2008 BMW X5 4.8i: Park?! Are you kidding me?!

That makes it a little tough to Ghost Ride your whip!

Mike, interesting post!
I thought you were supposed to keep the doors closed while driving, though. Was I wrong?

mazdaspeed_jon:
hahaha, good observation. there are too many funny videos of that going on.

I do think it's interesting that the car does this though. I wonder how many other cars will throw themselves into park if the door is opened? I honestly don't really want to try it with mine, haha.

Holy smokes, that is really strange. If the car must intervene, I'd much prefer automatic braking to ruining my transmission. Is there a way to turn off that feature?

I used to work as a lot attendant at a BMW dealership before I got moved to sales and I can honestly say that the X5's, 5ers, and 7's were the most annoying to park in line because of this very feature... I haven't seen in on any BMW that doesn't have the electronic tranny though, so there's still some hope.

Mike, do you know if BMW's done anything to reinforce the pawl in the event that it's done at highway speeds? Plus, what about the effect on the other parts of the transmission?

I'd understand the parking brake, but not slamming the trans into park.

This sucks because if you're ever car jacked in your car you can't just jump out while the car is moving cause it will stop right there, and there you and the carjacker will be, both wondering what the hell is the use of this feature.

Ahhh, ghost ridin da whip.... Brings back some good ol' adolescent memories!!!

"at 11mph as we try to test the limits of just where this boat will stop trying to kill itself"

Haha, funny image.

I think this ranks high in the 'innovations' from BMW, right along with the idrive....

From Drive to Park while moving????? WTF???

"Further proof this SUV needs a manual transmission."

Or how about simply not doing that? No matter the transmission. Wow, that's a dumb feature.

great interior pic btw

i have the same trans in my 535 and if you leave the door open then put in drive you will be fine. otherwise thats a little scary that the car would do that.

Agreed, that's insane. I also hate this shifter. And I love BMWs.

Yeah, that's bizarre. Better not test it too thoroughly though... it will probably record what you did and tattle on you to the dealer when you ask for warranty repairs on the transmission.

What if you're driving along at highway speeds and the door sensor fails and thinks the door is open?

Cool please do report what happens when you open the door at 30 mph.

"What if you're driving along at highway speeds and the door sensor fails and thinks the door is open?"

ttummy, don't you know that BMWs, like all German car companies, NEVER have electrical issues?? I mean, who has ever heard of BMW,MB,VW,Audi EVER having electrical gremlins??

Blasphemy, I say!!

I also don't like the shifter. What's wrong with the traditional PRND? Why that complicated shifter? Is the shifter designed by the same team that designed the idrive?? Why reinvent the wheel??

Either have a regular PRND or have regular Manual....oops! Sorry! All the soccer moms & posers who seem to drive most of the BMWs in Houston don't know how to drive a manual! (I'm excepting the 1% of enthusiasts with BMWs)

WTF?! Nice "safety" feature, BMW!

Do this with the sunroof open, and you'll re-create that scene from "Terms of Endearment": The part where Shirley MacLaine throws the Corvette into Park while Jack Nicholson is doing about 50 mph and standing up in the open sunroof, sending him flying.

I despise that movie, but I'll always remember that scene. :P

What in the world were they thinking??

Yet another reason why I hate what they are doing to BMW. It looks like IT is taking over at BMW, everything seems to be controlled by the computer people. Was anyone from engineering consulted about the damage that could be done by the computer slamming the car in park while moving? And ttummy was right, when a sensor fails at 80mph and the computer thinks the door is opened what happens? I don't know if anyone from BMW reads these posts but please bring back PRND, give up on iDrive and buy MMI from VW/Audi or better yet buy a Lexus and copy the interior.

Does any door cause that effect? I figure they'll upgrade this concept to taking off the seatbelt.

I agree with allthingshonda. I'm no computer illiterate & found the iDrive easy enough to learn. But it did have some learning curve & I wouldn't trust any layman to learn it early.

Compared to Audi's MMI or MB's COMMAND, iDrive is eons behind in usability. The interface might look easy on a computer but is NOT easy to operate in a car, Period.

Heck, even Hyundai's interface in Genesis is better than idrive crap.

This is bad. I had a similar thing happen to me in the 550i - hit the park button before the car was completely stopped, and the trans slammed into Park. I expected it to "soft engage" once the vehicle had stopped.

There has got to be some limit where sanity kicks in and the brains of the vehicle realize "hey, perhaps going into park at 65Mph because little Timmy opened the door while moving isn't such a good idea..."

I, for one, don't like this feature. Think of all the wonderful Youtube videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07mmZWjb76A) we'll miss of runaway cars. Truly, a sad day for the Internet.

I agree. This used to happen on the 745i's I used to have to park as a valet. True nightmare when you were trying to back into a tiny space with the door cracked open to check your clearances. The 745 was by far the most annoying [new] car to park.

Does it slam the vehicle in park if you open the door with your seatbelt on or is it only relying on the door ajar signal?