Quote:
Originally Posted by Atny286
Now just hope that someone would find a software fix for this issue...
Let me know if any questions!
A.
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I'm impressed with all the mods you went through to get spec'ed European (referring also to the other thread you wrote in).
There is no doubt in my mind that there is a software fix for most of the issues we of the US-spec crowd have found in using the cars in Europe. But BMW AG is not going to help us.
I've raised the issue within BMW AG as high as I can reasonably expect to go (members of the BMW AG board, head of diplomatic/military sales). I hope that they have looked at this issue carefully in telling me that the issues are technically impossible to fix (although I am not sure of that and suspect there is little interest at that level).
BMW AG has offered a buy-back deal by BMW to take my US-spec car back (with a deduction for use of course) and a discount on another diplomatic price M3 in European spec. They are doing this because when I ordered my car and asked about the functioning of the equipment, I was told by BMW AG (in emails) that everything would work...
I'm tempted to do the buy-back and purchase of the Euro-spec M3 because in addition to the issues we've noted here, its getting to be a pain to service the car in France (as opposed to being in Germany where the dealers near US bases have a lot of experience with US-spec cars). I don't know if I'll end up going this route because BMW has not figured out if it can buy the car back duty-free (if they can't someone would have to pay the 35-40 percent duty that would become due...and I'm not paying that on top of the extra, steep cost, of a Euro-spec car).
So, for now, it looks like if you are thinking of buying a US-spec car for outside the US, you should be aware that any of the telematics options, the internet, the BMW Assist, the navigation traffic info and even the proper tuning of the FM radio will not work.
TIP1: If you are one of the lucky few with a pre-2009 BMW that has RTTI functioning, be very careful when having the car serviced by BMW that the software updates don't disable that function. TIP2: Also, if you don't order the navigation/iDrive option, and you have the regular radio, you may be able to switch the FM portion to European specs using the service mode.