anyone else have this problem?

car sort of jumps?


also, what's the proper idle r.p.m.'s once warm?

Are you engaging the kick down feature (i.e flooring the gas pedal hard)? If so, this would be normal. I used to give my passengers whiplash on my dad's 730 and it wasn't nearly as powerful as your 335. It is fun though. Idle RPM for me is around 600.

Does it do it when you are slowing down to say make a turn when you get back on the gas? Reason I ask is mine was all jerky and turns out it was a bad transmission. BMW said it should stop after 20 minutes of warming up..I think 20 minutes would be excessive..However, they did replace my transmission. The steptronic jerkiness was much worse in automatic then in sport mode. It was really annoying..Pretty much like whiplash...It would also want to jack rabbit start at every light when I took off..even when I wasn't getting into it..


anyone else have this problem?

car sort of jumps?


also, what's the proper idle r.p.m.'s once warm?

anyone else have this problem?

car sort of jumps?


also, what's the proper idle r.p.m.'s once warm?When I'm in steptronic mode, I never down shift to or take off from first. I just leave it in second then upshift when it's right to.

I'm not sure I know what jump you are talking about, but when I also down shift from 2nd to 1st, my car is put into very low gear, so it rapidly slows down. That is normal ;)

My idle rpm's once warm is also ~600

anyone else have this problem?

car sort of jumps?


also, what's the proper idle r.p.m.'s once warm?


Can you please provide more detail?

Can you please provide more detail?

This would certainly be helpful.

Are you in DS mode or Normal mode?

Are you manually shifting from 2nd to 1st or are you letting the tranny do the shifting?

I wanted to revive this thread to see if anyone else is having this problem. I've had my 328xi Coupe with AT for a month. I am driving in "regular" mode (no manual shifting by me, I just put it in Drive and go). It is hard to describe/pinpoint the problem, it just seems "clunky" -- especially downshifting to slow down, or taking off from a stop. It hesitates and then seems to clunk into gear. Driving in stop-and-go traffic is NOT fun. Lots of clunky shifting and lurching. I've come around a corner near my home and twice it clunked so hard I thought I went over a curb. Also, my son drove the car and noticed it -- and I had not even mentioned it to him. He's saying I should've noticed it on the test drive, which of course I didn't because I only drove the car a few minutes and mostly on the highway.

I have not tried the paddle shifters, but of course I don't think it would be acceptable to be forced to use the manual shifters because the AT is not shifting smoothly.

Any input/advice would be appreciated. I'm very afraid this is going to be one of those "working as designed" problems if I bring it in to the dealer.

I wanted to revive this thread to see if anyone else is having this problem. I've had my 328xi Coupe with AT for a month. I am driving in "regular" mode (no manual shifting by me, I just put it in Drive and go). It is hard to describe/pinpoint the problem, it just seems "clunky" -- especially downshifting to slow down, or taking off from a stop. It hesitates and then seems to clunk into gear. Driving in stop-and-go traffic is NOT fun. Lots of clunky shifting and lurching. I've come around a corner near my home and twice it clunked so hard I thought I went over a curb. Also, my son drove the car and noticed it -- and I had not even mentioned it to him. He's saying I should've noticed it on the test drive, which of course I didn't because I only drove the car a few minutes and mostly on the highway.

I have not tried the paddle shifters, but of course I don't think it would be acceptable to be forced to use the manual shifters because the AT is not shifting smoothly.

Any input/advice would be appreciated. I'm very afraid this is going to be one of those "working as designed" problems if I bring it in to the dealer.

I have posted my response to this subject thread many times, here is a copy of one of them:

I had a 2007 328xi sedan with AT and had all the same problems that you have reported, Hesitation, lurching, clunky shifts, hard downshifts, etc. In stop and go traffic all these symptoms worsened. The foreman of my BMW dealer, who is a friend of mine, told me that he knows the BMW transmission engineers by first name because of all the reported problems. He also said that 99% of the transmission problems are ONLY on the 328xi model with AT transmission. His personal recommendation, to me, was to get out of this car and avoid BMW xi models with AT. BMW's response to these problems was that the car is acting normal. Even on several loaners I noticed the same quirkiness. After several complaints and no action I grew more frustrated and dissatisfied with my 328xi and traded it in for a 2008 335i coupe, back to good ole RWD AND I could not be happier, plus the extra power helps out.

