequently, and I cannot consistently recreate, the iDrive fails to respond. This happens in the Telephone sub-menu.

· The automatic movement of the headrest when moving the seat forward or back is very, very annoying. The position it automatically adjusts to is not comfortable. I wish I could stop this.

· One time, the window would not stay down. It automatically kept going back up. Turning the car off and on again fixed this problem.

· The booklet titled “The most important functions of your BMW 7 Series at a glance” came with pages upside down and I could not make sense how it was assembled.

· The pictures and instructions for CPT 8000 phone manual do not match the car. It is for a different BMW model.

· When the front seats are raised higher, as is probably required due to the hood line of the car, they do not go back as far. It is difficult to balance seating comfort with visibility. This was not a problem in the 740/750il.

· Changing to radio stations that are not preprogrammed is cumbersome. A tuner not accessed via the iDrive would be helpful.
I have same "acceleration problem " with my 745il since it cant be recreated at will the 4 trips to the dealer have been futile. I have had a few close calls with oncoming traffic. Has your problem been resolved? If so. How &who was the dealer? Thanks

I have same "acceleration problem " with my 745il since it cant be recreated at will the 4 trips to the dealer have been futile. I have had a few close calls with oncoming traffic. Has your problem been resolved? If so. How &who was the dealer? Thanks

My acceleration problem, which the dealer told me was "normal",
happened while driving, not from starting.
I would be cruising along, often about 50-60,and need to accelerate
quickly to change lanes, pass, enter freeway.
The pedal would not respond. If I were doing 60 when I pressed the accelerator, it would continue to do 60 for a substantial pressure on the pedal. Then, slowly, it would begin to accelerate.
Ultimately, it was resolved without comment, during one of the many software "upgrades".
BTW, I have been to the dealer at least 14 times now in 13 months.
CA Lemon Law says I need to notch 30 days in the shop in 18 months.
So far I have about 19 in 13 months.
I don't drive the car a lot so I probably won't make the Lemon limit.

I own a 2002 745i with about 20,000 miles and I have had, and are still having, many of the same problems all of you have listed above. This was my first BMW purchase, and suffice it to say it will be my last. When I took my car in for service to fix many of these problems, I was told that BMW was working on the software and that all of the issues would be resolved. After 4 or 5 complete reprogramming sessions, the issues have not been "repaired". I called my dealership and requested my money back. I was told that BMW was replacing or refunding money for early 2002 vehicles, but that I had not complained enough to be considered for that.

The problem I have is that because they are choosing to replace or refund some of their customers and not others, doesn't that effect the market resale value of these vehicles? I am really angry for being penalized for once in my life for giving a manufacturer time to try to sort out it's problems.

Has anybody heard or does anybody have any information on whether there is any interest in or movement on a class action lawsuit against BMW. It is simply fraud to represent this vehicle as ready for the market place.

Welcome to the club. I've had my 745 for a little over a year and still suffer with many bugs. Get used to the software updates (i've had 3 so far). It seems to be the standard remedy for every problem that you describe for the 745. Good Luck!

You know the 745 is performing more like a bad windows upgrade than a nicely engineered automobile for a reason, the software is loaded with bugs. And then when they upgrade it they load in new and different bugs.

Just own new 745I, now with milage 5k, no big problem, only happened high pitch noise and trembling sound from subwoofer when listening music, a short while it back to normal(computer reset iteself). I guess logic 7 has some problem.

i think i'll stick with my E34...