[Fantastic 5]

So tell me this, I have a 21 LCI that I got delivered before the recall came out. I still have not done the recall at my dealer as they have a standing order not to do it on my car. My service advisor admits that it mutes the sound.

So, my question to you is does a 21 without the recall sound the same as a 19 and a 20?

[Maxlude]

It's all to do with EU regs. Not really ID6 or 7.
2020 introduced a limit of peak 90db when engine is revved.
So manufacturers have restricted revs when not moving, this coincides with lowering emissions goals, and mapping out pops and bangs.
It applies to all mass manufacturers, not only BMW.
Would be interesting to hear how a 2020 onwards AMG sounds. They have decided to pipe in actual exhaust sounds and not through speakers.
Interestingly, I live next to a primary school, i notice many parents sat in their cars waiting for their kids in ambient temps 12-15c when neither heating nor AC is really required, but with engines running for up to an hour. Kinda makes a mockery of emissions regs but this type of behaviour is then contributing to further regs being requested. Dumb. It is illegal in some countries to leave a car idling except in certain conditions e.g., when ambient temps are high or low.
Regs are due to get much stricter in the next few years.
2020 was the first big reduction in noise. Hence more manufacturers using augmented sound for interior.
Hence I think I will be keeping my Jan 19 build comp. It has OPFs but still has Crackles, pops, bangs

[AuZZZie]

I recently got stung by this BS despite telling my dealership not to update my car. I've read a number of people in here claiming this is in peoples heads, you're wrong.

1. No one is claiming pops/bangs are 100% gone, just seriously muted.
2. If you didn't have a pre-LCI, pre-update car, you might not notice it. If you did it's very noticeable.

I've driven my car every day in Sport+, valves open since I bought it. The car was always borderline too muted me from the day I purchased it.

My observations
1. The pops and bangs are a lot less frequent.
2. The sharp tone to the pops is gone. It's a more rolled off deep tone 85% of the time.
3. Putting the car in Sports+ before start no longer has the pops and bangs on start
4. Downshifts are significantly less aggressive. It always seems like the shift points have moved.
5. This is one I haven't seen people talking about and in my mind is the worst part. The car holds its RPMs now when you let off the throttle. Think going from a lightweight flywheel to a full mass. I used to be able to lift the throttle and cause the overrun at will, now if I lift the car doesn't even immediately slow down, it holds the revs, zero theater.
6. If you were looking for MORE luxury (I was not), technically the car shifts smoother the way it's holding the revs now.

This isn't in peoples heads and frankly I'm pissed. As I said the car was borderline too mute when I bought it, now it just feels like a 5 series too me. This isn't what I purchased and I'm baffled they think a change of this caliber for something I already paid for is acceptable. I don't give a damn if BMW were too aggressive with the tune out of the gate and it's killing catalytic converters, that's on them. If they were popping motors because they realized 600hp was too much, would it be OK to just dial it back to 400 one day during a service? Of course not.

[M5 F90 (2018)]

Originally Posted by AuZZZie

I recently got stung by this BS despite telling my dealership not to update my car. I've read a number of people in here claiming this is in peoples heads, you're wrong.

1. No one is claiming pops/bangs are 100% gone, just seriously muted.
2. If you didn't have a pre-LCI, pre-update car, you might not notice it. If you did it's very noticeable.

I've driven my car every day in Sport+, valves open since I bought it. The car was always borderline too muted me from the day I purchased it.

My observations
1. The pops and bangs are a lot less frequent.
2. The sharp tone to the pops is gone. It's a more rolled off deep tone 85% of the time.
3. Putting the car in Sports+ before start no longer has the pops and bangs on start
4. Downshifts are significantly less aggressive. It always seems like the shift points have moved.
5. This is one I haven't seen people talking about and in my mind is the worst part. The car holds its RPMs now when you let off the throttle. Think going from a lightweight flywheel to a full mass. I used to be able to lift the throttle and cause the overrun at will, now if I lift the car doesn't even immediately slow down, it holds the revs, zero theater.
6. If you were looking for MORE luxury (I was not), technically the car shifts smoother the way it's holding the revs now.

This isn't in peoples heads and frankly I'm pissed. As I said the car was borderline too mute when I bought it, now it just feels like a 5 series too me. This isn't what I purchased and I'm baffled they think a change of this caliber for something I already paid for is acceptable. I don't give a damn if BMW were too aggressive with the tune out of the gate and it's killing catalytic converters, that's on them. If they were popping motors because they realized 600hp was too much, would it be OK to just dial it back to 400 one day during a service? Of course not.

I feel your pain and I have not driven mine much (100 miles) since the update due to lockdowns here in the UK. Reading your thread pretty much is spot on a lot of points as to what I have noticed but couldn't quite put it into words as have not had enough time out in her. Off throttle from 3k revs does not do much these days for me. So frustrating and this thing will have to get a map later this year once the warranty has ended.

