My First BMW and after a month, I have a few QUIRKS to share?

I have had my 535i about a month now. It is my first BMW and I am really begining to get used to it and LOVE IT! So dont misinterpret this post

A few quirks still have me miffed; compared to my 2088 Cadillac CTS I had previous

-no automatic door locks when I get out of the car

-putting a remote starter in is a nightmare and not advised (WInters are pretty cold in Germany, not sure how they missed this one?)

-gearshift gets pushes up to go into reverse

-rear view mirrors dont tilt down when in reverse, I have the camera package but cant see my wheels near the curb and I dont want curb rash!

-have to unlock my doors to get out of the car or else pull the handle twice

-have to shut off my car twice for the radio to go off

-cant scroll through my radio pre set stations unless I click on them with the I drive knob and no controls on the steering wheel for stations

-Air Conditioning / heat always comes on when I start my car even though it was off when I parked

Beleive me the list of things I love about the car would be 100x longer than this. It is absolute JOY to DRIVE and I have no regrets at all and to be honest have adjusted to these quirks already but some of them make me scratch my head, especially the remote starter Dilemna. Remote starters are becoming standard equipement on so many cars and not only do we not get the option, we jeopardize our warranty IF we can even get someone to try to install one. Winters are kind of cold in Germany, why would a remote starter not be considered?

TO BE CLEAR AGAIN, this is not a rant, I LOVE MY CAR and find myself just staring at it in my driveway in AWE These are just some observations and comments

It is TRULY the Ultimate Driving Machine

You are allowed to rant. Regarding the mirror, my 528i has tilt mirror when I go into reverse. This is cancelled with a switch on the door handle just under the mirror adjustment. Not sure if the 535i is the same but I assume so. Regarding the double pull, there is a huge thread on this from a while back. Plod through it to see if there's anything there of help. I think of it as two separate motions. Unlock and open. Both are required in any car but in the BMW both are accomplished with the door handle so it seems odd at first. As for pushing twice to shut off the car, I guess they are simulating the two positions of the normal ignition key lock set but it's not natural. The E60 allowed a one push turnoff if the button was held for a second. That seems like a good design and they should have kept it. I haven't noticed the A/C heater thing. Others can comment on your other issues.

I love my car too.

If my last three BMWs are any indicator, I wouldn't worry about the remote starter -- you'll find that you have heat within seconds after you start the car. The seats and HVAC warm up quickly enough that I routinely take my coat off and leave it in the back seat, even when the temperatures are in single digits (Fahrenheit).

In one instance, the car had been parked for 14 hours and the high temperature was about 10 degrees. When I got back to the car, it was in single digits. IIRC, the seat heat was noticeable in about 30 seconds and the climate control provided hot air within about 90 seconds.

Originally Posted by BobRBob

Regarding the double pull, there is a huge thread on this from a while back. Plod through it to see if there's anything there of help. I think of it as two separate motions. Unlock and open. Both are required in any car but in the BMW both are accomplished with the door handle so it seems odd at first.

This is one thing I will find annoying when my F10 arrives. Lexus allows you to program Lexus Personalized to unlock the doors when car is placed in "Park". This is a very logical setup. Since given our Auto-H, you only put the car in Park if you are done.

I'm impressed Cadillac has auto-lock when leaving and walking away from the car. I wasn't aware any automotive OEM had this.

Cold is only part of my concern...it is melting all the snow off my car in the winter that concerns me more......with my CTS, I would start the car from inside my home and by the time I got outside the windsheild and rear window was defrosted and any snow on the hood was heated up enough so that it could be easily removed. The more I think about the more I cant beleive BMWs dont come with an auto starter?

I may just role the dice and see if I can get one installed because the thought of getting in a cold car covered with snow just annoyes me

-rear view mirrors dont tilt down when in reverse, I have the camera package but cant see my wheels near the curb and I dont want curb rash!

Only the right mirror will do so, and only if you flick the mirror selection switch in your door to the other position

-have to unlock my doors to get out of the car or else pull the handle twice

This one seems to be some NA specific "feature"... every BMW I've ever driven over here did unlock the doors when the engine is switched off

-have to shut off my car twice for the radio to go off

I bet the radio will go off when the car is being locked. If listening really LOUD while arriving at my destination and don't want to attract unnecessary attention, I tend to mute the audio system before switching the engine off.

You'll be glad to know that at least two of your issues can be easily fixed. For the door lock thing, there is a menu setting in idrive that prevents the doors from automatically locking in the first place, which my CA did for me the day I got it. For the radio presets, there is a scroll wheel on the right side of the steering wheel that runs through the presets, shown on the screen between the odometer and tach.

Thanks for those tibbits, MileHi, that would be three quirks down...

Originally Posted by TOPVIEW

I have had my 535i about a month now. It is my first BMW and I am really begining to get used to it and LOVE IT! So dont misinterpret this post

A few quirks still have me miffed; compared to my 2088 Cadillac CTS I had previous

-no automatic door locks when I get out of the car

The option is there however is not coded for the USA.

