[MC113]

Obviously not a real world problem, but I figured I’d ask for help here as I am getting desperate.

I picked up my sixth BMW (fourth X5) about a month ago - I say this to be clear I really, really love the brand. My latest is a 2024 X5 M60i which has the S68 engine and 48v mild hybrid system - I've attached a few photos for people who like to see them with posts. It's my dream car, specced and ordered through BMW Individual etc. It feels ridiculous to complain about it.

The issue is I live in a city and the auto start/stop system cuts the engine (and AC) not just every time I fully stop but essentially every time I go below 9 mph. That's extremely frequently going from city block to city block with stop signs, stoplights traffic slowdowns etc. This includes my apartment building's parking garage when I am maneuvering around, pulling into or out of the building. It is constant.

All of the previous ways of circumventing the auto start/stop seem to have been removed other than driving around in Sport or Sport Plus all the time.

I was wondering if anyone has a workaround for disabling the auto start/stop while still having the drivetrain in Comfort? Even after BMW took away the dedicated deactivation button, you used to be able to set the Sports Individual drivetrain to Comfort and it would still keep the auto start/stop disabled. That doesn't work anymore. From what I am reading it cannot be coded out at this time, either. It seems the only option is to drive in Sport or Sport Plus full time. I know BMW is a performance brand, but I'd like to avoid full time Sport mode in order to spare the car's powertrain excess wear and tear of stop and go high revving and hard shifting in the city and save that for the days I go for a drive recreationally. I would love to keep the car long term and not be so hard on it every day.

I would imagine the constant cycling of the engine might be less perceivable with other powertrains? I've seen some folks on here saying they hardly notice it, but for whatever reason on mine it's extremely intrusive. I made a conscious choice to go with the M60i specifically for the performance, I struggle to imagine the mere seconds of cutting the engine just for it to surge back on are making any material difference for emissions or fuel economy.

Sorry for the long message - I may be in the minority on finding this so frustrating. At this point I may just be feeling foolish that I made this kind of an oversight on a $104K vehicle. I had no idea BMW made this change on the X5 M60i - on the full X5M LCI there still appears to be a dedicated deactivation button and in other BMW models you can do the Sport Individual or BimmerCode route. I didn't even think to check.

[parky1215]

You can disable auto start stop by pushing down gear knob down one more time while in D mode to put it in S transmission mode.
It will still be more aggressive than driving in comfort D mode, but it is only way to disable A.S.S. while still remaining in comfort drivetrain mode. I use it frequently when I am in place where my car is expected to stop and go frequently.

[LDT]

Originally Posted by MC113

Obviously not a real world problem, but I figured I’d ask for help here as I am getting desperate.

I picked up my sixth BMW (fourth X5) about a month ago - I say this to be clear I really, really love the brand. My latest is a 2024 X5 M60i which has the S68 engine and 48v mild hybrid system - I've attached a few photos for people who like to see them with posts. It's my dream car, specced and ordered through BMW Individual etc. It feels ridiculous to complain about it.

The issue is I live in a city and the auto start/stop system cuts the engine (and AC) not just every time I fully stop but essentially every time I go below 9 mph. That's extremely frequently going from city block to city block with stop signs, stoplights traffic slowdowns etc. This includes my apartment building's parking garage when I am maneuvering around, pulling into or out of the building. It is constant.

All of the previous ways of circumventing the auto start/stop seem to have been removed other than driving around in Sport or Sport Plus all the time.

I was wondering if anyone has a workaround for disabling the auto start/stop while still having the drivetrain in Comfort? Even after BMW took away the dedicated deactivation button, you used to be able to set the Sports Individual drivetrain to Comfort and it would still keep the auto start/stop disabled. That doesn't work anymore. From what I am reading it cannot be coded out at this time, either. It seems the only option is to drive in Sport or Sport Plus full time. I know BMW is a performance brand, but I'd like to avoid full time Sport mode in order to spare the car's powertrain excess wear and tear of stop and go high revving and hard shifting in the city and save that for the days I go for a drive recreationally. I would love to keep the car long term and not be so hard on it every day.

I would imagine the constant cycling of the engine might be less perceivable with other powertrains? I've seen some folks on here saying they hardly notice it, but for whatever reason on mine it's extremely intrusive. I made a conscious choice to go with the M60i specifically for the performance, I struggle to imagine the mere seconds of cutting the engine just for it to surge back on are making any material difference for emissions or fuel economy.

Sorry for the long message - I may be in the minority on finding this so frustrating. At this point I may just be feeling foolish that I made this kind of an oversight on a $104K vehicle. I had no idea BMW made this change on the X5 M60i - on the full X5M LCI there still appears to be a dedicated deactivation button and in other BMW models you can do the Sport Individual or BimmerCode route. I didn't even think to check.

What parky1215 said works. And by the way your M60i is a great color combo. Looks to be Brooklyn Gray??

[streborx]

Auto start/stop is an annoyance that if not for being able to shift out of it via sport mode, it would make you want to dump the car and revert to some 5-year old used vehicle. Bimmercode is capable of disabling it in iDrive7 (which I've done on my '22 X7), but as has been posted elsewhere on the forum, iDrive8 locks out Bimmercode.

