Currently on month 15 of a 36 month lease on a 2024 BMW i5. Due to the below reasons, I am just done with the car. It has given me so many problems and at the price I am paying, I need a reliable, nice car for myself and my family. Dealerships around my area are useless because of the ~$15k in negative equity I have on this lease. I have officially filed a “complaint” to see what my options are with BMW NA Customer Relations. With all the above and below being said, any suggestions, tips, or tricks???
Issues:
200 miles into driving it off the lot the literal transmission of the car in front of me fell into the road and I ran it over on the drivers side wheels. Both wheels immediately became flat and there was some more minor damage. 2 new tires
3000 miles into driving it off the lot, on an extremely busy major city Beltway, the car literally just shut off. I do not know the details why but it was in the shop for 28 DAYS until they finally got it back to me. A lot “talking to Germany" and ordering special parts “from Germany”
4000 miles into driving if off the lot, passenger front tire had a nail in it. 1 new tire. 2 days in the shop
6000 miles into driving it off the lot, driver side back tire was flat - no reason why. 1 new tire. 2 days in the shop
10000 miles into driving it off the lot, multiple recalls popped up. 5 days in the shop.
16000 miles (this week) into driving it off the lot, front left tire is flat and the tire pressure sensor is broken. Reason being is “I ran over something” which I did not. Currently day 7 in the shop. Worst service and communication ever with my local dealer.
Multiple little issues here and there that the dealer can usually clear up quickly in the same day.
In summary, I have had to pay for 5 new tires in 15 months and it has been in the shop for over 45 DAYS of the 465 days I have had it on a lease. That is 10% of the time.
Am I crazy to think this is abnormal and there is something wrong with this car? I am not an aggressive, speed demon driver and have NEVER had any major issues like this with the 10+ cars I have owned in my life.
why didnt you contact a lemon lawyer yet. That’s the first step to get out of this, or you can dump it on swapalease and pray with your probably awful payment considering its MD.
It’s really abnormal, you shouldve contacted a lawyer months ago. But also 5 series with the ultra low profile tires are a pothole / flat tire magnet, and the i5 is even worse since its heavier.
Unless I’m not reading this right, road hazards are the majority of your issues and are not the manufacturers or dealers fault. It seems only one of these issues is related to the manufacturer and that’s thr one it soent 28 days in the shop for. Recalls happen to all manufacturers. They were likely giving you a loaner to drive and not lying to you about parts from Germany.
I had a Merc with tons of tire problems, tires would just blow out or go to 0 psi out of nowhere, I think I bought 4 or 5 tires that year. Turns out I had accidentally set the tire pressure too low by about 4 or 5 psi all around. Doesn’t sound like much but on those particular low-profile runflat tires it apparently made a huge difference - the tires were under excessive stress and failed.
Are you checking your tire pressure regularly, in the morning after the car has sat overnight? And double-checking that you’re setting them to the right pressure?
Bruh the majority of your complaints are due to tire issues. Like someone said if you’re at a pothole ridden city you’re going to have a lot of flats. I had flats often in Brooklyn for my 2014 e350… never had that issue in Florida. Change your tires or driving habits.
Not sure about your other issue(s). You should have been given a reason why it broke down. My wife’s lyriq did because a software update bricked it… so we’ve refused updating software for like 7 months now lol (not a real solution)…
That’s still lemon lawable in some states. The law varies by state, so you contact a lawyer, tell your story, and try to get paid. In my state you can get a settlement for time out of service/unresolved issues even when you have a loaner.
What size tire/wheel package are on your I5? If you have large wheels with low profile tires you may want to invest in a smaller diameter set of wheels and tires. I assume you have run-flats?
It seems you have just hit a string of bad luck with all the tire issues.
Man im sorry you are having tough luck with your i5 but honestly only item 2 is the dealer or BMW’s problem.
Item 1) You are very lucky you did you not damage your entire front end when you ran into another vehicles transmission in front of you. I have an i5 myself and it sets very low at the front and to be honest, not even and X5 or X7 could run over without taking a major impact on the front end (and no im not talking minor damage still with the ride height).
Items 3,4 &6 are just bad luck with driving. Unfortunately, they wont really care. If you live in a city with bad road conditions, do check on tire n wheel options. I never cared about it but started 2 years ago and came out well ahead of what I paid for them.
Item 5 - A lot of us received recalls on the i5s. I didn’t receive a popup but the car went in for service and was kept for 5 days, (Monday morning till Friday) as there was indeed a part that needed to be ordered.
Unfortunately happens to a lot of us that we get that one time bad luck or appliance. Just be grateful that you or your family wasnt harmed. You can always transfer out the car to someone else if you want and hopefully they may have better luck for the remainder of the lease.
Like others have mentioned above, most of these are road hazards and bad luck, not really the fault of BMW. However, having a heavy EV sports car with low profile tires is absolutely a nail/puncture magnet. Moreover, even without acute damage, you’ll probably still need to replace all the tires every 10,000 miles if you have an M50 or drive with a heavy foot. This is all stuff that Tesla drivers have been doing for years, so you’re not alone with the tire problems.
Also, as someone above recommended, a valid option for you might be putting your car up on SwapALease/LeaseTrader and see what you can get for it. If the dealerships are saying you are $15K neg-equity, you can probably trade away your car with a $3-4K incentive on SwapALease and be done with it. (Dealership need a ~$10K margin, so you’re only being offered the wholesale price – so it feels like a low-ball, doesn’t it?) Anyways, maybe it’s worth it to eat ~$4K to get away from a car you are no longer in love with?
BTW, if you do lease any other high torque/high horsepower EV with low profile tires, don’t be surprised if you continue to have tire problems in the future. I bet it would happen with a Tesla Model S or a Porsche Taycan as well.