Yes, Christos, I did see that response in a different thread. Unfortunately, I'm in a 39-mo. lease and have a feeling it won't be easy to get out of it. I cannot afford to lose money, I spent enough to begin with. I was hoping to hear if any other owners had any success getting it fixed (I did see that one poster had the entire transmission replaced, but others got no resolution at all.)

The funny thing is, I originally wanted the RWD because I was trying to keep the price down -- I only took the AWD because it was on the lot and they were willing to deal more if they didn't have to order the car. Plus I live in the Northeast, where it does sometimes snow.

In my research on this site, I have not been able to narrow it down to just the AWD model though....it seems it's been reported by a variety of 3 owners. I am going to road-test it and take notes on when it has a problem -- what the specific circumstances are -- and then switch to DS mode or whatever it is, to see whether that changes things.

My son drove it again last night with me in the car (eeeek, he makes me nervous) and it definitely clunked when going around a corner. He said it seems to take too long to downshift, then when it does, it lurches. Really sucks....I was hoping to love driving this car.

Yes, Christos, I did see that response in a different thread. Unfortunately, I'm in a 39-mo. lease and have a feeling it won't be easy to get out of it. I cannot afford to lose money, I spent enough to begin with. I was hoping to hear if any other owners had any success getting it fixed (I did see that one poster had the entire transmission replaced, but others got no resolution at all.)

The funny thing is, I originally wanted the RWD because I was trying to keep the price down -- I only took the AWD because it was on the lot and they were willing to deal more if they didn't have to order the car. Plus I live in the Northeast, where it does sometimes snow.

In my research on this site, I have not been able to narrow it down to just the AWD model though....it seems it's been reported by a variety of 3 owners. I am going to road-test it and take notes on when it has a problem -- what the specific circumstances are -- and then switch to DS mode or whatever it is, to see whether that changes things.

My son drove it again last night with me in the car (eeeek, he makes me nervous) and it definitely clunked when going around a corner. He said it seems to take too long to downshift, then when it does, it lurches. Really sucks....I was hoping to love driving this car.

Sorry to hear you don't love driving the car, after all that's why we buy BMW's. I know what you mean about taking a loss, I took about a $10,000 loss by trading in my 2007 for a 2008 model. I recommended that you really be vocal to your BMW dealer and get them to replace the transmission. Remember " The squeaky wheel gets the grease" In retrospect, I should have been much more vocal than I was, but the 335i coupe was calling out to me, "Drive me, take me home"!

MT 4 life.

'08 328xi : My car does the same thing, but not to the extent yours does. My biggest beef is the hesitation from a dead stop. The fact that I HAVE to switch to DS mode just to get a normal acceleration feeling from a dead stop, seems like an easy way out of a problem, and doesn't really solve the issue.... but that's what I do when I know I need a quick burst to beat the oncoming car or something. Only time I've noticed hard downshifting was when I was actually in DS mode (don't need to shift while in this mode, car will do it for you), but that hard downshift usually happens when you are going from 3->2 or 2->1. I'm just hardly in that mode, so it doesn't bother me much. I test drove the xi in a snow storm with about 4" of snow on the ground and that test drive sold me the car and the all wheel drive. It just STUCK to the ground, and in Minnesota, our Winter is like 9 months of the year... so no RWD for me.

MT 4 life.

:buttrock Well said Sir.

MT 4 life.


OR, until you're age 58 with nerve damage down your left leg from a bad back. Yep, sadly, my MT days are over.

I did a 4-hour round-trip to Philly today, and really paid attention to where the problems are. The worst is when you're coasting (say, coming down a circular off-ramp) and then hit the gas -- loooooong delay, followed by clunky down-shift. Secondly is stop-and-go traffic, or should I say slow-down and go....VERY clunky. I'll call the dealer tomorrow. Oh, I tried DS last night but it didn't help.

I'm also being driven crazy by a clackety-clack sound that's coming from the left side and amps up the faster I go. Assumed it was a stone in the tire, but I've done a complete check and can't find anything.

I'd treat it like a MT car... never shift down 2->1 unless you are completely stopped. First gear is there to help you start quickly. It's not really meant to be driven in for any serious length of time. And if you are already moving, I would avoid downshifting to first. Maybe if you are moving less than 5mph, but otherwise, leave first gear alone.

