Hello all,

I was in my friend's 07' 530xi today and I was wondering how do you adjust the temperature of the air coming out of the center vents? The ability to adjust or blend to the right temp on the center vent irrespective of the climate control temp. is easily one of my 3 favorite features of BMWs. Do you have to use i-drive to do this on an E60? Seems too cumbersome since I play with the vent temp MANY times in a day?

Thanks, DRP
The 550i is at VPC as of Monday!!!!

 

So far after almsot 2 years of ownership I've only been able to do that with the idrive... it is very cumbersome and annoying... I think thats why in the E90 they added the extra knob where you can change the air temp comming out of the vents w/out having to use the auto climate control.

 

Yes, I am afraid you do have to use the iDrive.

Select climate/air distribution then shift down to the air temp field (horizontal bars shaded in blue or red), then adjust by rotating.

 

I have set it to low and left the air to auto for over 2 years and it been fine, the only time I play with it is when I mod the car and the battury had to be diconected and other time is in winter to ture it hot.

 

Yep, it's via the idrive and one of the most annoying new features. It's warm here in ny during the days and cold at nights. i'm constantly having to go in each day and change it. sucks.

 

So what's the point of even having the regular temperature dials on the front of the climate unit then?

Currently my temperature setting in iDrive is set to white(medium?), and that seems to work pretty well. If it gets a little cold, I just turn on the seat heaters to high.

 

Exactlly... its that time of year where i want warm air in the morning and cool air in the afternoon and no need for AC so I dont use the Auto mode. personal preference. so i gotta change it all the time too.

 

You do it via the idrive. Tip: if the "center vent adjustment feature" was the last one you used, just pull the idrive knob towards "Climate" and hold it there. It will automatically jump to the right place.

OR, if you adjust it several times a day, just keep it there all the time.

/M

 

I have learned to adjust this very quickly via iDrive using shortcuts, from anywhere,without a lot of menu traversal. Just pull the iDrive knob left and hold it until the window changes to the ventilation view. Then twist the iDrive knob to adjust the center vent temp then pull the idrive knob back and hold it until you are back in the audio window.

 

I set iDrive seasonally. Then I run on auto. In summer, I use the snowflake and the temp knobs. In winter, I turn off the snowflake and use just the temp knobs and change blower speeds sometimes for a quicker warm up.