555

Anyone out there a little disappointed with the way the Climate Control works? Maybe it's just me, but it just seems strange. For example, when I try to explain how it works to my wife, she looks soooooo confused.

My observations with the heat settings:

Access Climate. Click down twice and over once and change the blue setting to red (for heat). If you don't do this, it seems to stay in some cool setting even though the A/C button is not on and you've jacked the temp. setting up to like 80.

Also, the heat works a lot better if you turn the blower off the middle/face setting and just use the upper/windshield setting. This is just WEIRD to me. I've noticed it a bunch.

Heat works well on defrost and the upper blowers. The face blowers always blow cooler even though you have the temp. setting maxed to the top. On a cold day, this is just bizarre. Since my wife rarely drives the car, she cannot remember this.

Anyone else seeing this? I used to notice this with my old 3 Series as well. It was just easier to explain with the manual dials on the unit.

Why can't the car just work with the temp. settings if you want it warmer? All the way left = cold. All the way right = hot. No jacking around with cool or warm settings and blowers if you don't want to. Just set the blowers the way you always want and leave them alone. And again, just mess with the temp. settings (higher or lower). That?s the way this whole thing should work IMO.

Again, maybe it's just me.

Iceman

I have my A/C on Auto all the time and it works perfect!

robg

I agree with you. It is especially annoying this time of year when the temperature varies greatly. AC one day, heat the next. I find this to be the biggest problem with the I-Drive. On my E39, the fresh air temp could be adjusted witht he red/blue dial integral to the vent.

555

I am more referring to making it warmer. I had zero issues with the A/C. That works great.

Moving that one Climate setting to heat and getting that to work "right" is strange. Again, having to switch the Climate button to "red" (from "blue") and turning off the middle vents in favor of the windshield vent is what I find "weak". I cannot figure out why the middle vent always seems to blow cooler air than the other vents and I hate that step of switching from blue to red. I wish it was just a matter of adjusting the temp. knob.

browellm

Same here. The e60 a/c is stunning imo.

I am having an enforced stint in a courtesy e39 at the moment and the climate control is nowhere near as clever at maintaing the appropraite environment.

Iceman

If you want it warmer you have to turn the temp knobs/dials to the right on the desired temperature.
If you close the middle vents you don't have colder air blowing in your face. The middle vents are allways colder on BMW's, AFAIK. It is supposed to be this way, so that the driver is not falling asleep when driving at night, beeing tired.
I need to check mine though...

amigo525

Hmm..i havent noticed any issues with my heater.

555

That's mostly what my post was about, Ice.

I know you have to do all those things. I think it should be more like a thermostat though. Just up or down to make it colder or warmer. Not the other hoops. My wife rarely drives the car (which is good), but she will never remember to go into the Climate menu, click down twice, over one, change the dial setting from blue to red, turn off the middle vent, etc.

Hormazd

If you want it warmer you have to turn the temp knobs/dials to the right on the desired temperature.
If you close the middle vents you don't have colder air blowing in your face. The middle vents are allways colder on BMW's, AFAIK. It is supposed to be this way, so that the driver is not falling asleep when driving at night, beeing tired.
I need to check mine though...
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I like it this way. My wife loves the dual climate controls. Ofcourse its natural to wonder why cool air is blowing from the main vent. I thought it was a defect too. The fact is I find the cabin very comfortable with hot/warm air blowing from below and cooler air from the main vents. The manual recomends directing these away from you. In cold weather thats all you need to do and then just turn up the heat.

I do wonder why the auto seeting keeps the AC compressor on even when its cold and dry outside. Maybe its turning it on and off as needed but the light is always on.

GER_545SMG

Here in CA, this time of year the weather varies greatly. I think climate controls SHOULD NOT have been incorporated into iDrive.

Everything else in iDrive is simple to learn and a joy to use. I rarely monkey with the climate controls. On the positive side, most of the time the seat heaters and heated steering warm me up so quickly I rarely need to be warmed with ambient air....