It's not that you'll "break" something, but more because it won't be smooth. As you've seen.

Some people have had luck with "resetting" the transmission. If you search this forum, you can find out mroe details.

Also, the BMW automatic transmission has never been bulletproof. It is not unlikely that something is broken or out of whack. Make sure to complain to BMW at every level, so your valid concerns are documented -- think warranty. Also, there may just be a lack of "sportiness" to the transmission in your car. Simply, it is not designed for it, kind of like the transmission in my car, the MT 328i. It is not anywhere near as smooth or as precise or as "sporty" as that of the ZF trannies (get your mind out of the gutter). But, it is sporty enough for me. Lastly, a program update or sport tuning of the ECU may help your car feel more responsive if all else is in order.
Luck

Some people have had luck with "resetting" the transmission. If you search this forum, you can find out mroe details.

Also, the BMW automatic transmission has never been bulletproof. It is not unlikely that something is broken or out of whack. Make sure to complain to BMW at every level, so your valid concerns are documented -- think warranty. Also, there may just be a lack of "sportiness" to the transmission in your car. Simply, it is not designed for it, kind of like the transmission in my car, the MT 328i. It is not anywhere near as smooth or as precise or as "sporty" as that of the ZF trannies (get your mind out of the gutter). But, it is sporty enough for me. Lastly, a program update or sport tuning of the ECU may help your car feel more responsive if all else is in order.
Luck


+1 E-12,,,for ZF transmissions. They are SUPERB, and right now the only way to get one is by buying a 335i. I'm lovin mine!!!!!!!!!!!!

+1 E-12,,,for ZF transmissions. They are SUPERB, and right now the only way to get one is by buying a 335i. I'm lovin mine!!!!!!!!!!!!

or an M3.

Umm... treat it just like a standard transmission, you never need to downshift to 1st unless your at a dead stop...

i guess i wasn't clear...

i never mess around with those stupid paddle shifters i always leave the car in auto mode.

the hard clunky downshift happens all on its own. almost always when approaching a stop sign or traffic light at a slow rate of speed.


clunk.

i guess i wasn't clear...

i never mess around with those stupid paddle shifters i always leave the car in auto mode.

the hard clunky downshift happens all on its own. almost always when approaching a stop sign or traffic light at a slow rate of speed.


clunk.

Automatics all do that...even Honday (I know you're going to say it didn't) but Honda/Acura had some HUGE problems with their AT's that were hidden very well. What other companies are hung for (failure) and it wasn't made out to be a big deal.

i guess i wasn't clear...

i never mess around with those stupid paddle shifters i always leave the car in auto mode.

the hard clunky downshift happens all on its own. almost always when approaching a stop sign or traffic light at a slow rate of speed.


clunk.

Being that you're complaining about downshifts from 2->1 it sounds like you're in sport mode. Mine does this too.

Switch it from sport mode to regular automatic mode (i.e. don't slide the gear selector to the left) and the problem should go away.

BMW definately has room for improvement here. My friends MB SLK350 doesn't downshift hard when he's in sport mode. Wish my car was like that sometimes.

Automatics all do that...even Honday (I know you're going to say it didn't) but Honda/Acura had some HUGE problems with their AT's that were hidden very well. What other companies are hung for (failure) and it wasn't made out to be a big deal.


Not all AT's, my ZF AT doesn't do it, it's as smooth as can be...

I'm trying to find some patterns here but I can't. So far we've had problems reported by Dullgirl (335 sedan), Bimmer335i (335i sedan), me (328xi coupe), Christos (328xi sedan) and b4scotty (328xi). So it does not seem too be limited to the 328, nor the AWD. Bimmer got a new tranny in his 335i, which resolved the issue. Christos traded is 328xi for a 335i coupe RWD and has no problems at all.

Just to clarify a couple things -- Dullgirl and I are both using staight "auto" mode, no DS and no paddles, no manual anything. I tried DS mode and it didn't help. Plus in a car this expensive, I find it unacceptable that I'd have to use a "workaround" to get the transmission to stop clunking and lurching.