-putting a remote starter in is a nightmare and not advised (WInters are pretty cold in Germany, not sure how they missed this one?)

The option of remote starting should be available (thru Assist via smartphone app) in the USA in the next couple of years or less, though. The BMW Remote app (not officially available in the USA but mostly works with USA BMW) supports several remote features already.

-rear view mirrors dont tilt down when in reverse, I have the camera package but cant see my wheels near the curb and I dont want curb rash!

Passenger mirror tilts if mirrow selector switch is moved to the opposite side of your current selection.

-have to unlock my doors to get out of the car or else pull the handle twice

That's the purpose of the double locks.

-have to shut off my car twice for the radio to go off

Press and hold Start button.

-cant scroll through my radio pre set stations unless I click on them with the I drive knob and no controls on the steering wheel for stations

Set iDrive to the preset section and then you will be able to scroll only thru presets. Then you can use the steering wheel controls to scroll thru them.

-Air Conditioning / heat always comes on when I start my car even though it was off when I parked

The option is there however it is not coded for the USA. The options are to remember last state or to default to a specific state. In the USA BMW decided to set the coding to default to the ON state after turning the car on.

Beleive me the list of things I love about the car would be 100x longer than this. It is absolute JOY to DRIVE and I have no regrets at all and to be honest have adjusted to these quirks already but some of them make me scratch my head, especially the remote starter Dilemna. Remote starters are becoming standard equipement on so many cars and not only do we not get the option, we jeopardize our warranty IF we can even get someone to try to install one. Winters are kind of cold in Germany, why would a remote starter not be considered?

TO BE CLEAR AGAIN, this is not a rant, I LOVE MY CAR and find myself just staring at it in my driveway in AWE These are just some observations and comments

It is TRULY the Ultimate Driving Machine

The mystery is why BMW disable features when they are fully implemented already in the car software.

1. no automatic door locks - yes, could be better. Might be it will be "fixed" with some coding?
Also slightly annoying - you cannot close the trunk without the remote in the pocket.

2. Remote starter - forget it...
I know how good is it (I had it in my Buick - installed myself), but for this kind of car I assume it's really tough to hack to put it there, and officially it is prohibited by "green" concerns...

3. gearshift gets pushes up - ??

4. rear view mirrors tilt down when in reverse - right mirror will tilt - just leave the mirror adjustment selector in right position (or read the manual ), but IMHO this not needed at all since we have cameras.

5-6. Yes, doing everything twice is quite demanding. OK, let's think is a airplane, not the car - it requires some preparations to start or stop E.g. a least click "I accept" on start and set mode to Sport or Sport+..

7. Scroll radio presets - I've set "Favorites" on Button 1, and then just use wheel scroll to scroll the list. Yes, it will not be in sync with what is shown on the large screen (and selection with iDrive). Not very convenient when I have 800 song in the folder..

8. AC heat - yes, my concern as well. Already complained in other topic - my 2001 Lexus never did anything like that. Put it to 3-direction mode (not full-auto), and also rotate those Blue-Red knobs near the vents - that would help a little..

9-900. Completely agree on that - "love list" is really endless!

Originally Posted by TOPVIEW

compared to my 2088 Cadillac CTS

And the BMW obviously doesn't have the flux capacitor option!

In response to your post, there are some just blatantly stupid design/operational features of these cars. I guess the reason I have one is the good outweighs the bad.

Originally Posted by FastMarkA

In response to your post, there are some just blatantly stupid design/operational features of these cars. I guess the reason I have one is the good outweighs the bad.

At least the box within the box in the center armrest of the E60 has been excluded from the F10. That thing was just magically stupid.

Makes you wonder if they hired some guy from IKEA to come up with some things. I always shake my head and wind up with extra parts no matter what I try to put together from them..lol

Originally Posted by TOPVIEW

Makes you wonder if they hired some guy from IKEA to come up with some things.

Actually, I wish they'd do that! While it's economically-priced furniture, it's very well designed...down to the packaging!

Regarding the shifter, I just assume that all the BMW designers play Call of Duty with inverted look = true. As someone who also plays with inverted controls, I approve of the layout. ;-)

Remote starting (idling unattended A.K.A. "puffing") is illegal in Colorado an possibly in other states. Because big drivers for this legislation include pollution and fuel waste, I would speculate that it might also be illegal in some places in Europe. I hope we hear from some European members on this point.

Best,
Q

Originally Posted by Technic

Press and hold Start button.

3-series will do this, F10 will not. Need to press it 2 times.

Originally Posted by TOPVIEW

I have had my 535i about a month now. It is my first BMW and I am really begining to get used to it and LOVE IT! So dont misinterpret this post

You've gotten some answers by now, here's my $.02 for some...

-gearshift gets pushes up to go into reverse

You should get used to it. Notice the lit up green "P" on the shifter. It has an up arrow toward Neutral and Reverse, a down arrow for Drive. (That means push the shifter forward for N and R.). You know you can push the shifter forward past the first detent to go right to R without doing a double foward push?

