I want to be clear from the beginning. I was not a car enthusiast. My driving history includes Handmine Volvo with holes in the floorboards and actively practical vehicles such as the VW Golf and Mazda SUV. Then I leased my BMW I4 electric vehicle.
What drew me to the i4? Unlike other electric vehicles, BMW doesn’t look like anything from the pier. I like that they are modest cars that happen to be electric. I liked it being far less common than the other EVs in Northern California. Furthermore, the i4 comes in dozens of colors, such as the Brookling Ray. I read online that early adopters have software issues, but with my vision in the mind of a sophisticated new BMW, I conveniently submitted that information. These first few drives also felt exhilarating. The car was beautiful, the ride was smooth and we felt like we were going to the place.
Almost two years later, I’m doing things I didn’t think I’d done. We are eagerly waiting for the end of our luxury car lease. Because the software makes my rusty Volvo look like a reliable paragon.
The love story went crazy
Start with the most basic function, getting into your car, and count how this relationship is wrong. On multiple occasions, I was standing in the car park and was unable to unlock the door on my phone, despite the BMW digital key being specifically designed for this purpose. This sounds trivial until you melt and juggle the groceries while appearing to be trying to steal your car.
The issue of digital keys is so prevalent that BMW owners may share elaborate multi-step workarounds reading like instructions to disarm bombs. Authenticate with buttons, face ID, and finally start the car. ”
The user profile system is another useless exercise. The guest profile could not be created without demoting to the bottom of the user hierarchy. What this actually means is that if someone else has driven my car once, grabs the phone and playlist the moment the vehicle is within Bluetooth range. BMW overengineered the profile system to the point where explicit link steps were required that were actually happening automatically.
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Car carplay integration ranges from poor to aggressively dangerous. The software will routinely destroy the CarPlay feature, which requires a complete reboot of the IDRIVE infotainment system. The reverse camera problem is especially insane. While using Carplay navigation, when you place your car backwards and return to the drive, it will be dumped on the home screen rather than going backwards.
The backup camera itself is virtually useless in low light conditions, and the screen often burns hot and hot to touch.
Next is the light problem. Unless you remember to manually lock the car after moving it away, you may find that the exterior is still burning in my driveway later. The first time I happened, I thought it might be a human error. The third time I realized that the i4 is a “feature” that enters “pseudo sleep mode” that runs lights and other systems indefinitely. Multiple owners report the same issue. Park your car, walk, then go back later to light up like a beacon and drain the battery.
Beyond the feeling on a nearly day-based basis that the car has amnesia, there are legitimate safety concerns. The 2022 I4 was subject to six recalls in its first year. This included BMW parking and telling the owner that his car was at a risk of a fire, and telling him to “stop stopping this vehicle from driving.” Other recalls since then include battery control units that can cause sudden loss of power.
BMW releases software updates for the i4 almost every few months, but the process comes with problems. It regularly destroys updated connected services, causing owners to lose access to traffic information, weather data, remote parking capabilities, and even the MyBMW app connections.
The over-the-air update system itself is unreliable, and owners report the updates stuck at varying rates for several days, forcing the dealer to travel for manual installation.
The gallbladder in particular is that BMW places these vehicles as premium products. If you buy instead of a lease, the i4 starts at over $50,000, while a well-equipped model pushes over $70,000. Meanwhile, owners of cheap vehicles, including Hyundais and Lexus models, report bulletproof connections and a seamless user experience.
I’m not saying that the company has thrown these cars into the market without properly testing the digital ecosystem. I then decided to treat my clients as beta testers without considering their happiness, but I haven’t said that either.
I really wanted this relationship to work. The i4 is gorgeous, drives beautifully, and represents everything I thought I wanted with an electric car. But I cannot continue the relationship where the most basic features are unlocking the door, connecting my phone, getting instructions – but the saints need patience. (I have no saint’s patience.)
Even my tech-savvy husband, who is usually the first to suggest user errors, recently emerged from the car after a particularly frustrating software meltdown and announced that he “needs to meditate a bit.”
Auto ownership should not be a source of constant deterioration. There is no need to maintain a mental database of workarounds for features that should work. Software updates can break (almost) functional things, so you shouldn’t be afraid of software updates.
So BMW, I had it. It’s almost comical as you made a gorgeous car and smashed it with software. We thought we would drive together in the sunset. Instead, I’m bringing my i4 back to the dealer as my lease is finished. He is surprised that he cannot wait.
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