{"id":13044,"date":"2021-11-06T08:18:32","date_gmt":"2021-11-06T12:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/auto\/?p=13044"},"modified":"2021-11-06T08:18:32","modified_gmt":"2021-11-06T12:18:32","slug":"bmw-m550i-xdrive-acceleration-problem-fixed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=13044","title":{"rendered":"2021 BMW M550i xDrive acceleration issue fixed with over-the-air update"},"content":{"rendered":"

BMW claims the 2021 M550i xDrive does 0 to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds, but when Car and Driver<\/em> tested it several months ago, the sports sedan was much slower. The sprint took a disappointingly high 4.1 seconds, which was two-tenths of a second slower than C&D\u2019s<\/em> X5 M50i<\/a> test, an SUV with the same engine that carries around no fewer than 856 pounds (388 kilograms) over the M Performance 5 Series model.<\/p>\n

So, what gives? Some would be tempted to say there was something wrong with that specific car, be it the engine, tires, gearbox, traction control, or the all-wheel-drive system. After a while, C&D<\/em> got in touch with BMW USA to redo the test and see if they would be able to improve the sprint time. They were, but hitting 60 mph from a standstill took 3.9 seconds, so still three-tenths of a second more than what\u2019s written in the specs sheet. Typically, the real-life tests conducted by Car and Driver<\/em> result in quicker acceleration than what a manufacturer claims, especially when dealing with German brands. These are known to deliberately underrate the performance of their sporty cars.<\/p>\n

During the second attempt, the mystery was solved by BMW\u2019s engineers, finding a software glitch to be the culprit for the M550i xDrive\u2019s unusually slow start off the line. Specifically, it was a \u201cmiscommunication between the engine computer and the car\u2019s stability-control module,\u201d reducing some of the V8\u2019s power in a hard launch from 0 mph. The same issue plagues the 540i xDrive, also from the 2021 model year.<\/p>\n

This past summer, BMW informed owners of the 2021 M550i xDrive that a fix for the acceleration problem would arrive later. That day has come as the software error can now be fixed either through an over-the-air update or taking the car to a service center. C&D<\/em> was obviously curious to find out whether the issue has been solved, so they borrowed another press car to perform a third and final test.<\/p>\n

After unlocking all of the 523 horses generated by the twin-turbo, 4.4-liter engine, the \u201cM5 Lite\u201d ran the sprint to 60 mph just three and a half seconds, thus making it a tenth of a second than what BMW says. During the test, it completed the quarter mile in 11.8 seconds at a trap speed of 119 mph (192 km\/h).<\/p>\n

For an even quicker 5er, there are three hotter derivatives above the M550i xDrive, the M5 and M5 Competition as permanent members of the lineup, plus the flagship M5 CS<\/a> available only for the 2022 model year as the brand\u2019s most powerful road car ever.<\/p>\n

[Source: Car and Driver<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BMW claims the 2021 M550i xDrive does 0 to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds, but when Car and Driver tested it several months ago, the sports sedan was much slower. The sprint took a disappointingly high 4.1 seconds, which was two-tenths of a second slower than C&D\u2019s X5 M50i test, an SUV with the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":8313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}