My '19 G550 also came equipped with the A.S.S. "feature", with the same default startup mode "ON" and the ability to shift out of it. There is no Bimmercode equivalent for MB, but there are available OBDII dongles that can disable it (~$150) and also more complicated coding systems capable of killing it.

I found the easiest solution on the G550 was to disconnect the battery charge sensor on the main battery. This makes the A.S.S. system think the starter battery contains insufficient charge to be cycling the engine on and off, and so A.S.S. remains disabled when starting and operating the car. I've had A.S.S. disabled this way for 3 years without experiencing any consequences except the pleasure of A.S.S, free driving.

Unfortunately, the mild hybrid system likely prevents this type of simple bypass. Shifting into sport mode is likely the only option to avoid A.S.S. While the auto industry, the EPA and the environmentalists are congratulating themselves on this bypass proof carbon reduction innovation, they need to know I've purchased my last new automobile. When the BMW and MB crap out, I'll still be driving my '95 Jeep that has none of this advanced technology, yet still gets me where I need to go.

[blinsc]

Now that I have about 2500 miles on my M60i, I can say without any hesitation that the auto stop/start thing is by far the worst aspect of this vehicle.

For some people, it doesn't seem like an issue, but for me, it just kills the experience when the engine shuts off at a time where I didn't want it to (like when I'm creeping forward in traffic and then have to shuffle the pedals to get the car going again).

I would be perfectly happy with a button to disable the system, even if I had to press every time I got in the car. Switching to S mode (or Sport) just isn't a solution... the car's fuel economy (which isn't good to start with) drops by 25-40%, and all of those modes are simply too aggressive for normal driving.

If I'm being honest, I'm already shopping for something else. I wanted to love this car but I just don't. This isn't the only issue (have a service appointment next week because of now frequently reoccurring SOS malfunction errors plus voice commands not working due to "No server connection").

[MassWholeBimmer]

So there is no switch to disable the start/stop functionality in the M60 like I have in the M50?

[parky1215]

Originally Posted by MassWholeBimmer

So there is no switch to disable the start/stop functionality in the M60 like I have in the M50?

Nope. There is no place (including iDrive touchscreen menu) to manually disable ASS.

[LDT]

While I’d prefer to have a disable switch I don’t find this function to be as annoying as it was in my Cayenne which had a disable button. It’s noticeable but not obtrusive.

[cobramite]

Originally Posted by LDT

While I’d prefer to have a disable switch I don’t find this function to be as annoying as it was in my Cayenne which had a disable button. It’s noticeable but not obtrusive.

Same experience here with our Cayenne that would literally just shut of the engine at like 10 mph at times, absolutely dangerous and unacceptable. This crap is ridiculous.

[streborx]

Originally Posted by cobramite

Same experience here with our Cayenne that would literally just shut of the engine at like 10 mph at times, absolutely dangerous and unacceptable. This crap is ridiculous.

My G550 is not a mild hybrid, and its auto S/S requires coming to a full stop for at least 1 second for the engine to shut down, and then it's supposed to restart when the brake pedal is released. Even though I'm exclusively a 1-foot driver (no left foot braking), the start/stop action is annoying, as my foot hits the gas before the engine is running, and then there's an annoying jerk.

My understanding of mild hybrid equipped cars is that they do revert to electric mode at slow speed (as you say less than 10 mph), and are supposed to provide perceptibly seamless acceleration by starting out in electric mode while simultaneously restarting the engine.

Either with or without mild hybrid, the resulting hesitation is dangerous, especially if you're attempting to make a left hand turn across oncoming traffic while the guy behind you is blowing his horn.

But leave it to the bureaucrats to mandate some stupid presumably fuel saving technology that causes drivers to revert to gas guzzling sport mode in order to avoid.

[puckybadger]

As a devout ASS hater (2004 X5 4.4, 2014 X5 4.4, 2020 X6 M50i) I do find the undisableable ASS feature on my 2024 X6 M60i is no where near as much of an annoyance as it was in the past. Almost unnoticeable. Not sure what makes it somewhat OK, the mild hybrid ??? What I do know is that I am getting almost 25MPG. Range is always over 600 at fill up time.

[BMthusiast]

I never drive in D in traffic anyway because I like to paddle shift in S as soon as possible to keep the RPMs lowest so this workaround in the M60i is fine for me. But I definitely agree that there needs to be an option to disable auto stop/start, and it would be nice to have it defaulted as always disabled too if the driver prefers. It really makes no logical sense that there isn't the option to do so considering if you're driving aggressively in Sport mode those precious EPA figures that auto stop/start are aimed to showcase go out the window anyway.

[roamio]

Yes, as others have indicated you either drive in Sport mode or use drive selector to switch transmission to "S" (that's what I use). I'm getting close to 2,000 miles and I officially joined "ASS hater" club. It's just wrong to force $30,000 engine to start/stop tens of thousand times every year.

[MassWholeBimmer]

On my F150, there is a disable ASS button, although between having the ac on, or having the heat on, and my low mileage driving... the vehicle is always charging, or doing something... so it hardly ever activates.

