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      08-08-2013, 01:59 PM   #67
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Glideslope View Post
The british blokes' comments seem to imply that it's the same US/EURO steering wheel... just mounted on the wrong side.
Double Fail ...
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      08-08-2013, 02:26 PM   #68
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Poohbore View Post
I'd like to know who put the steering wheel on the wrong side of your cars over there ?


Excellent, I live here in California but this is a great point
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      08-09-2013, 06:28 AM   #69
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Just to follow up, I have a manual and I drive a decent amount in the city and listen to my music (music collection on random) and even with swapping songs and adjusting volume it has never ever been a issue for me. I find moving my arm a few centimeters (or inches if you will) no problem whatsoever (I normally rest in on the armrest with my hand either resting on the gearstick or flopped to the side towards the passenger seat). Really not. Plus if I am cruising on the motorway, the cruise control on the left is excellent because I normally drive one handed (in the city or out).

I reckon BMW nailed it. I also have the M wheel (such a nice wheel) so maybe that makes a difference (doubt it).
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      08-09-2013, 12:13 PM   #70
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spekesel View Post
Just to follow up, I have a manual and I drive a decent amount in the city and listen to my music (music collection on random) and even with swapping songs and adjusting volume it has never ever been a issue for me. I find moving my arm a few centimeters (or inches if you will) no problem whatsoever (I normally rest in on the armrest with my hand either resting on the gearstick or flopped to the side towards the passenger seat). Really not. Plus if I am cruising on the motorway, the cruise control on the left is excellent because I normally drive one handed (in the city or out).

I reckon BMW nailed it. I also have the M wheel (such a nice wheel) so maybe that makes a difference (doubt it).
+1

I own cars with cruise on the right of the steering wheel and it sucks. Sorta.

Like anything, you get used to it and then don't notice. It just sucks during the "getting used to it" phase.

Unless you get a car custom designed to your exact specifications there will never, ever, ever be a car that is absolutely perfect for you because you have unique preferences and priorities. And that is why this thread is so silly; things like "audio on wrong side" or even my pet peeve "iDrive controller zoom is reversed" are super annoying for an extremely trivial definition of annoying.

Not that there's anything wrong with being silly from time to time, as long as everyone understands that.
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      08-09-2013, 02:38 PM   #71
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JesseS View Post
+1

I own cars with cruise on the right of the steering wheel and it sucks. Sorta.

Like anything, you get used to it and then don't notice. It just sucks during the "getting used to it" phase.

Unless you get a car custom designed to your exact specifications there will never, ever, ever be a car that is absolutely perfect for you because you have unique preferences and priorities. And that is why this thread is so silly; things like "audio on wrong side" or even my pet peeve "iDrive controller zoom is reversed" are super annoying for an extremely trivial definition of annoying.

Not that there's anything wrong with being silly from time to time, as long as everyone understands that.
I agree, I don't find this to be a MAJOR inconvenience (also a manual driver here), but seeing as I use music controls more than cruise control, I just wish they kept the steering wheel placement the same as it was in the E90 and prior - swapped from opposite sides as it sits in the F30.
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      08-09-2013, 07:07 PM   #72
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JesseS View Post
+1

I own cars with cruise on the right of the steering wheel and it sucks. Sorta.

Like anything, you get used to it and then don't notice. It just sucks during the "getting used to it" phase.

Unless you get a car custom designed to your exact specifications there will never, ever, ever be a car that is absolutely perfect for you because you have unique preferences and priorities. And that is why this thread is so silly; things like "audio on wrong side" or even my pet peeve "iDrive controller zoom is reversed" are super annoying for an extremely trivial definition of annoying.

Not that there's anything wrong with being silly from time to time, as long as everyone understands that.
Don't get me wrong man, there's far many more things I love about this car than to be bothered by the steering-wheel volume control locations. I've adapted easily and do not bother much with using the knob volume or buttons.

When you think about about how meticulous the Germans are at engineering/design... you'd think they would've looked at the total population of F30 users and weighed this against the smaller population of "active cruise control" users during the trade study. I'm faithfully entertained by this thread because background is in designing aircraft cockpits.
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      08-10-2013, 10:18 PM   #73
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Glideslope View Post
Don't get me wrong man, there's far many more things I love about this car than to be bothered by the steering-wheel volume control locations. I've adapted easily and do not bother much with using the knob volume or buttons.

When you think about about how meticulous the Germans are at engineering/design... you'd think they would've looked at the total population of F30 users and weighed this against the smaller population of "active cruise control" users during the trade study. I'm faithfully entertained by this thread because background is in designing aircraft cockpits.
And they may have done just that. It may be that out of the total world-wide market there is more comfort with having CC on the left than there is discomfort with having the audio on the right. In fact, with plain 'ole "stupid" cruise control I almost always end up hitting a button on the steering wheel (or tweaking the speed) rather than tapping the brakes because I know how disruptive inappropriate brake light activation can be to other drivers. I spend a minimum of 40-60 minutes on an Interstate every week day, and I use CC heavily and thus spend quite a bit of time toggling standby/resume.

