\n<\/p>\n
I want to be clear from the outset. I\u2019ve never been a car enthusiast. My driving history includes a hand-me-down Volvo with a hole in the floorboards and a series of aggressively practical vehicles, including a VW Golf and a Mazda SUV in which I hauled my family around for 12 years. Then I leased a BMW i4 electric car.<\/p>\n
What drew me to the i4? Unlike other electric vehicles, BMWs don\u2019t look like something out of the Jetsons; I like that they\u2019re understated cars that happen to be electric. I liked that they\u2019re far less common than other EVs in Northern California. Plus, the i4 comes in something like a dozen colors, including \u201cBrooklyn Gray,\u201d which \u2013 I know I sound ridiculous \u2013 delighted me in ways that Tesla\u2019s handful of options never could. I\u2019d read online that early adopters were having software issues, but with visions of my sleek new BMW dancing in my head, I conveniently filed that information away. Those first few drives felt exhilarating, too. The car was beautiful, the ride was smooth, and I felt like we were going places.<\/p>\n
Nearly two years later, I\u2019m doing something I never thought I\u2019d do: eagerly awaiting the end of a lease on a luxury car because its software is such a disaster that it makes my rusted-out Volvo look like a paragon of reliability.<\/p>\n
A love story gone awry<\/strong><\/p>\n Let me count the ways this relationship has gone wrong, starting with the most basic function: getting into my own car. On multiple occasions, I\u2019ve stood in parking lots, unable to unlock its doors with my phone despite the BMW Digital Key being specifically designed for this purpose. This sounds trivial until you\u2019re juggling melting groceries while looking like you\u2019re trying to steal your own car.<\/p>\n Digital key issues have become so widespread that BMW owners have at times shared elaborate multi-step workarounds<\/a> that read like instructions for disarming a bomb: \u201c1. Open the BMW app on your phone and use it to unlock the door. 2. Sign in with your BMW ID in iDrive. 3. Place your iPhone in the vehicle\u2019s charging tray. 4. Wait for the digital key to reappear in the Wallet app. 5. Double-click the side button, authenticate with Face ID, and\u2014finally\u2014start the car.\u201d<\/p>\n The user profile system is another exercise in futility. I\u2019ve been unable to create guest profiles without being demoted to the bottom of the user hierarchy. What this means in practice is that if anyone else drives my car \u2013 even once \u2013 the vehicle will grab their phone and playlist the moment they\u2019re within Bluetooth range. BMW has over-engineered their profile system to the point where it requires explicit linking steps that should really happen automatically.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> The car\u2019s CarPlay integration ranges from poor to actively dangerous. Software updates routinely break CarPlay functionality, requiring complete reboots of its iDrive infotainment system. The reverse camera issue is particularly maddening; put the car in reverse while using CarPlay navigation, and when you shift back to drive, you\u2019re dumped onto the home screen instead of returning to your directions.\u00a0<\/p>\n The backup camera itself is practically useless in low light conditions, and the screen frequently becomes scorching hot to the touch.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the lights issue<\/a>. Unless I remember to manually lock the car after walking away from it, I\u2019ll occasionally notice later that the exterior lights are still ablaze in my driveway. I thought it might be human error the first time it happened. By the third time, I realized that it\u2019s a \u201cfeature\u201d where the i4 enters a \u201cpseudo-sleep mode\u201d that keeps lights and other systems running indefinitely. Multiple owners report the same issue: park the car, walk away, return later to find their vehicle lit up like a beacon and draining the battery.\u00a0<\/p>\n Beyond the feeling on a near-daily basis that the car has amnesia, there are legitimate safety concerns. The 2022 i4 was subject to six recalls in its first year, including one so serious that BMW told owners their cars were fire risks when parked and advised them to \u201cstop driving this vehicle immediately.\u201d Since then, other recalls<\/a> have included battery control units that can cause a sudden loss of power.<\/p>\n BMW releases software updates for the i4 approximately every few months, but the process is fraught with issues. Updates routinely break connected services, causing owners to lose access to traffic information, weather data, remote parking functions, and even the MyBMW app connectivity.\u00a0<\/p>\n The over-the-air update system itself is unreliable, with owners reporting updates that get stuck at various percentages for days, forcing trips to dealers for manual installation.\u00a0<\/p>\n What\u2019s especially galling is that BMW positions these vehicles as premium products. If you\u2019re buying rather than leasing, the i4 starts at over $50,000, with well-equipped models pushing $70,000 or more. Meanwhile, owners of less expensive vehicles, including Hyundais and Lexus models, report bulletproof connectivity and seamless user experiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019m not saying the company rushed these cars to market without adequately testing their digital ecosystem, then decided to treat their customers as beta testers without taking their well-being into account, but I\u2019m also not<\/em> not saying that.<\/p>\n I genuinely wanted this relationship to work. The i4 is gorgeous, drives beautifully, and represents everything I thought I wanted in an electric vehicle. But I can\u2019t continue a relationship where the most basic functions \u2013 unlocking doors, connecting my phone, getting directions \u2013 require the patience of a saint. (I do not have the patience of a saint.) <\/p>\n Even my tech-savvy husband, who is usually the first to suggest user error, recently emerged from the car after a particularly frustrating software meltdown and announced that he would \u201cneed to meditate for a bit.\u201d <\/p>\n Car ownership shouldn\u2019t be a constant source of aggravation. I shouldn\u2019t have to maintain a mental database of workarounds for features that should just work. I shouldn\u2019t dread software updates because they might break something that was (mostly) functional.<\/p>\n So BMW, I\u2019ve had it. You made a gorgeous car, then sabotaged it with software so crummy that it\u2019s almost comical. I thought we\u2019d drive into the sunset together. Instead, I\u2019m driving my i4 back to the dealership as my lease is over. I\u2019m surprised to say I can\u2019t wait.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n