Now on my M50I, pressing the didable ASS button is now part of my start up routine..

To not have the ability to turn off, while it would not be a deal breaker, would weigh into my purchase decision..

Human intervention is not over rated.

[MC113]

Originally Posted by LDT

What parky1215 said works. And by the way your M60i is a great color combo. Looks to be Brooklyn Gray??

Thank you! It's called Nardo Grey - window sticker attached. I believe the color originated from Audi.

[MC113]

Originally Posted by blinsc

Now that I have about 2500 miles on my M60i, I can say without any hesitation that the auto stop/start thing is by far the worst aspect of this vehicle.

For some people, it doesn't seem like an issue, but for me, it just kills the experience when the engine shuts off at a time where I didn't want it to (like when I'm creeping forward in traffic and then have to shuffle the pedals to get the car going again).

I would be perfectly happy with a button to disable the system, even if I had to press every time I got in the car. Switching to S mode (or Sport) just isn't a solution... the car's fuel economy (which isn't good to start with) drops by 25-40%, and all of those modes are simply too aggressive for normal driving.

If I'm being honest, I'm already shopping for something else. I wanted to love this car but I just don't. This isn't the only issue (have a service appointment next week because of now frequently reoccurring SOS malfunction errors plus voice commands not working due to "No server connection").

I relate to this! In past cars, I had no personal issue with just hitting a dedicated physical button to disable it, or setting Sport Individual up and using the Drive Mode select to disable it. On my 2020 Range Rover Sport P525 HSE there was a digital button buried within one of the screen UIs that I'd just tap when I was getting situated and buckling up etc. Genuinely none of these options bothered me because there was still some way to disable the auto start/stop system which only took a few seconds.

My issue with driving full time with the gear selector in S (so that the transmission is in Sport) or setting the Drive Mode to Sport/Sport Plus/Sport Individual (with just the Drivetrain set to Sport) is that they make the day-to-day city driving experience taxing the entire time I am driving. In the city, it's harder to modulate the throttle appropriately on a 500+ HP SUV for frequent 25 mph speed limits, stop signs everywhere and stop and go traffic with pedestrians darting out with their kids and dogs etc. Setting aside the added wear on the car and the ironic fuel/emissions hits I just don't need to be driving like a bat out of hell with it revving high and holding gears from block to block on a Tuesday morning when there's people walking their kids to school etc.

What's frustrating is in Comfort - OTHER than the auto start/stop interventions - it's perfectly sublime. So I know the powertrain is capable of delivering an extremely livable and appropriately calibrated experience when it isn't shuttering off every single time I go below 10 mph.

On a given routine daily trip it can cut off 20 to 50+ times when I am getting from point a to point b without any traffic. With traffic, it can be orders of magnitude more to the point it feels constant and I just switch out of Comfort mode as it is ironically no longer comfortable. My understanding is that because of the addition of the 48V mild hybrid system, they've removed many of the previous exemptions from when they'd cut the engine (stop signs, not being at a full stop or low speed coasting, stop and go traffic, being on an incline).

No judgment at all for folks who don't mind it but I just am not seeing myself being able to adjust to the sensation of a bi-turbo V8 cutting off and shuttering or surging back on hundreds of times a day. If the choice is between that and the aggressive transmission or drivetrain settings, I guess I'll just take the ladder and hope it doesn't cost me too dearly in terms of wear and tear. At this point I may just be more disappointed I didn't check. When I test drove a 2023 G30 5 Series M550i (the outgoing model) - which I believe has the N63 engine which also has a mild hybrid system - the Sport Individual trick (all settings set to Comfort) worked for disabling the auto start/stop.

[esport]

Is it my understanding that once the car stops at the traffic light, the ac also stop running along with the engine in comfort mode ?

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by esport

Is it my understanding that once the car stops at the traffic light, the ac also stop running along with the engine in comfort mode ?

If the engine stops then the AC compressor will stop but the fan will still run. If the temperature differential is large enough then the ASS will not kick in so the AC can run.

[str8line]

I just happened upon this thread as I'm just starting to research a possible 2024 X6 40i purchase. This is deal breaker to me if it's like the 2023 X1 I rented a few weeks ago. I was so excited about this vehicle, what a bummer. Time to stock up on older BMW's I guess, even though I already have a bunch, lol.

[irishbrahmin]

New '24 M60i owner here.

Does the ASS system use the hybrid motor or an old-fashioned starter motor? I briefly owned a '21 Mercedes GLE 580 that used the former--the ASS system was almost imperceptible.

I love my M60i but I agree that the ASS is its least-desirable feature.

[parky1215]

I wonder if iDrive 8.5 update will bring any way to deactivate this.

[COKen]

With my 2022 M50i I can setup Sport Individual to be just like Comfort. Steering, engine, transmission and ride can be set to comfort. With everything in Sport Individual set to comfort, it should behave just like Comfort mode, but with ASS disabled. I can't verify this because I didn't update iDrive to the version that kills BimmerCode and I have ASS turned off, but it should be the same as Comfort mode with ASS turned off.

While this works on my X5, I can't be sure it works on other variant.