2011 BMW 528i: Throttle Tip-In Insanity

BLASPHEMY!!! Dear lord this will cause heart flutter all over this board! LOL

That shifter is very ugly

I cannot stand BMW automatic transmissions... they're rubbish.

The sky is falling, the sky is falling..

I think your comparison is a little weak. A $44K BMW versus a $58K Hyundai isn't really apples to apples. Yeah you can option the 528i up to that level easily, but the car itself is still a mid-40's car. A 550i would make for a more fair comparison of powertrain "refinement". Throttle tip-in is messed up throughout the 5-Series range, though, so that complaint is still valid.

Huge props to Hyundai, though, for getting things right.

@mercedesfan
The cars are nearly priced the same. Any comparison is completely legitimate.

I bought a loaded Caddy CTS-V for roughly the same price as both the BMW and Hyundai plus I got 0% financing for 72 months.

Which would you chose if you were spending your own money?

BMW abandoned the slogan, 'The Ultimate Driving Machine' for a reason - they are not.

And they seem to be getting worse.

mercedesfan says:

I think your comparison is a little weak. A $44K BMW versus a $58K Hyundai isn't really apples to apples. Yeah you can option the 528i up to that level easily, but the car itself is still a mid-40's car.

So a $44,000 car should be given a pass on refinement when compared to a $58K car? That's rediculous, we aren't comparing an Versa to an E Class here. The Equus and 528 are both premium level sedans, and the BMW has a poorly sorted transmission, simple as that.

What does a 550 optioned to match the Equus cost?

"Which would you chose if you were spending your own money?"

A CPO E90 M3.

Both the Hyundai tranny and the BMW tranny are made by the same company which is probably why Albert mentions the comparison. The 6 speed ZF in the Equus has been around for an eternity and is bullet proof. The new 8 speed version in the BMW is a little more difficult to regulate from standing. Once you get used to it, it's quite intuitive, but if you are the type to stab at the throttle, the 5 series is going to make you think it's broken (I have both a Genesis V8 and a 11' 535i).

@roadburner:

And you'd still get an annoying choice between a throttle setting that is either a) lethargic to the point of apathy, or b) twitchy to the point of ridiculousness.

I leave my E90 M3 in "Power," because otherwise I feel like I'm driving a 7 series, but this is far from ideal--it bobs the passengers' heads and is annoying non-linear.

Don't get me wrong--the E90 M3 does a lot of pretty incredible things. But for the life of me I can't figure out why BMW can't pick a single throttle calibration and stick to it.

And I second shaddai's comment--BMW's automatic transmissions are uniformly terrible. Like the throttle programs, they either display a snoring somnambulance or an intrusive, irritating coarseness (in Sport or M mode). What they don't do is just unobtrusively shift gears. Since I'd never ever buy a BMW automatic anyway this isn't really a huge problem for me, but every time I drive a service loaner I marvel at the fact that the BMW's transmission is substantially worse than the one in my father's Taurus.

"I bought a loaded Caddy CTS-V for roughly the same price as both the BMW and Hyundai plus I got 0% financing for 72 months."

Courtesy of the US taxpayers.

"And you'd still get an annoying choice between a throttle setting that is either a) lethargic to the point of apathy, or b) twitchy to the point of ridiculousness."

I didn't find the throttle mapping to be all that bad in the E9x M3 press loaners that I've driven. To each his own...

@roadburner--

Perhaps it's down to personal preference, but I can't help but compare the E90 to the late-model Porsches I've driven. Even just the base model Porsches have a fantastically easy to modulate (though somewhat heavy) clutch and a throttle that provides precise, linear adjustment. No guesswork, no gimmicks, no feeling as if there is a dead spot followed by a rush of power.

The E90 is better in this regard than the E46 I had, but it's still not quite there (and still not as good as the old, non-e-throttle E36).

@prefcustomer,

I have a '10 M3 with the 6MT and I have no problems with the throttle mapping, but I have driven many BMWs with automatics and I generally dislike the throttle response as well.

Solution? Next time just get the stick.

Sounds like the throttle calibration is set to a couple of relative extremes. Almost better to not offer different settings.

@lmbvette,

Oh how I love the CTS-V. It would be hard for me to choose either of these two when the Caddy is priced so similarly. Unfortunately, I could never buy a CTS-V. The seats just don't work for me at all. I've never been able to get even marginally comfortable in one. I have no problem with the standard CTS seats, but the V sport-buckets are just too darn hard. It is an incredible automobile, though. Congrats.

@ed341,

I never said the 5er should get a pass, quite the contrary actually, I simply said the comparison between the two is flawed. Transmission tuning is necessarily very different for a small naturally aspirated inline-6 compared to the tuning for a large V8. A relatively under-powered inline-6 requires calibration that makes the car feel fast, even though it isn't. The V8 has tons of power and thus throttle calibration is aimed at putting that power down as uninterruptedly as possible. Two very different missions. BMW did fail, but the 528i throttle shouldn't feel like the Equus' because it doesn't have the guts to back it up.

Manual. Both your Jetta TDI and the 528i configurations suffer from this. Both cars are FANTASTIC with a stick.

Your response is going to be that DSG's outsell manuals (though not by much in the Golf) and that manual 5-series are miniscule. However, I'll counter that 99% of the automatic buyers don't even notice this stuff. They push the pedal and the car sorta goes. If you are this discerning, you should probably get the stick.

All of you suggesting that a manual gearbox is to be preferred in this car are overlooking the fact that it is not offered in the US market. But I have a question: what gear does the car start in from rest in normal mode? How is the tip-in in transmission sport mode? In manual mode? There must be a number of combinations to play with. Let's have some actual testing, please.

I drove an S550 a few years ago that felt this way. I found it to be pretty distracting, especially considering that thing stickered for $110K.

@edubyatx,

That is how all MBs are, for better or worse. However, after a few thousand miles the transmission learns the way you drive and things smooth out quite a bit. The whole point of the long pedal travel in MB throttle tuning is that it forces smooth starts (thus making the cars feel like torque monsters).

However, if you are accustomed to a snappier throttle then you tend to jab too hard and the car rockets away. MB throttle tuning is actually very different than the new Bimmers because there isn't a "dead" zone. The pedal simply travels a long way.

In my E60 I've learnt not to stab the throttle in Sport Mode from a standing start when I have passengers.A split second second rollout followed by hard pressure & the car moves out pretty rapidly with the tach spinning to redline with rapid upshifts & the straight six growlling like only a staight six can.