My major issues seem to be: Taking off from a stop, the car shifts quickly into 2nd, but if you take your foot off the gas, it lurches. Coming around a corner at around 25 mph and then hitting the gas -- it hesitates, revs and then clunks into the downshift. Sometimes just putting it into Park will cause a clunk. I hope that I can duplicate the conditions consistently enough that I can prove there's a problem for the Service Dept.

My 2005 Cadillac CTS auto transmission did nothing like this. Oddly, I ruled out the 2008 CTS after test-driving one that had a .... clunky transmission. I think I've got some kind of curse with this...

I think it's just a matter now of who gets the car to the dealer first -- me or Dullgirl.

I have dead spot on moderate takeoff in D mode while the Steptronic shifts from first to second. Cure is to pull the paddle while waiting at the light to put car in M2. Then it pulls ahead consistently. I wish it would do this all the time. Any chance this could be programmed as default?

I have dead spot on moderate takeoff in D mode while the Steptronic shifts from first to second. Cure is to pull the paddle while waiting at the light to put car in M2.


Huh? I'm not sure what that means in English. Anyway, I called the dealer and explained my transmission issue. I asked if someone could take my car and drive it overnight to really experience the problem. She said absolutely, and they'll put me in a 328xi loaner. WOW! I'm not used to an agreeable dealer. Anyway, I couldn't get an appt. til 7/14 so I'll check back in after that. I thought the xi loaner would be good as it will be an apples-to-apples comparison. I bet it's a sedan though. The 328 sedans have the same tranny as the coupe, right?

Huh? I'm not sure what that means in English. Anyway, I called the dealer and explained my transmission issue. I asked if someone could take my car and drive it overnight to really experience the problem. She said absolutely, and they'll put me in a 328xi loaner. WOW! I'm not used to an agreeable dealer. Anyway, I couldn't get an appt. til 7/14 so I'll check back in after that. I thought the xi loaner would be good as it will be an apples-to-apples comparison. I bet it's a sedan though. The 328 sedans have the same tranny as the coupe, right?


Yes I believe they do, All 328's have the GM model AT. The 335i's have the ZF brand

Just a quick update on this issue. I dropped my car (328xi AT coupe) at the dealer today....I've had it 1-1/2 months and the clunking, hesitating and lurching is driving me nuts. Step on the gas, it lurches forward. (I've had to learn to step on the gas VERY slowly and gradually to avoid the lurches.) Step on the brake, it lurches. The engine drags a lot and hesitates before it downshifts. It really has made stop-and-go driving a miserable experience. Every time I see traffic slowing, I dread the braking and accelerating -- NOT smooth at all. Sadly, I don't even look forward to driving the car, except for cruising at highway speeds.

So I have a 328xi sedan as a loaner. It too has a little bit of clunkiness, but nowhere near my car's. In fact, I don't even think I'd have noticed it if I weren't looking for it. The braking and acceleration is much smoother. I could actually live with this car.

I asked the Service Dept. to keep my car overnight and have someone drive it in stop-and-go. Whether they do that or not, who knows. I really hope they don't just give it back with the dreaded "working as designed" line. As I mentioned above, my son noticed something was wrong when he drove it, and I hadn't even mentioned the problem to him yet. Anyhoo, I'll let you know.

I got the car back last week but went on vacation (by air) for a week. Anyway, the dealer checked the transmission, no error codes coming from the computer, but it was behind on the software updates so they installed the latest version. So far, it has definitely IMPROVED things but they are far from perfect. But they're much more livable. I'll let you know how it's going in a few weeks....I hope it continues to improve.

Just a quick update on my status -- the software update didn't take care of much. I had to drive in stop-and-go today and it was MISERABLE. Every time I step on the gas, I'm not sure whether the car is going to go or not. The clunky downshifting continues. It even clunks when I put it in Park and shut off the engine. The loaner car (328 sedan) also had a clunky transmission -- not sure if it was quite as bad as my coupe, but still. The car feels very heavy, which I attribute to the AWD...wish I had stuck to my original plan of RWD. But either way, it doesn't sound like I'd get a smooth tranny unless I got the 335....which is out of my price range. So while I LOVE the look of my car (and see many people checking it out), I do not love driving it. No one would, unless they enjoyed lurching. Very disappointing, as my previous two BMWs ('89 3 and '00 5) were so much fun to drive.