Of course, I have no idea how many people, statistically, would agree/disagree with me on that.

Besides, designing by focus group usually doesn't lead to very good designs. The average schmoette may think she knows what would work best for her but people, on average, don't really have a good eye for usability. Really good design happens when you find that one person, or a small group, who has an exceptional gift for design, aesthetics and usability and then design just for them -- as Apple demonstrated during their (now legendary) rebirth at the start of the 21st century.

Last edited by JesseS; 08-10-2013 at 10:29 PM..
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      08-11-2013, 01:45 AM   #74
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Who cares about the volume button! WHERE'D THEY HIDE THE (M) BUTTON!!!!!???
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      08-11-2013, 11:03 PM   #75
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Am I the only one here who drives with both hands on the wheel most of the time? I don't know if there's any reason behind it, but I was taught never to rest my hand on the shifter. Unless shifting, of course.

I do get confused sometimes because my Miata has the stereo controls on the left and the cruise on the right. But, being right handed (and having both aforementioned hands on the wheel), I actually find the controls on the right easier to operate, whichever set they happen to be at the time.
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      08-11-2013, 11:14 PM   #76
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bacampbe View Post
Am I the only one here who drives with both hands on the wheel most of the time? I don't know if there's any reason behind it, but I was taught never to rest my hand on the shifter. Unless shifting, of course.

I do get confused sometimes because my Miata has the stereo controls on the left and the cruise on the right. But, being right handed (and having both aforementioned hands on the wheel), I actually find the controls on the right easier to operate, whichever set they happen to be at the time.
I drove stick since I got my driver's license AND in urban traffic. That means only one hand on wheel. After a while it becomes impossibly awkward to keep both hands on wheel. When I came to States and I had to take my US driver's license, after driving for 12 years in Europe with only one hand on the wheel, I was ONE POINT from failing the drive exam because i couldn't keep both hands on the wheel
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      08-11-2013, 11:33 PM   #77
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bacampbe View Post
Am I the only one here who drives with both hands on the wheel most of the time? I don't know if there's any reason behind it, but I was taught never to rest my hand on the shifter. Unless shifting, of course.

I do get confused sometimes because my Miata has the stereo controls on the left and the cruise on the right. But, being right handed (and having both aforementioned hands on the wheel), I actually find the controls on the right easier to operate, whichever set they happen to be at the time.
You were probably taught that because of the "10 and 2" rule.

For just cruising down the Interstate, which where I live is almost entirely straight for 40 miles, I do what most people do and just steer with my left hand and my right just sort of becomes "on demand" (shifting, computer operations, wipers, etc). If I'm in an unfamiliar area, inclement conditions or cornering () I'll use both hands to steer.

It's also oddly uncomfortable to try to have a conversation with someone in the passenger seat when your right hand is raised and on the wheel (or left in the left-traffic countries).

Trivia: Back in the days of my father's youth, before power steering became ubiquitous, steering wheels often had these big knobs on them to give you extra leverage during a low-speed turn. I imagine people tended to rest one hand on that while driving if their car was so equipped.

Last edited by JesseS; 08-11-2013 at 11:47 PM..
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      08-12-2013, 12:05 AM   #78
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To clarify, I've driven MT for over 30 years. Mostly with both hands on the wheel :-) (The F30 is the first AT I've ever owned, and it's primarily my wife's car.) The 10-2 (or 9-3) rule had nothing to do with it. It's probably an old wive's tail, but I've always been told that resting a hand on an MT shifter causes excessive wear and tear on various transmission parts. Whether it's true or not, I trained myself at an early age not to do it.

I actually find it stressful to drive with one hand on the wheel. The weight of the arm will tend to turn the wheel, and I have to apply effort to hold it up. With one hand on either side, the wheel is balanced with much less effort. I admit to occasionally drive with just one hand on the bottom of the wheel when on long stretches of straight interstate, but even then I switch hands from time to time.
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      08-12-2013, 06:16 AM   #79
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bacampbe View Post
To clarify, I've driven MT for over 30 years. Mostly with both hands on the wheel :-) (The F30 is the first AT I've ever owned, and it's primarily my wife's car.) The 10-2 (or 9-3) rule had nothing to do with it. It's probably an old wive's tail, but I've always been told that resting a hand on an MT shifter causes excessive wear and tear on various transmission parts. Whether it's true or not, I trained myself at an early age not to do it.
I suspect you could rest your hand on the shifter for several human life spans without causing any attributable mechanical damage.