[AuZZZie]

Originally Posted by M5 F90 (2018)

I feel your pain and I have not driven mine much (100 miles) since the update due to lockdowns here in the UK. Reading your thread pretty much is spot on a lot of points as to what I have noticed but couldn't quite put it into words as have not had enough time out in her. Off throttle from 3k revs does not do much these days for me. So frustrating and this thing will have to get a map later this year once the warranty has ended.

I'm meeting my with dealership next week but this is my stance. If BMW can drastically change the driving characteristics of my car, after I purchased it. Who are they to tell me my warranty is void if I do the same? You can't have it both ways. Either give me the car I purchased back or when I mod it to get it back there, I don't want to hear your shit about voiding my warranty.

[Dblazer31]

Originally Posted by AuZZZie

I recently got stung by this BS despite telling my dealership not to update my car. I've read a number of people in here claiming this is in peoples heads, you're wrong.

1. No one is claiming pops/bangs are 100% gone, just seriously muted.
2. If you didn't have a pre-LCI, pre-update car, you might not notice it. If you did it's very noticeable.

I've driven my car every day in Sport+, valves open since I bought it. The car was always borderline too muted me from the day I purchased it.


My observations
1. The pops and bangs are a lot less frequent.
2. The sharp tone to the pops is gone. It's a more rolled off deep tone 85% of the time.
3. Putting the car in Sports+ before start no longer has the pops and bangs on start
4. Downshifts are significantly less aggressive. It always seems like the shift points have moved.
5. This is one I haven't seen people talking about and in my mind is the worst part. The car holds its RPMs now when you let off the throttle. Think going from a lightweight flywheel to a full mass. I used to be able to lift the throttle and cause the overrun at will, now if I lift the car doesn't even immediately slow down, it holds the revs, zero theater.
6. If you were looking for MORE luxury (I was not), technically the car shifts smoother the way it's holding the revs now.

This isn't in peoples heads and frankly I'm pissed. As I said the car was borderline too mute when I bought it, now it just feels like a 5 series too me. This isn't what I purchased and I'm baffled they think a change of this caliber for something I already paid for is acceptable. I don't give a damn if BMW were too aggressive with the tune out of the gate and it's killing catalytic converters, that's on them. If they were popping motors because they realized 600hp was too much, would it be OK to just dial it back to 400 one day during a service? Of course not.

This is spot on! My local dealer is telling me they’ve had many reports of the same behavior and are working with BMW. Yet, I have opened a case separately with BMW NA and they told me they have had no reports from any dealers on this issue. They are “interested” in the issue and want to resolve, as they have been calling me on a weekly basis, but so far no action.

[GiantRobot]

This thread piqued my interest because I have been telling myself of late that the frequency of pops and bangs does not appear to be the same in my car (2019 M5C). I began to notice after my most recent service which I am told included a software update. I'll have to experiment some more, but the car does seem to have lost some of its bark.

[ambletx]

This is odd. Ok, so I just traded my 2018 non-comp on a new 2021 comp, and the pops, bangs, burbbles, etc. are still there. If anything, they are louder than they were in my 2018.

[Fantastic 5]

I'm going to put it out there….can the brand of gas affect the pops and bangs?

[pcai]

Originally Posted by AuZZZie

I'm meeting my with dealership next week but this is my stance. If BMW can drastically change the driving characteristics of my car, after I purchased it. Who are they to tell me my warranty is void if I do the same? You can't have it both ways. Either give me the car I purchased back or when I mod it to get it back there, I don't want to hear your shit about voiding my warranty.

I 100% agree that this recall/software update is BS and when I take the car in for service I'll tell them no recall no software update. But I think that you will have a hard time getting your old software back. I've seen others try in this thread and that has always been denied by their dealers, which is even more BS. It seems so far that this update is irreversible, but good luck to you and update us if you can figure anything out with BMW or the dealer.

[pcai]

I recently got the OBD tank vent recall done (just a software update) and I can confirm (at least on my car) there's no change in the burble tune, or any other aspect of the car as well. I really hesitated on this recall especially after reading the forum, and I was a bit nervous picking the car up after the recall. Much to my relief, the car's sound characteristics remain unchanged. All the burbles are the same, including the really loud backfires you get on high-RPM downshifts. And 99% of my settings were still intact too (somehow ambient lighting colors got changed on its own and GPS tracking got turned off).

So here's another data point for anyone who's still deciding whether to get the recall done.

[euro*]

Originally Posted by AuZZZie

I recently got stung by this BS despite telling my dealership not to update my car. I've read a number of people in here claiming this is in peoples heads, you're wrong.

1. No one is claiming pops/bangs are 100% gone, just seriously muted.
2. If you didn't have a pre-LCI, pre-update car, you might not notice it. If you did it's very noticeable.