Just a quick update on my status -- the software update didn't take care of much. I had to drive in stop-and-go today and it was MISERABLE. Every time I step on the gas, I'm not sure whether the car is going to go or not. The clunky downshifting continues. It even clunks when I put it in Park and shut off the engine. The loaner car (328 sedan) also had a clunky transmission -- not sure if it was quite as bad as my coupe, but still. The car feels very heavy, which I attribute to the AWD...wish I had stuck to my original plan of RWD. But either way, it doesn't sound like I'd get a smooth tranny unless I got the 335....which is out of my price range. So while I LOVE the look of my car (and see many people checking it out), I do not love driving it. No one would, unless they enjoyed lurching. Very disappointing, as my previous two BMWs ('89 3 and '00 5) were so much fun to drive.


Man I feel your pain!!!! I said the same thing, I did not love or even enjoy driving that car. I was fortunate enough to be in a postion to afford trading in for a 335, but did take, like stated in previous posts a $10,000 loss on trading my 2007 328xi sedan in for the 335i coupe. Have you driven the 335i with the ZF trasnmission, its wonderful. I can't believe BMW didn't put the ZF in the 328. I am sure it was for economic reasons and to maximize profit on the 328

No, I haven't driven the 335 -- aren't they all over $50K? Plus, as I recall, I thought I saw posts from some 335 owners complaining of the same issue....? Anyway, I can't afford a $50K+ car, but I don't know what to do. I think my next step is to escalate the issue to the Service Manager, and tell him this time I want someone to take the car for several days, not just one day. They did acknowledge there was a problem last time (hence the software update) so at least the problem is on record. Thanks for your post and your empathy with my situation -- at least I know I'm not the only one who didn't enjoy driving the car despite its being a BMW.

Edited to add: On the 328 v. 335 question, I went back and reviewed the entire thread -- the original poster owned a 335 and another 335 owner reported the same issue....so it doesn't appear to be limited to the 328, which is what I'm afraid of.

I'm starting a new thread on this issue because the other one (Steptronic Hard Downshifts) was started by someone else, and didn't convey the full extent of the problem. For more background, please check that thread. Quick summary: I leased my '08 328xi with AT not quite three months ago and I am miserable driving it unless I'm doing over 40 on a highway. Issues:

1) Backing out of garage, car is all lurchy every time I take my foot off the brake. Brakes are grabby, even after getting used to them.
2) Easing up to the stop sign at the end of the block, car lurches when I take my foot off the gas. Feels just like a manual tranny bucking in 1st gear.
3) Stepping on the gas to accelerate, the car sort of jackrabbits -- throws my head back, and not in a good way.
4) Between say 15-40, the car is all confused about what gear it should be in. Hard downshifts. Step on the gas, it hesitates then surges. Sometimes, I can hear an actual clunk as it downshifts. (Or even after I turn the car off after parking. Clunk.)
5) Coasting around a corner, I never know what will happen when I step back on the gas. It always hesitates, then sometimes rockets off, or sometimes the engine races before it rockets, occasionally it will make a clunking noise (I actually thought I ran over the curb).
6) In stop-and-go traffic, I would like to kill myself. You know how you're accelerating, then braking, then coasting, etc.? My car is lurching with the grabby brakes, then deciding what gear it should be in while I'm coasting, then hesitating and surging when I accelerate again.

I could go on and on, but you get the gist. Lots of input/feedback/suggestions/sympathy on the other thread, but no clear answers. Others are either putting up with it, doing workarounds, getting new transmissions, or trading in their cars. I took it in a month ago and they applied the software update that is supposed to address this. It has not helped. I drove it today with the shop foreman in the car with me. He agreed there is a problem.

Here's the thing: I have a 328i loaner. Though the transmission is far from perfect, it is a zillion percent better than my xi. It actually was fairly smooth in stop-and-go traffic. It didn't lurch. I didn't have to avoid braking. Even though it wasn't the peppiest, it was kind of fun to drive! In my research on the internet, I found a dozen other examples of similar problems, and the most severe were all 328xi's. I found no reports of problems with 328i's. And now, with this loaner, I can see the difference between the i and the xi, even though the transmission is supposedly the same in both models of the 328.

Sorry for the long post, but I know there are a few others out there with this problem. It really makes the car undrive-able, if that's a word. The dealer is being very understanding, but I honestly don't know what they can do with this if it's a fundamental problem with the combo of smaller engine, AT and AWD. I'll keep you posted.

