[aakeller]

I am writing this for those of you that have not yet purchased your 50e and are on the fence because of the known battery issues. I hope that our experience will save you the headache and convince you to purchase a different model. We ordered our 50e at the end of July. The build process was pretty typical, but the vehicle did spend 4 weeks in quality check. This should have been a red flag to us, but this was my dream car and we proceeded. The vehicle was delivered on 10/6 and I was instantly in love with my vehicle. Over the next couple of weeks there were several times where the car would stop charging and the check engine light would come on, but go off the next day. Fast forward to 11/1. My husband was driving home from work and the light came on again but this time it was flashing red and said drivetrain malfunction. We had to have the vehicle towed to the dealership at this point, and it has been there ever since. It was several weeks before they had a plan of what to do, and initially we were told that they were going to replace the CCU and a part that helps cool the battery, but now the plan is that they are going to try and replace individual cells in the battery. These parts are coming from Germany and are not expected until the end of January. Best case scenario is that we get our car back at the beginning of February. 3 months of paying a car note on a vehicle we don’t have. We requested a buy back from BMW and it was denied. We contacted a lawyer and unfortunately this vehicle does not yet qualify for the lemon law in our state because we have to give them an opportunity to fix it even though we are not confident that they can. The 30 day clause does not apply in Texas because we have a loaner vehicle. I will never have confidence in this vehicle, and am beyond angry at how BMW is handling this situation. We are being treated as beta testers for the many 50e’s out there with this issue. Save yourself the headache and purchase another X5 model or wait until next year when they have this problem fixed, hopefully.

[mnx5er]

Sorry for your ugly situation. I have been through a buyback once and still buy BMWs, I just had a dud many years ago.

My best tip is to become best friends with the service manager at your dealership. That is the one person who can go to bat for you with BMW. It is not uncommon for BMW to cover loan payments or offer other incentives before a buyback. The service people really do want to fix your car, so be as kind as possible with them.

You can also reach out to BMW customer care on your own, but again, being friendly with the service manager is key.

Good luck

[eluded]

Consult a lawyer or chatGTP to know your rights. If keeping a loaner counts against the days, consider renting a vehicle or use another vehicle instead. In Commiefornia the car can only be in the shop 30 days (calendar) for the first 18 months to lemon.

Good luck!

[The Libertine]

Very frustrating for you. I understand. But there are other options to make you whole. Recommend pursuing some form of consideration or compensation from BMW while you are without your car. While it may sound cliche, you do catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Be persistent - but remain pleasant. Good luck.

[cobramite]

Hope things resolve for you with the least amount of drama and in a timely fashion. Best of luck with this.

[BMPHIL]

I like you would have no confidence in the car having spent a lot of money on it. If they had identified the fault straight away and had a certain fix it's a different matter. The minimum I would expect is your payments to be covered and the warranty to begin the day you get your car back but whatever happens the edge will have gone off the purchase. Good luck and keep us updated with what happens.

[crackerjack15]

That sucks. My 50e is an 11/23 build at 4,956 flawless miles so far. Fingers crossed.

[Kristin Hoover]

Sorry this happened to you. When there's a problem, the buyer is basically always in a passive and disadvantaged position. If the problem still bothers you even after it's fixed. You may consider selling this car at low mileages. You will lose some money, but eventually get relieved.

[cobramite]

Originally Posted by crackerjack15

That sucks. My 50e is an 11/23 build at 4,956 flawless miles so far. Fingers crossed.

Glad to hear that and you can be pretty sure that the vast majority of the 50es are trouble free and performing well for their owners.
The bad ones are being presented here front and center which is quite common on these internet boards.
It is not common for a member with a relatively new vehicle to begin a thread about having no problems and not needing any warranty work.

[RNorb]

Originally Posted by cobramite

Glad to hear that and you can be pretty sure that the vast majority of the 50es are trouble free and performing well for their owners.
The bad ones are being presented here front and center which is quite common on these internet boards.
It is not common for a member with a relatively new vehicle to begin a thread about having no problems and not needing any warranty work.

You are right about what takes place on internet boards. However, I've been following this board for years and I don't recall ever seeing so many similar complaints about one particular model. I've been planning to buy a 50e (but waiting hoping some of the deleted options come back like acoustic glass, etc), but now I'm leaning toward the M60i.

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by RNorb

You are right about what takes place on internet boards. However, I've been following this board for years and I don't recall ever seeing so many similar complaints about one particular model. I've been planning to buy a 50e (but waiting hoping some of the deleted options come back like acoustic glass, etc), but now I'm leaning toward the M60i.

At first I was leaning towards it being the bias of forums however after seeing the number of members that were here prior to getting theirs and ended up having problems it changed my mind. From the info we are getting, BMW has halted production of the 50e's until March so hopefully it is because they are working on the problems and not just due to supply issues.

[The Libertine]

Originally Posted by cobramite

Glad to hear that and you can be pretty sure that the vast majority of the 50es are trouble free and performing well for their owners.
The bad ones are being presented here front and center which is quite common on these internet boards.
It is not common for a member with a relatively new vehicle to begin a thread about having no problems and not needing any warranty work.

Be that as it may, doesn’t minimize the issue that new owners are experiencing.

