Minor Improvements for Future F30 Model Years and Refresh

martyg · 01-12-2014, 12:03 AM

Here are some of the things that I think BMW should focus on for improvements for the F30 for the next few years and for their mid-cycle refresh. These are not major changes, but ergonomic design flaws that could be fairly easily fixed. Have a look at them, and add your own suggestions.

Auto Start-Stop
• Put the ASS disabled indicator light in the instrument cluster (the driver's view is obscured by the wiper stalk and steering wheel).
• Thankfully, other improvements have already appeared in the 2014 models: e.g. smoother engine on-off and “last setting hold” when you restart your car.

Wipers:
• Rain sensors work well however, you need better speed control for the intermittent setting.
• Wiper on light at the end of the stalk is partly obscured by steering wheel.

Turn Indicators:
• Better responsiveness to switch the indicator off more readily when you have put on the “triple turn signal” / “flash” mode but then change your mind…all modern cars that I have driven do this better than BMW.

Instrument Cluster:
• Electronic Display. This is in the bottom portion of the instrument panel, and is partly obscured by the steering wheel and steering column. Part of this display could be located between or above the speedometer and tachometer, if some of the warning lights were moved.

• Although I am conscious of fuel consumption, I find the current fuel-consumption gauge beneath the tachometer to be useless. I think this should be removed, and the engine temperature or fuel level indicator put in its place. That would free up more space for a larger electronic display if the instrument cluster was reconfigured.

Comfort Access
• Generally works well.
• “No touch” trunk lid opening is intermittent for most users (certainly for me despite a lot of reading and practicing). This needs fine-tuning.

Rear Seating
• Rear-seat power outlet looks ugly with the plastic bung, especially with lighter colored interiors. This should be improved (e.g. latch cover, or replace with a USB charge socket).
• Rear-seat latch covers are attached using flimsy tabs, and are easily broken.

Lights:
• The non-xenon headlights are too dim on the “dipped” setting. Non-luxury cars (e.g. VW, Toyota, Honda, etc.) do much better.

iDrive / USB:
• Forgets the USB track you were playing if you leave the car for some hours, and begins back at the first track. It should remember your last track indefinitely, like any cheap MP3 player.
• Bug: If you select a new track by navigating the menu tree, sometimes it “cannot play” the track the first time you select it. If you go back into the menu, and get to the same track a different way, it can.
* A built-in higher amperage USB charge socket, in addition to the current sockets, would also be valuable.

Other more major problem issues:
• Improving road noise. I think my 18” wheels with Pirelli run-flat tires are partly responsible for this. When I had a 320i Base loaner car, with 17" wheels, it was noticeably quieter.

* All models and lines should have a backup camera included. It should not be an option. This is inevitable as the US DOT has mandated it, but BMW should have been more proactive, like most other manufacturers.

As I said, this is just my bucket list. Add your own small improvements that you expect.

OC40 · 01-12-2014, 12:09 AM

My USB always begins where it left off. Always.

Steve33 · 01-12-2014, 12:17 AM