-rear view mirrors dont tilt down when in reverse, I have the camera package but cant see my wheels near the curb and I dont want curb rash!

Yes, the right one does -- you must have missed this. People already noted the mirror switch has to be in the correct position (ie., you might not always want it to tilt).

-have to unlock my doors to get out of the car or else pull the handle twice

I'm on my 3rd BMW, I'm used to it. When I have passengers I simply press the central unlock button as I'm parking.

-have to shut off my car twice for the radio to go off

If you think about it, this is not really different from having to turn a key system twice to the lock position. First key turn is to ignition off/accessory, 2nd turn is to OFF/LOCK. Same idea.

-cant scroll through my radio pre set stations unless I click on them with the I drive knob and no controls on the steering wheel for stations

Sure there's a steering wheel control -- on the right side, the small scroll wheel. I usually have my presets screen showing on iDrive, simply scroll through with the iDrive knob as well.

Originally Posted by markl53

3-series will do this, F10 will not. Need to press it 2 times.

Yep - I tried that tonight and it does not work. Have to hit the button twice. After a couple of weeks I'm getting use to doing it now. I don't care for the double pull on the door - I thought you could program that to auto unlock when you put car in park or open the first door. But apparently not.

I kind of like the shifter. If you're pulling straight out of a parking spot just move the shifter down once and you're off. That's kind of cool. I'll have to admit though, I'm still looking to see what gear I'm in. I guess it will take a little while to get comfortable with that.

Originally Posted by Quacker

Remote starting (idling unattended A.K.A. "puffing") is illegal in Colorado an possibly in other states. Because big drivers for this legislation include pollution and fuel waste, I would speculate that it might also be illegal in some places in Europe. I hope we hear from some European members on this point.

Best,
Q

I tell you what "pardner" it won't EVER be illegal in Texas... Start it up, and let it get warm or cool inside. Nothing makes me more mad than enviros/social justice freaks dictating what I should or should not do...

Originally Posted by GARBAJ

I tell you what "pardner" it won't EVER be illegal in Texas... Start it up, and let it get warm or cool inside. Nothing makes me more mad than enviros/social justice freaks dictating what I should or should not do...

Cars warm up so fast these days I don't see a need to have it idling in my driveway while I'm inside. In 5 minutes I have heat, in one minute my heated seat is hot.

Most have been covered already, but here is my .02.

I've gotten used to the pulling the handle twice. Once is to unlock the door, twice is to open the door. If you unlock it before hand, you only have to open it once. It is somewhat annoying at first, but it makes sense in my mind.

It also make sense in my mind concerning the gear shift lever. Just like in a car with a mechanical gear shift, pulling back puts it in to drive, and pushing forward puts it in to reverse (assuming you were in drive). It actually makes the experience more consistent, since you don't need to know which way you need to pull/push it, since it is always the same. What I mean here is with a mechanical gear shift, if you wanted to from P to R, you would pull back. But, from D to R, you would push forward. It is always the same on an electronic gear shift, and I quite like it.

Also in my mind, the AC should always remain on. It's an automatic system, so the car will figure it out for you. It's very convenient when it is otherwise cool out and the windows fog up. It will automatically defog the front window, and will dehumidify the air. My advice is to just always leave it on.

Originally Posted by Quacker

Remote starting (idling unattended A.K.A. "puffing") is illegal in Colorado an possibly in other states. Because big drivers for this legislation include pollution and fuel waste, I would speculate that it might also be illegal in some places in Europe. I hope we hear from some European members on this point.

Best,
Q

Idling in Germany is illegal. Can't warm up car in advance (even with a foot of snow on top); must stop engine waiting at train crossing; can't run engine in a traffic jam. There is a residual heat function (see page 128 of manual) which continues to warm the car while the engine is off. It's cold in Germany, they only need residual heat, not residual AC. There are many features of "German Engineering" like this on the BMW.

Originally Posted by GARBAJ

I tell you what "pardner" it won't EVER be illegal in Texas... Start it up, and let it get warm or cool inside. Nothing makes me more mad than enviros/social justice freaks dictating what I should or should not do...

Yeah, you're so right. Who needs those damn polar ice caps, all those species that I can't hunt or eat or clean air or clean water? That's all crap. Dow Chemical is my lord and master. If I want to run my car at WOT in neutral all day and muck up the air, that's exactly what I'm gonna do and I don't need no pinko, commy enviromental freak telling me different. Oil spills? What do I care? What are those water fowl doing for me anyway? Screw them and the clean air they rode in on. If I want to see nature I'll turn on the Discovery channel.

Enlightened attitudes like these are so refreshing.

Gotta love your moniker, GARBAJ. Kind of like the whole world is your personal GARBAJ heap, huh?

I guess this is all making sense now and I sincerly appreciate all the feedback. Most of the quirks are simply my ignorance of not knowing alot of my quirks have an easy fix

I have decided the only thing that I cannot accept is at very least the option install a remote starter. As stated earlier from what I have been told, even the dealership will not attempt it do to an installation on one because of the electronic complexity