Maybe if you were doing something weird like leaning on it or jerking it back and forth ...
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      08-12-2013, 10:43 AM   #80
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KevRyd
Try having the Msport Wheel! Thigs you cant see:

Cant see Auto Wiper light
Cant see heated streeing wheel indicator
cant see a.s.s on of indicator
cant see auto high beam indicator

all ar tucked behind the wheel and ar not visible regardless of seat/wheel position. poor setup

Kevin
Much worst of all, I don't see the top half of the speedometer and RPM. :-/ That is, if I drive faster than 30 MPH and slower than 120 (which is quite often here in CA :-)) I don't know how fast I'm driving. Luckily I have HUD, but sunglasses even that is invisible unless I tilt my head quite a bit... Even this way I still don't see the RPM meter above 1.5-2K. Totally ridiculous! :-((( This is what I think is bad design. The two most important instruments in car cannot be seen hardly at all and I'm quite an average sized guy: 5'11" and have the seat (M Sport 335i) in the lowest position and the steering wheel the lowest position too, otherwise I feel my hands are too high and they also get tired earlier... I feel this part of the car was designed more for bus drivers. :-)
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      08-12-2013, 02:24 PM   #81
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Quote:
Originally Posted by norb335i View Post
Much worst of all, I don't see the top half of the speedometer and RPM. :-/ That is, if I drive faster than 30 MPH and slower than 120 (which is quite often here in CA :-)) I don't know how fast I'm driving. Luckily I have HUD, but sunglasses even that is invisible unless I tilt my head quite a bit... Even this way I still don't see the RPM meter above 1.5-2K. Totally ridiculous! :-((( This is what I think is bad design. The two most important instruments in car cannot be seen hardly at all and I'm quite an average sized guy: 5'11" and have the seat (M Sport 335i) in the lowest position and the steering wheel the lowest position too, otherwise I feel my hands are too high and they also get tired earlier... I feel this part of the car was designed more for bus drivers. :-)
I have M sport wheel and don't have these issues. Simply adjust your seat height, or steering wheel height, until it lines up accordingly.
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      08-13-2013, 08:31 AM   #82
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ScarecrowBoat View Post
Well, you def have lots of time on your hands.
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      11-10-2013, 10:07 PM   #83
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They should have just left the Cruise control on a lever below the turning indicator lever.
I was perfectly simple... push/pull to set... push forwad to increase, pull back to decrease, up/down to cancel.
And a little button on the end to resume.. perfect simplicity.

Then they could have place the Audio controls on the left side, as God had intended.

Btw, what's up with no volume bar graph?
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      11-10-2013, 10:16 PM   #84
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Volume should be on the left side.. Pick up phone with right hand and lower volume with left But noo bmw has decided I cannot do this anymore.
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      11-10-2013, 10:51 PM   #85
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I was upset that they changed it too, until I started using it. Now, it's great, just a quick volume change with my right thumb while my left hand is either resting on shift lever or on wheel. The mode button is perfectly positioned too for switchinbg between radio and iPod with the same thumb. Oh, did I mention that we have RHD over here
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      11-24-2013, 03:26 PM   #86
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ScarecrowBoat View Post


I think the responses to the OP would have been less sarcastic if you'd have explained why you find this so idiotic. I suspect most people haven't thought about where the volume buttons are, and as was said in another thread BMW's design engineers will have spent hundreds of hours thinking about button placement. You might not like their decision but their was probably a very non-idiotic reason behind it.


Personally, I'd like a mute button either on the steering wheel or next to iDrive. I make volume adjustments relatively infrequently and am happy to move my hand to do them. But I do often want to turn off noise from the speakers, and at short notice - so having to reach to the head unit to do this is a bit annoying.

Last edited by Feanor; 11-24-2013 at 03:32 PM..
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      11-25-2013, 11:46 PM   #87
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Quote:
Originally Posted by norb335i View Post
Much worst of all, I don't see the top half of the speedometer and RPM. :-/ That is, if I drive faster than 30 MPH and slower than 120 (which is quite often here in CA :-)) I don't know how fast I'm driving. Luckily I have HUD, but sunglasses even that is invisible unless I tilt my head quite a bit... Even this way I still don't see the RPM meter above 1.5-2K. Totally ridiculous! :-((( This is what I think is bad design. The two most important instruments in car cannot be seen hardly at all and I'm quite an average sized guy: 5'11" and have the seat (M Sport 335i) in the lowest position and the steering wheel the lowest position too, otherwise I feel my hands are too high and they also get tired earlier... I feel this part of the car was designed more for bus drivers. :-)
Another driver 5'11" and it took me a while to get the seat and steering wheel set up so I could see perfectly... It can be done! So glad I specd the leccy seats now!

I do *just* miss the very bottom row of the instrument cluster. Actually, I realised the other day when I leant forward there is a lane indicator at the very bottom when you are on a motorway with nav active.

As for volume controls... Work fine for me on the right side of the wheel but my wheel is also on the right side of the car.
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      12-01-2013, 09:19 PM   #88
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E90 has volume buttons on the left side of wheel.
F30 has it on the right side.

Normally, I don't use volume frequently.

You may try this.

If you are feeding music from your iPhone, Go to "Settings"->"Music"->Enable "Sound Check".
It will match average sound levels of your music collections.

Secondly, use "Speed Compensated Volume" feature.
It adjusts your volume as you speed.

Cheers.
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