Comfort Access?

Originally Posted by quackbury

Always thought CA was a stupid waste of money till I had it. Now it's indispensible. With three identical BMW keys on the key ring (2008 M3, 2008 and 2011 X5's) it sure beats guessing which remote button works on a particular car.

Yeah, nice problem to have, to be sure.

You can give me your M3. I want to help you out with your problem.

Originally Posted by Inline Sixer

You can give me your M3. I want to help you out with your problem.

Only if you take my mother-in-law as part of the package. Deal?

It's faster. It's easier. It's more convenient. What's not to like? (Okay, the price is what's not to like.) Still, it's my favorite option.

Originally Posted by quackbury

Only if you take my mother-in-law as part of the package. Deal?

If that's the only condition I might want to throw my hat in the ring too I've got plenty of wine to keep her sedated....

Originally Posted by quackbury

Only if you take my mother-in-law as part of the package. Deal?

Nice one. That cracked me up. Brilliant, you're trying to solve two problems in one deal. Okay, I'll take it, but we should agree to a return clause if this doesn't work out.

Its worth it on the X5 just to get the keyless start. Not sure if I would get it on the 5 series sedan though.

It's a standard feature on much less exensive cars from BMWs competitors. For that matter, the same can be said for many of BMWs "options." I've had it on several other brands and once the novelty wore off it was no big deal. Certainly not worth a grand.

We had a few BMW with and without CA. Both my wife and I are big fans of the CA option. From my viewpoint, it is a great security feature. It's a bad idea to walk with your keys in hand on a dark deserted parking lot.

Originally Posted by mcg-doc

We had a few BMW with and without CA. Both my wife and I are big fans of the CA option. From my viewpoint, it is a great security feature. It's a bad idea to walk with your keys in hand on a dark deserted parking lot.

Actually I think it is a good idea, if you have your thumb on the panic button.

How does the comfort access actually work? I know that if you have the key in your pocket the door will unlock when you touch the handle. But what if you are at the drivers door with the comfort access key in your pocket, and someone on the other side of the vehicle touches the passenger door handle. Will the passenger door unlock for them, e.g., if someone was crouching down on the passenger side, could they get in the vehicle when you unlocked the driver's door just by touching the passenger handle? Or is the range somehow such that it only works for the door your are standing next to?

Originally Posted by mcg-doc

We had a few BMW with and without CA. Both my wife and I are big fans of the CA option. From my viewpoint, it is a great security feature. It's a bad idea to walk with your keys in hand on a dark deserted parking lot.

Originally Posted by Penguin

Actually I think it is a good idea, if you have your thumb on the panic button.

How does the comfort access actually work? I know that if you have the key in your pocket the door will unlock when you touch the handle. But what if you are at the drivers door with the comfort access key in your pocket, and someone on the other side of the vehicle touches the passenger door handle. Will the passenger door unlock for them, e.g., if someone was crouching down on the passenger side, could they get in the vehicle when you unlocked the driver's door just by touching the passenger handle? Or is the range somehow such that it only works for the door your are standing next to?

I'm not sure how BMW does it, but I believe with Lexus you can set how the doors respond to the proximity of the key. For example you can have just the driver door open or all four doors.

I fail to see any clear cut security benefits. If someone is inclined to approach my wife in a dark parking lot I don't think the location of the key will matter and frankly I'd rather have her hand them the key and let them take the car. Plus, I saw a thread on another board with news that thieves have figured out ways to mimic the codes from keyless entry systems and are stealing cars pretty easily.

For me it's just cool technology and convenience but still not worth a grand when you consider how many $20k to $30k cars have it now.

Originally Posted by Penguin

Actually I think it is a good idea, if you have your thumb on the panic button.

How does the comfort access actually work? I know that if you have the key in your pocket the door will unlock when you touch the handle. But what if you are at the drivers door with the comfort access key in your pocket, and someone on the other side of the vehicle touches the passenger door handle. Will the passenger door unlock for them, e.g., if someone was crouching down on the passenger side, could they get in the vehicle when you unlocked the driver's door just by touching the passenger handle? Or is the range somehow such that it only works for the door your are standing next to?

You can set the settings to open just the driver door or all of the doors.

I, for example, have it set to open just the driver door, but if the key is in my pocket and I approach any door, that door will open. Same for any other key-holder (i.e. if I open the driver door and the girlfriend has her key in her purse and approaches the passenger or rear doors, they'll open for her as well).

Originally Posted by Penguin

Actually I think it is a good idea, if you have your thumb on the panic button.

How does the comfort access actually work? I know that if you have the key in your pocket the door will unlock when you touch the handle. But what if you are at the drivers door with the comfort access key in your pocket, and someone on the other side of the vehicle touches the passenger door handle. Will the passenger door unlock for them, e.g., if someone was crouching down on the passenger side, could they get in the vehicle when you unlocked the driver's door just by touching the passenger handle? Or is the range somehow such that it only works for the door your are standing next to?

First question first.... my partner also has a key to the X and from time to time we find that if he touches the passenger side door before I open the driver side the settings for the driver seat and radio will adjust to his settings instead of mine. We've had a couple of moments where we've started the whole process over again so that I can have my settings when driving.

For the second question.... We have our keys set so that only the driver side door unlocks when I go to open the car. I have to manually release the passenger door from the central locking button inside.

Originally Posted by Penguin

Actually I think it is a good idea, if you have your thumb on the panic button.

How does the comfort access actually work? I know that if you have the key in your pocket the door will unlock when you touch the handle. But what if you are at the drivers door with the comfort access key in your pocket, and someone on the other side of the vehicle touches the passenger door handle. Will the passenger door unlock for them, e.g., if someone was crouching down on the passenger side, could they get in the vehicle when you unlocked the driver's door just by touching the passenger handle? Or is the range somehow such that it only works for the door your are standing next to?

Penguin, if someone on the other side touches the door handle before the driver, CA will not engage. In our case, when my wife and I both have our keys with us, the x always figures out which is the driver. I'm a big fan of CA. My only complaint is that when I am washing the car, the key must be place out of range. Otherwise, Splashing water on the handles will cause beeps and random locking and unlocking.