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Is it just me?

6K views 56 replies 23 participants last post by  ehchan 
#1 ·
I find the use of the automatic shift lever on the F30 to be completely counterintuitive. It makes sense that to go into drive, you push the lever forward and to go into reverse, you pull it backward. But on my 328i, the exact opposite is true. Reverse--push forward; drive--pull backward. Even after almost two months, I still occasionally get the urge to pull the lever back to go into reverse and forward to go into drive.

The same holds true for the MS/manual mode. To upshift, it makes sense to push the lever forward and to downshift, to pull it back. But again, the opposite is true. This so-called reasoning applies to the ASS feature as well. To shut it off, you push a button and a little light comes on. I always thought that if an indicator light is on, what it controls is also on. I'm sure BMW has some sort of reasoning behind this thinking. I would just like to know what it is.

Is this confusing to anyone else beside me?
 
#3 ·
That's funny! My dd is a F150 Lariat with console shifter, and having had a STS and a CTS-V the last few years, I am programmed to pull back to downshift, push forward to upshift when in manual mode. I confess I have banged the F30 the wrong way a couple times and had a momentary sensation of 'what the .... happened'.

Another odd feature of the F30 is the door locking button on the center of the dash. Must make sense to someone?
 
#8 ·
It's just BMW! It does not make sense to anyone else besides their engineers. Me thinks they do mind altering substances.
 
#9 ·
In a race car with a lever sequential shifter the convention is pull to upshift, push to downshift, which makes sense if you think about the way the forces push and pull you while braking and accelerating. So BMW decided to go with racing conventions in designing the shifter. I think they made the change in 2003 and that confused the heck out of everyone that year. Me, I prefer the BMW way... incidentally, the only other manufacturer that does it this way is Mazda, I think.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Bimmer App
 
#11 ·
In a race car with a lever sequential shifter the convention is pull to upshift, push to downshift, which makes sense if you think about the way the forces push and pull you while braking and accelerating. So BMW decided to go with racing conventions in designing the shifter. I think they made the change in 2003 and that confused the heck out of everyone that year. Me, I prefer the BMW way... incidentally, the only other manufacturer that does it this way is Mazda, I think.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Bimmer App
Yep mazda does it the right way too. Baffling why people want it backward. You pull back to keep going faster, push forward as you brake for a corner.
 
#10 ·
Like what ehchan said, it would be pretty unnatural to pull the lever back to downshift as you are being forced forward under hard braking. Same for accelerating. Why would you want your arm and hand to move opposite of your body while subject to acceleration forces? May cause an inadvertent shift in the wrong direction if you forget to relax your hand.

In automatic mode, since when was drive forward and reverse back? Every shifter I have ever seen looked like this: P R N D. From drive, forward to go to reverse and from reverse, backward to go to drive. Am I missing something?
 
#14 ·
I did drive a Porsche with a DCT/PDK and I don't remember it being that way, but maybe I wasn't thinking about it because I'm used to my 335is.

Having a stick ends the confusion.
 
#17 ·
I think it also may have sonstig to do with BMW coming from the manufacturing of airplane engines. In airplanes, you pull the lever back to go faster.

As for the mentioned Door Button:
I find it quite useful, but I am from zee Germany ^^. The doors Auto lock at around 20km/h (about 12mp/h I zink ^^) so went I pick up my wife, I hit the button to open the doors. Same when friends leave the car, I push it, so they don't have to pull the door handle twice and go all "wtf dude, door won't open" on me. And when my wife and I are together on the road, either one of us can push zee button and let friends in.

Btw. I love you "mocking" us with things like "zee" instead of "the". I have a German friend who has lived more than half her life in the us and still pronounces 'three" like "tree".
 
#18 · (Edited)
Pull the lever back to go faster?!?!

Which lever? Power or control stick?

I think you're a little confused but don't feel bad because many people who have never flown are confused.

Airspeed is controlled by pitch, not power. Power controls altitude.

If you pull back on the stick, you go nose up which will bleed airspeed.

Unless you mean the power lever, however, everything I have ever flown has been push forward to increase power.
 
#19 ·
Of course I don't mean the control stick which controlls roll and pitch. I meant the engine speed control. Of course you go up if you pull the control stick back, just as you roll left when you push it left and your feet control the rudder.

But you are right with the direction of the speed control, my bad. Had it the wrong way in my head somehow.
 
#20 ·
Of course I don't mean the control stick which controlls roll and pitch. I meant the engine speed control. Of course you go up if you pull the control stick back, just as you roll left when you push it left and your feet control the rudder.

But you are right with the direction of the speed control, my bad. Had it the wrong way in my head somehow.
I think this thread has us all thinking backwards lol :)
 
#38 ·
I find the use of the automatic shift lever on the F30 to be completely counterintuitive. It makes sense that to go into drive, you push the lever forward and to go into reverse, you pull it backward. But on my 328i, the exact opposite is true. Reverse--push forward; drive--pull backward. Even after almost two months, I still occasionally get the urge to pull the lever back to go into reverse and forward to go into drive.
Think of it this way, BMW use to be a aircraft manufacturer. You pull back a airplane yoke to go up and down to decent. The BMW electronic shifter is pretty similar.
 
#40 · (Edited)
That's it.

They're affixated to the 'joystick,' as am I, have to admit. Guy thing.

But cars don't go up & down much by gear change....convert top op, or BMW's so-so NAV op.

Have you noticed? To zoom in, one naturally turns the knob clockwise. Out, counter-clockwise.

But not in Munich. Ooooooooooh no, NOT in Munich. Like other controls, Bizarro.

Yellow Facial expression Emoticon Smile


.
 
#46 ·
I started this thread and despite some fairly convincing arguments to the contrary, I still believe that BMW has it all wrong. When I want to go forward, I think I should logically push the lever forward. When I want to go back, I should pull it backward. When I want to shift to a higher gear, I should push it forward and to a lower gear, I should pull it back. Doing so makes complete sense to me.

I figure that one of these days, I will do things "the way they should be" and put the car into reverse when I want to go into drive or vice versa. Or I'll upshift going down a hill instead of downshifting. In either case, the results probably won't be very good. :(

If I recover from either incident, since I believe they would be due to a BMW design fault, I wonder if they would pay my hospital bills and/or replace my probably totaled automobile.
 
#47 · (Edited)
For all the cars I have driven, I don't recall one of them, I had to push the shifter forward to put it in drive (which drives the car forward). Reverse is always in a more forward position than drive. Can you list some of the cars you used to drive?

As far as manual shift pattern, yes the majority of the brands seems to shift to a higher forward gear when you push the shifter forward, but not BMW, nor Mazda apparently. Some of the brands you move the shifter left and right to change gear in manual mode.
 
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