[Gaijinphil]

Greetings X1 F48 owners, I wrote about my own tale of woe in July! I shall be careful about my language.
My transmission was condemned and I was told replacement needed at cost of £8500 plus VAT plus fitting, ie near enough £11500. They initially refused to help (refer the matter to BMW UK for consideration) because I didn't buy the car from a BMW dealer and my Warranty was from RAC (Platinum). There followed a number of letters and e-mails to BMW UK with little other than sympathy, Oh, and a suggestion that the failure was due to my driving style!!
Then when I had the gearbox re-built by a third party specialist ( for £7318) BMW UK had the bloody cheek to suggest that they might have helped had I not already had the repair done elsewhere. This was infuriating because by that time I had waited more than a month for the transmission re-build and they had just started on it after payment of £3k up front for non-returnable parts. After 2 months without my car I was absolutely appalled by their reluctance to support their product.
My advice would be to keep on writing to the CEO of BMW UK and insisting that if BMW service on auto transmissions isn't required until upwards of 100k miles then a gearbox that fails before that cannot be treated as 'Fit for Purpose'.

My repairer recommends that all auto transmissions be checked every 50k miles. I have forgotten whether this is because it is the recommendation for all DSG gearboxes!

 

[Gaijinphil]

I think the parts are not as readily available for aisin as they are ZF8 which adds a large premium.

I agree that £7300 is a shed load of money and that other larger repairers exist that quote re-builds for less than £5000 (check out a well known Erith auto box specialist) I just didn't fancy 4 trips on the M3 /M25 and had heard good things about my repairer.
2 1/2 mths on she seems fine but I feel that BMW are ignoring a massive problem. First they refuse all help, then they say they are considering the problem and then that they would have helped but can't do anything because its been repaired elsewhere!! This is customer service agents acting like insurance claims companies and actually giving no help to loyal customers who have supported the brand but have a car that's out of their pathetic 3 yr warranty ! You never get to hear from a technician just 'suits'.
The simple fact is the gearboxes are frequently being found to be 'not fit for purpose' and customers are finding themselves with a bill for more than half the value of their car having done around or less than 60k miles. This is unacceptable in a supposedly quality motor.
I propose to raise a case with the Motor Ombudsman and see where that goes.

 

[Gaijinphil]

Looking back over previous threads it looks as if there is confusion as to which boxes are in which model. Is there a simple way to tell from the VIN? Or other reference one can refer to.
I have to confess that having had my transmission repaired at large cost it would be good to know more for future servicing. Certainly all the experiences so far suggest Gearbox servicing at 50k at the very least. As has already been said car makers are anxious to keep required service costs down and I have heard that the service kit alone is around £280. Mine has been serviced by a local specialist per the BMW schedule since purchase in 2020. Whilst it is silly to moan about it after the event I am still very fed up about my failed gearbox and would be furious if I was paying BMW service rates and not been recommended to have a service (whatever the cost) on gearbox done after say 5 yrs or 50k miles!

I have a 2016 X1 (F48) M Sport which is designated XDrive1.8 d.

 

[Gaijinphil]

Thanks Johnny
I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who's had a similar experience. I feel strongly that BMW should take ownership of this problem. Transmission failure on a car thats only done 30k miles is really unacceptable. If BMW think its not, then potential buyers need to know up front.

Hi, you will see from my earlier posts that i 'share your pain'. Plus tell me how your battle with BMW is going ?