It took some convincing and lots of email to anyone I could find an email address for, but I finally convinced my local dealer to apply the latest update to my 2017 440i XDrive. From my end, I didn't need to request they initiate a PUMA case or anything. That may have happened on the backside, but I didn't have to force it from my end.
The storyline kinda went like this: BMW Corporate was not providing much information regarding the content of the latest software/firmware update, unlike it had for previous releases. My vehicle was also not listed as being directly affected by the update. If I were a service technician and all that were true; I might hesitate before turning someone's sweet ride into a very heavy brick - even if it was a very nice shiny black brick.
As a complete aside and as a bit of a conspiracy theory - this wouldn't have anything to do with the raids by German Police on BMW's Munich Headquarters in March? Would it? I've certainly never "heard of" a software engineer sneaking an update into a release to fix something that should have never been there in the first place - things that make you go: hmmmmm.
Anyway, with all unfair and unfounded speculation aside... and with the latest update successfully installed in my car, I can now shift from 5th down into 3rd and Automatic Rev-Matching works as I believe it should. Still does not disable in Sport+ mode, but maybe I can get my coder to help there - he needs to re-code all my previous settings anyway
All in all, I'm very excited and had a fun ride home - don't tell the wife.
Full disclosure, when I purchased my car, it did not automatically Rev-Match for a 2 gear downshift. As such - I imagine that I was no where near as p!$$ed off as folks who actually had and lost the functionality - I feel for y'all, I really do. I'm not sure the old ticker would have held up as I calmly explained my concern to a service advisor. I really didn't care so much if the car did or didn't automatically Rev-Match; it just shouldn't do it sometimes. I feel this created a dangerous situation. When something stupid happens right in front of me, I drop into 3rd to get away from the situation, and I buck (or God forbid stall) the car because where it would normally automatically Rev-Match for me (like it or not), it suddenly decided not to when I needed to Rev-Match the most. The car spent a great deal of time teaching me how it wanted to be driven and now changed the rules on me.
As a bonus (and I'm not sure it was really related) my ConnectedDrive now lets me Lock/Unlock the car, Beep the Horn, Flash the Lights, and turn on the Ventilation from the ConnectedDrive app on my phone - WhoHoo! That's been bugging me for 7 months and countless calls/visits/emails. Man I'm a PITA.
Well, I'm declaring victory and moving on
