POGI

Where you feel most comfortable and safe. Safe in the sense that it's not to high that your belly is touching the steering wheel or too low that when you're not that tall you can't even see the road.

info@trinityautosport

a relaxed and comfortable position and at the same time you feel confident about your driving in that position..

RobertB

Last Month, I did the Performance Center Delivery down in South Carolina (I got my car a year ago, but that's another story). My instructor there was Donnie Isley (google his name and BMW and you'll see him). His recommendation while we were out on the track was the following:

Seat height: 3-4 fingers above your head. This gives you a good compromise of seeing what's close and far away.
Distance from the pedals: fully depress the brake pedal (or clutch as mentioned earlier in this thread) and you should still have a slightly bent knee
Steering wheel distance: in the normal seating position, with your arms extended over the top of the steering wheel (kind-of 11:30 and 1:30), your wrists should touch the steering wheel.
Hand position: 9:00 and 3:00 (not 10:00 and 2:00 as many of us were told)
Driver's side mirror position: Lean your head so that it touches the side window and adjust the mirror until you can barely see that side of the car
The other side mirror: Lean your head the same distance as above, but in the opposite direction, and adjust that side mirror in the same fashion
I can't remember exactly how he said to position the rear-view mirror, but it basically should cover the area behind the car where the side-view mirrors leave off. Car Talk recommends the same mirror positioning. The goal is that you should be able to see cars behind/beside you in your mirrors or in your peripheral vision - no blind spots.

I don't remember if he addressed steering wheel height. I keep mine pretty low.

I had a blast out on the track, and enjoyed pushing a 530i and brand-new X5 4.8 Sport as hard as I could through the slalom course. The wet skidpad was educational and fun at the same time. Riding with Donnie driving an M5 on the "hot lap" was a great way to see how the M5 can really perform (it would take a book to describe how he made that car dance).

pinguhk

I have my seat to the bottom and tiled back at a angle.

subterFUSE

They let me drive the M5 when I did performance delivery. Did you get to drive it?

stanatl

That's pretty close to where my seat position is (height wise). I find if I go too low in the seat position, I have difficulty seeing the HUD image on the windshield.

550isport

I agree that you have to be comfortable to be safe, but I want to add that I had to adapt to the proper driving position in my first BMW (which had sport seats and articulated backrests). I drove that car for a few weeks with my seat positioned like my previous S class - which was a comfortable position. I changed the position in the BMW because because I was moving around too much in corners, and I realized that as I got closer to the wheel I felt more in control of the car. To this day people comment on how odd my position feels when they sit in it. I can't give any rules or guidelines since I'm 6'6", but I just wanted to clarify that what you're used to shouldn't be confused with comfortable. My new BMW seating style became comfortable after about a month. Like breaking in a pair of ski boots, the "proper" text book position may take a little time before it becomes comfortable. You owe it yourself to try it though.

P.S. I think there should be traffic laws that penalize the "leaned back" position that has become popular in recent years. Its unsafe when you can only touch your fingertips on one hand to the wheel. Lets face it, when you're in the 'proper' position, it can't possible look cool from the outside. Look at sports car drivers or Nascar drivers (yuk). Does their position look cool? I bet its comfortable to them though.

DRP

550isport

Since we'e on this subject, has anyone heard of way to increase the telescopic range of the steering wheel on an E60? In some BMWs you can remove parts under the seat to increase the range of motion. I was wondering if there was such a thing for the steering wheel.

You would think I would have the wheel retracted with my 37 1/2" sleeves (I'm 6'6"), but I find that once I adjust my seat bottom for proper knee room and then fully extent the wheel toward me, that I would prefer another 1/2 inch or so of extension in the steering column. I like to shuffle steer and my last car, a BMW with sport seats, put the wheel a tad bit closer. But it may have been because I had more knee room and could get closer in that car.

Has anyone heard of any mods in this area?

Thanks,
DRP