New BMW X1 shuddering

Seawaves47

Thank you everyone! I thought we were right to reject the car, they're just trying to make it difficult I think.

LightFlare

flaneurs_lobster said:

"Turn it off and turn it on again".

Really? On a brand new £40k car?

Get it returned.

To be fair - I’ve seen power cycling work on brand new equipment costing well into 7 figures.

All electronics no matter how complex or expensive have the ability to glitch out occasionally 

metropolis090

Yes, it’s a known issue with some recent X1s. Usually related to the dual-clutch gearbox or driveshafts. If the dealer denies it, push through with BMW UK and keep everything documented.

m0bov

Def reject, how did you pay for it?

Seawaves47

It's PCP through BMW finance 😬

Goudy

There have been a few grumbles about the X1's dual clutch gearbox being hash, jerky and juddery, some worse that others.

BMW swapped platforms with the second generation, using the same one as the FWD Mini which lead to a different engine and gearbox. (the first gen RWD X1 was based on the old 3 series E90 platform/engines and gearboxes).

These newer X1's use the Getrag 7DCT300 wet clutch gearbox. This is generally a step up from the fault prone dry clutch 6DCT250 (Commonly known at the time as Ford Powershift) but perhaps not as good as the ZF auto gearbox in the first gen X1's.

I have the same 7DCT300 in my Clio and it's been pretty much faultless. It's generally smooth and unobtrusive but it does go a bit "Maureen from Driving School" for a while if the battery is disconnected for any reason.
Over the next couple of hundred miles it sort of relearns and smooths out again.

This gives me reason to believe there is some specific BMW software that learns/has memory and that might be glitchy.
It'll take things like throttle position and road speed and work out the best changes, clutch slip etc for the way you drive.
It'll also be programmed for economy/emissions which is where things probably have gone wrong. Someone sat in a office wrote the software to a manufacturer specification rather than to real world driving.

When you first took it in the dealer probably reset the memory by discounting the battery and all is well until it learns again, which is why they told you it will likely come back.

(you can test this theory yourself by disconnecting and reconnecting the battery)

It's just unfortunate that it's learning to judder and jerk but the fix would probably need to include a software update of the ECU.
I don't know if there has been any recent software releases, but most BMWs can be updated by the owner at home with a smart phone, but you could ask the dealer if yours is up to date.

Seawaves47

Just incase this helps anybody else. It was the steering rack which was faulty. Lots of repairs were needed. We therefore decided to reject the car.