I'm starting a new thread on this issue because the other one (Steptronic Hard Downshifts) was started by someone else, and didn't convey the full extent of the problem.
No sorry, you don't get to start a new thread on the same problem just because someone else started that thread. Threads have been merged and I highly discourage such actions in the future. It is best to have related info consolidated for the benefit of others that are searching the topic. No harm in updating an existing thread with more info, in fact it is very beneficial to do so.

I'm starting a new thread on this issue because the other one (Steptronic Hard Downshifts) was started by someone else, and didn't convey the full extent of the problem. For more background, please check that thread. Quick summary: I leased my '08 328xi with AT not quite three months ago and I am miserable driving it unless I'm doing over 40 on a highway. Issues:

1) Backing out of garage, car is all lurchy every time I take my foot off the brake. Brakes are grabby, even after getting used to them.
2) Easing up to the stop sign at the end of the block, car lurches when I take my foot off the gas. Feels just like a manual tranny bucking in 1st gear.
3) Stepping on the gas to accelerate, the car sort of jackrabbits -- throws my head back, and not in a good way.
4) Between say 15-40, the car is all confused about what gear it should be in. Hard downshifts. Step on the gas, it hesitates then surges. Sometimes, I can hear an actual clunk as it downshifts. (Or even after I turn the car off after parking. Clunk.)
5) Coasting around a corner, I never know what will happen when I step back on the gas. It always hesitates, then sometimes rockets off, or sometimes the engine races before it rockets, occasionally it will make a clunking noise (I actually thought I ran over the curb).
6) In stop-and-go traffic, I would like to kill myself. You know how you're accelerating, then braking, then coasting, etc.? My car is lurching with the grabby brakes, then deciding what gear it should be in while I'm coasting, then hesitating and surging when I accelerate again.

I could go on and on, but you get the gist. Lots of input/feedback/suggestions/sympathy on the other thread, but no clear answers. Others are either putting up with it, doing workarounds, getting new transmissions, or trading in their cars. I took it in a month ago and they applied the software update that is supposed to address this. It has not helped. I drove it today with the shop foreman in the car with me. He agreed there is a problem.

Here's the thing: I have a 328i loaner. Though the transmission is far from perfect, it is a zillion percent better than my xi. It actually was fairly smooth in stop-and-go traffic. It didn't lurch. I didn't have to avoid braking. Even though it wasn't the peppiest, it was kind of fun to drive! In my research on the internet, I found a dozen other examples of similar problems, and the most severe were all 328xi's. I found no reports of problems with 328i's. And now, with this loaner, I can see the difference between the i and the xi, even though the transmission is supposedly the same in both models of the 328.

Sorry for the long post, but I know there are a few others out there with this problem. It really makes the car undrive-able, if that's a word. The dealer is being very understanding, but I honestly don't know what they can do with this if it's a fundamental problem with the combo of smaller engine, AT and AWD. I'll keep you posted.The only way to know if it's a widespread issue is to test drive a similarly equipped car. It's hard to say if a few anecdotes on the web point to a 'works as designed' or just a group of similar failures, or even if what others are describing is the same thing you feel.

Just a quick update on my particular transmission issue with the 328xi (documented above) -- BMW did a "trade assist" and I am now happily in a 335i sedan. This was not a quick process nor was it an easy process -- because the dealer was in the middle -- but I cannot say enough about BMW's customer service. At the end of the day, they want a happy customer. They did not "officially" acknowledge there was a problem with the car, but I could very much tell I'm not the only customer to complain about the behavior of the 328xi's transmission.

This is a perfect example of why I am happy that I went with BMW instead of a GM product. In contrast, I had an issue with my '05 Cadillac CTS and had to freak out just to get a tech to keep it long enough to recreate the problem. BMW's entire line of vehicles is expensive, and they treat the customer accordingly. This kind of stuff is what builds a "customer for life".

The only thing I had to give up was my beloved (automatic) "angel-eye" DRLs. This is what originally attracted me to the 3-series. Sadly, they don't have them on the sedan. Small price to pay. I love driving again!

I agree, I have NEVER had an AT that did that. I experience it in DS (sport) mode but not in regualr AT on my 328i and as I say on many prior AT cars of various types never had this issue.

Glad you got it resolved!