It is one thing for a new car to have a warranty claim; for example, a misaligned piece of trim, inoperable switch, or something else that is a relatively simple fix. But for a repair to require a brand new car to be out of service for a few months whilst the owner is still paying the note - yeah, I would be livid too.

[eelnoraa]

This really sucks. What puzzles me is what is the big change from 45e to 50e that causes this. It cannot be the new b58 because 40i on both x5 and x7 has it. Those owner don’t seem to have the same issue. So it is the Edrive portion, new Edrive motor? New/larger battery pack?? These seems like small updates, how did bmw get it so wrong.

[cobramite]

Originally Posted by The Libertine

Be that as it may, doesn’t minimize the issue that new owners are experiencing.

It is one thing for a new car to have a warranty claim; for example, a misaligned piece of trim, inoperable switch, or something else that is a relatively simple fix. But for a repair to require a brand new car to be out of service for a few months whilst the owner is still paying the note - yeah, I would be livid too.

This is true but keep in mind that all new vehicles have units that are problematic or qualify for Lemon Law, buybacks, etc.
I am by no means any kind of an X5 50e chearleader. I bought an M60i, am extremely pleased with it and would buy it again in a heartbeat.

[aakeller]

This is exactly why I made this post. Save yourself the possible nightmare and go with the m60i. There are way too many issues with the batteries in the 50e and they need time to figure it out. I wish I could go back and order a 45i or m60i.

[krypttic]

The whole reason I bought the 50e was for the hybrid drivetrain and my short daily commute. The 60i is a fantastic vehicle, but not one I would have considered.

[Treeboy]

Originally Posted by RNorb

You are right about what takes place on internet boards. However, I've been following this board for years and I don't recall ever seeing so many similar complaints about one particular model. I've been planning to buy a 50e (but waiting hoping some of the deleted options come back like acoustic glass, etc), but now I'm leaning toward the M60i.

It is so interesting you said so.
I was closely following 50e introduction and really liked the new specs. On paper, this would be a perfect family vehicle for us. In summer I was 100% sure that 50e would be our next X5. Studying chargers already etc. House upgraded to 200A service. We felt ready for it.

Then more i read about 50e issues on this forum in Sep/Oct , I was becoming less confident about this choice.
At the end, I have ordered M60i in Nov and it was produced in week 49.

My salesman confronted me about my change of heart about the 50e and disliked the explanation. Made me feel like I betrayed the whole EV movement. Well, he is not my salesman anymore, but that is another story...

[spoodle]

Originally Posted by RNorb

You are right about what takes place on internet boards. However, I've been following this board for years and I don't recall ever seeing so many similar complaints about one particular model. I've been planning to buy a 50e (but waiting hoping some of the deleted options come back like acoustic glass, etc), but now I'm leaning toward the M60i.

I was ready to buy a 50e and backed out to buy the M60i. I’ve had a plug in hybrid before, I have the charger and solar panels so it’s basically free for me. I also don’t drive far daily. But after seeing so many problems, I changed my mind.

[Mattl0806]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

At first I was leaning towards it being the bias of forums however after seeing the number of members that were here prior to getting theirs and ended up having problems it changed my mind. From the info we are getting, BMW has halted production of the 50e's until March so hopefully it is because they are working on the problems and not just due to supply issues.

Wow. When was the last time bmw halted production like this? I haven’t been on here for too long so this is the first time ive read such substantial news.

[TexAg91]

My 50e rolled off the assembly line on 13 Nov 2024 and I took delivery on 17 Nov. Best initial quality I’ve had on a new vehicle in a long time-nothing wrong with it or in need of an adjustment—everything was perfect.

So far I’ve had zero issues with it, took a 750 mile round trip last week and it was a fantastic highway cruiser. Have about 1500 trouble free miles on it as of this post. My last vehicle was a 2020 Mercedes GLE 350 and it had quite a few teething pains that had to be addressed right out of the gate. So far I have zero regrets. Not to diminish OP’s issues, but in my experience is that is not representative of the model. I have a Tesla Gen 3 charger and charge it to 100% every night—takes ~3 hours worst case—zero charging issues thus far—works as advertised.

[TexAg91]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

At first I was leaning towards it being the bias of forums however after seeing the number of members that were here prior to getting theirs and ended up having problems it changed my mind. From the info we are getting, BMW has halted production of the 50e's until March so hopefully it is because they are working on the problems and not just due to supply issues.

Can you provide a link to your source for the halt in 50e production until March 2024? Was any explanation provided — that’s news to me so I must have missed it?

[mnx5er]

Originally Posted by eelnoraa

This really sucks. What puzzles me is what is the big change from 45e to 50e that causes this. It cannot be the new b58 because 40i on both x5 and x7 has it. Those owner don’t seem to have the same issue. So it is the Edrive portion, new Edrive motor? New/larger battery pack?? These seems like small updates, how did bmw get it so wrong.

That is the million dollar question. New hardware and software, seems everything changed for the electronic side. Consumer Reports just reported that plug-in hybrids have the most issues of any cars made, mainly due to the marriage of old and new.

My 45e was perfect, zero issues. 50e not so much. I’m sure they will figure it out, but glad they are stopping production until they do. Warranty costs could be very high.