welcome lighting
 

In settings this is turned on. According to the manual when the car is shut off the headlights will remain on for a given time. My headlights shut off as soon as the door is opened, the interior remain on and slowly dim.
This seems odd, in that in most of my cars the headlights would stay on to light the way for a a bit then go off.
Per manual the lights are set to auto.

Is this correct operation?

I believe the welcome lighting only works when the headlights are set to automatic.

Actually, the "welcome" lamps are those that turn on when you unlock the car as you are approaching. "Welcome", meaning, you are coming to the car. They are the angel eyes, and yes, they only come on if the headlights are in the Auto position, or the headlights on position (the headlights will also turn off in this position when you turn off the car).

You might be talking about "pathway" lighting, when the lights stay on after you shut the car off. Some cars leave them on automatically when you shut down. On your BMW, you pull the high-beam lever toward you after you turn off the car to activate the pathway lighting function. You can set how long the pathway lights stay on with one of the menu options.

Seems to make some unique BMW sense, need to turn on the exit lighting, just like always need to turn on the rain sensing wipers,

Hijack warning ...

I noticed something driving home from work this evening. In all my previous BMWs, an almost invisible red (or orange) light would shine down from the rear view mirror. In effect, your hand would be lit brightly enough that you could see it as you reached for radio/AC/etc controls. Now, nothing. Just a shadow.

Just me, or you guys too?

I don't believe my car has this, no ambient light from the overhead console or mirror, also none in the footwells.

You should be able to trigger the pathway lights from your keyfob as well - a single press on the diamond shaped button.

On top of the lighting menu, there is a pathway lighting time setting, make sure its not set at 0 seconds.

Yes, there are two LED's at the top of the overhead console to provide down ambient lighting. The LED's are located between the main interior lightbar and the row of buttons for controlling the map lights. I doubt they removed these between my 2011 and 2012/2013. I've had 3 BMW's, and these ambient light sources were never on the rearview mirror (2005/2008 3-series, 2011 5-series).

The overhead LED's dim along with your dashboard light setting, so if you can't see them, that may be the reason.

yeas they are there, are there any in the footwells? Hard to see due to moderate protanopia.

I don't think there are any in the foot wells - only under the door trim and in the door map pockets - and then only when you have the ambient lighting option.

I have this, and i think its really cool.

i mean you can see the light when you have your hands in that region,
but because of the moonroof controls and reading lights, you cant see where does the light come from! :)