I've driven my car every day in Sport+, valves open since I bought it. The car was always borderline too muted me from the day I purchased it.

My observations
1. The pops and bangs are a lot less frequent.
2. The sharp tone to the pops is gone. It's a more rolled off deep tone 85% of the time.
3. Putting the car in Sports+ before start no longer has the pops and bangs on start
4. Downshifts are significantly less aggressive. It always seems like the shift points have moved.
5. This is one I haven't seen people talking about and in my mind is the worst part. The car holds its RPMs now when you let off the throttle. Think going from a lightweight flywheel to a full mass. I used to be able to lift the throttle and cause the overrun at will, now if I lift the car doesn't even immediately slow down, it holds the revs, zero theater.
6. If you were looking for MORE luxury (I was not), technically the car shifts smoother the way it's holding the revs now.

This isn't in peoples heads and frankly I'm pissed. As I said the car was borderline too mute when I bought it, now it just feels like a 5 series too me. This isn't what I purchased and I'm baffled they think a change of this caliber for something I already paid for is acceptable. I don't give a damn if BMW were too aggressive with the tune out of the gate and it's killing catalytic converters, that's on them. If they were popping motors because they realized 600hp was too much, would it be OK to just dial it back to 400 one day during a service? Of course not.

I've got my car back from this recall last week. And can confirm that my North American 2019 Comp behaves exactly like described by this poster very disappointed to be honest.

[Simon H]

Not long had my UK 2021 LCI Competition, and there are no pops and bangs whatsoever. I know this thread is about software and recalls, but just wanted to moan about the direction of manufacturers in the sound department. After owning 2 previous F90 M5s, with the full fat noises, this new LCI car is terribly disappointing without the sounds. The rest of the car is absolutely fantastic, but the sound of a car is so emotive, and it feels a bit of a let down atm .

[jhbodle]

Originally Posted by Simon H

Not long had my UK 2021 LCI Competition, and there are no pops and bangs whatsoever. I know this thread is about software and recalls, but just wanted to moan about the direction of manufacturers in the sound department. After owning 2 previous F90 M5s, with the full fat noises, this new LCI car is terribly disappointing without the sounds. The rest of the car is absolutely fantastic, but the sound of a car is so emotive, and it feels a bit of a let down atm .

You can blame the latest Euro regulations for that I'm afraid. They have placed a limit on the maximum loudness of engines, which is why manufacturers are starting to put soft limiters on their cars when stationary (apparently its an even stricter limit when stationary). The OPF killed the noises too.

[Simon H]

Originally Posted by jhbodle

You can blame the latest Euro regulations for that I'm afraid. They have placed a limit on the maximum loudness of engines, which is why manufacturers are starting to put soft limiters on their cars when stationary (apparently its an even stricter limit when stationary). The OPF killed the noises too.

Agree, just a bit annoying when other countries have the full fat experience, no OPFs, and no mapping out of pops and bangs, and even the ability to purchase an MPE .

[pcai]

Originally Posted by euro*

I've got my car back from this recall last week. And can confirm that my North American 2019 Comp behaves exactly like described by this poster very disappointed to be honest.

This is so weird man, we got the same recall done in the same country at basically the same time with the same model year F90, yet we have different results. But whatever happened to your car is definitely a huge let-down. Maybe there's different versions of the software that they load into the cars.

[pbonsalb]

My 18 M5 has the pops and bangs only in the sport settings and not in the default comfort/efficient settings. I assume you are testing in sport.

[pcai]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

My 18 M5 has the pops and bangs only in the sport settings and not in the default comfort/efficient settings. I assume you are testing in sport.

Yes full burble tune is only activated in sport+.

[MA///M5]

HaD the recall done today. No change in sound- all still there. I am here in the US.

[TheGrinch]

I just did a software update yesterday and sport exhaust sounds completely gone. Not reduced, GONE. Prior to that it sounded like a throaty tuner exhaust with pops bangs, etc. WTF BMW.

[Slugsy01]

Is it just noise or any performance reduction?

I'm seriously considering cancelling my order if it has had a material effect on the exhaust noise. It was already poor v AMG

[pcai]

Originally Posted by Slugsy01

Is it just noise or any performance reduction?

I'm seriously considering cancelling my order if it has had a material effect on the exhaust noise. It was already poor v AMG

All the new AMGs now (post 2019 ish) also have neutered exhausts compared to earlier models (both volume and burble tune). They just load the same pathetic new burble tune on all EU and NA cars, and at least BMW still gives NA customers the full fat burbles and exhaust experience.
I think for the most part the NA LCIs should still sound like the pre-LCIs. But the whole recall software update situation with some (including mine) having exhaust and burbles unaffected and others saying they got a neutered tune is perplexing.