Russ1974

I've never heard of that feature?? Can somebody tell me more? Does it switch your engine on then?? (Well it must, because AC won't work without the engine??) This sounds great - never new my car hard it?!

Rudy

The feature is called "parked car ventilation" and does not use the A/C, only the blower so there's no need to start the car...

my2007

Thanks Rudy for sharing your views on the "parked car ventilation" feature. I knew it was there but never really did figure out how to use it as I never saw the need to use it. I find that the rain sensor feauture of the wipers useful but felt that BMW should have added another stage to the wiper speed knob for intermittent like those found on less sophisticated cars. The intermittent feature gives you much more control over the usage.
This is an unrelated topic - is the ornamental chrome front grille (double kidney) on your car made of plastic? I have always thought that it was metal.

Rudy

For me, the rain sensor beats the intermittent feature by far. I hate when the wipers operate on a windshield that doesn't need it. If you need an extra wipe during sensor use, you can always just push down on the lever once (or more than once) if you need to. I find myself always using the rain sensor setting no matter how hard it's raining. I've been using the sensor since my E39 days and never had much to complain about.

As far as the grilles, yes they're plastic but the chrome is some sort of coating on the leading edge of the slats...

my2007

Agree with you that the rain sensor is a good feature to have and I guess like you mentioned you can just leave it in that mode and it should be fine no matter if it is just a drizzle or raining heavily. I tend to use the manual single swipe feature more often as I find that the rain sensor is too sensitive eventhough there is a knob to adjust the sensitivity. Actually I have not been able to tell which end of that adjustable scale is more/less sensitive. Tried it at both ends but did not notice any real difference. Do you know?

Thanks for your reply on the grille. I think chrome here just means colored just like in chrome but it is just plastic.

doug_999

Sirius radio....Seriously sounds really bad...

MiamiPhill

really?...how so?

EBMCS03

Program some like call "The Bit#h" and just watch the faces of your passengers...

Blackonblackonblack

I've never used the ski bag built into the back seat folding armrest. I've also never used the flashlight that's in the glove compartment...I didn't even know about it until 2+ years after owning the car!

M500 AED

Reading through the posts it seems that one man's meat is another man's poison.

Personally I really like Cruise control, Headlight assist, auto wipers and headlights and feel deprived when I drive a car without these features. The Head up display is great, not for the speed indication especially but for the fact that it shows graphically the next bit of your route when the sat nav is in use, and it shows the status of the cruise control which is not displayed elsewhere.

The only feature I have never used and don't expect to use is the BMW assist feature where you can call for help or advice (not emergency).

It would be interesting to hear what folk think is their favourite option. My favourite is probably Comfort Entry - open the door get in and drive off without taking the key out of your pocket, or in my wife's case her handbag. There is also a clever trick with this system, if you shut the key in the boot (trunk) the lid opens with a beep so you can reconsider. Shutting the key in the trunk of an already locked car is a problem on most cars.