[JimKW]

The cup holder blocks the air to the passenger and it's kind of a reach, but I can liver with that. I don't care for the controls on the radio at all but is has great sound, so I'm fine with it.

But my biggest gripe is the frigging cruise control and the wiper control. Why the hell did they hide them behind the steering wheel so you can not even see them? Then put more controls than I will ever use in the steering wheel.

Yesterday was the first time I had to drive the car in the rain and I rarely drive the BMW. I had the hardest time getting the wipers set the way I wanted them, and it is impossible to look at the controls while driving. You just have to know what it does. On the other side they hid the cruise control down low and back. and then made it the most complicated cruise control system I have ever had.

Germans could learn something from the Swedes.

It is a fantastic car to drive though I do admit that.

[JS82]

No problems here.
Maybe you should drive your BMW more often and learn all the controls.

[ZURICH]

Originally Posted by JimKW

The cup holder blocks the air to the passenger and it's kind of a reach, but I can liver with that. I don't care for the controls on the radio at all but is has great sound, so I'm fine with it.

But my biggest gripe is the frigging cruise control and the wiper control. Why the hell did they hide them behind the steering wheel so you can not even see them? Then put more controls than I will ever use in the steering wheel.

Yesterday was the first time I had to drive the car in the rain and I rarely drive the BMW. I had the hardest time getting the wipers set the way I wanted them, and it is impossible to look at the controls while driving. You just have to know what it does. On the other side they hid the cruise control down low and back. and then made it the most complicated cruise control system I have ever had.

Germans could learn something from the Swedes.

It is a fantastic car to drive though I do admit that.

Hi Dude, I know exactly where you are comming from.
My last ride was a V70R+ the one with the adaptive chassis!! comming to BMW was a bit of a culture shock but don't blame the Germans for not Knowing how to make a good layout, a German designed the V70 layout as well just a different brain pattern.
Trust me, you will soon sort out the indicators from the Cruise control, yep the wipers are a nightmare to get right, Just give it time.

[dos]

It took me a little while to get use to the controls, but after getting familiar with them I love how they are laid out. I don't have to take my eyes off the road for the cruise or wipes. Another bonus is you don't have to arm the cruise control(at least on my 07) like on most other cars. The only problem I have had a couple times is hitting the stalk for the bright lights instead of cruise control.

[1NS0MN1A]

to be honest, the cruise control system in our cars are perfect. They are not complicated if you know what you are doing, like you said.

At the end of the day, the Germans assume that you are smart, which I like personally.

[DesiRoc]

Lol that's because you're not supposed to look at the controls while you drive.

Takes only a day to get used to them. Once you're used to them, it's actually the simplest thing to use.

For the cruise control I wish it was up and down to increase or decrease speed instead of forward and backwards. That sort of bothers me because I used cruise control at highway speeds daily for my 25 mile one way commute.

As for the cup holders, it would've been nice to not have them both placed on the passenger side. It really messes with the passenger's space cushion.

[Nalod]

"who is responsible"?....... We want a name and them held accountable!

Get to know the car. Its not hard.

[ladius]

As said by others, I think the controls (cruise and wipers) are superbly designed for driving. For the cruise control, you don't have to fiddle with extra buttons or steps, just set it, it's practically intuitive. I figured it out by driving it without having read the manual.

[Dark_Knight_335]

Originally Posted by Bargamon

"who is responsible"?....... We want a name and them held accountable!

Haha

[smack]

Originally Posted by ladius

As said by others, I think the controls (cruise and wipers) are superbly designed for driving. For the cruise control, you don't have to fiddle with extra buttons or steps, just set it, it's practically intuitive. I figured it out by driving it without having read the manual.

+1. I love they way they are set up. Very easy to use.

[3Coupe4Me]

I like that BMW don't think I'm dumb and so they layout the controls that's easy to use just by feel. This leaves your eyes on the road. It my ake some time but once learned it's very intuitive. Cup holders are perfectly fine because they discourage eating in the car and don't support "super size" cups. Also they make me not want to leave any thing in them for long periods of time.

[FrankoQ]

No issues here either. I love the 3.

[JimKW]

Well I bought two cars within a month of each other. The other being a 03 V8 Limited 4Runner, so I'm learning two at the same time. I figured out the cruise control enough to use it fine when I took the BMW about 1,000 miles the first week I bought it.

But having never driven it in the rain and yesterday I was out really enjoying the car by myself, and it started raining all of a sudden and raining very hard. I should not have to pull over and figure out how to turn on the wipers. I'm smart enough to get them working by feel, which I did. But I could honestly not see the controls to read them at all.

Never had a car with rain sensors before either. I kept trying to figure out the hell it knew the windshield was wet and sometimes it was a little too we before it swiped.

By myself in the car though and plugging my new MP3 player into the stereo and blasting it was very cool though. That has to be the best factory sound system I've ever heard.

I listened to Retrospective by Leon Russell. Kind of a strange one to listen too, but it sure sounded good. Leon is not one that many people listen to though that's for sure. But if you are older and every been into him when younger, you should check it out. I had never really listened to him since we quit listening to albums maybe 25 years ago. I recently ran across this CD and picked up and downloaded to the MP3 player.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Some BMW's didnt have cup holders back in the day cause they are considered a "drivers car".

It is a bad location but I think that is because they didnt plan on putting one in. Then they thought of all the obese americans that need their fix of fast food and probably threw it in LOL

[Syndicategt]

Just use the auto wipers, push button in...light comes on....and you're set.

[username604]

No problems here. I love the cruise control and the wiper control. Seriously, taking 5 min to learn the functions is better than having 55 buttons. Not to mention, i use all the controls of my steering wheel... lets see there's the volume, the skip track control, phone, voice command, and 2 customs. I don't see the big deal, they look like 4 rockers.

[JimKW]

That is funny because at one time Volvos refused to put cup holders in their cars. Then they finally realized that some Americans were literally not buying them because they didn't have cup holders. So 1995 was the first year they offered a really poor cup holder system. Pulled straight out of the center console and if you had a cold drink dripped water all over the window switches. I'm still driving one that does that and I have had to replace the switches because my wife spilled a drink getting it out of the cup holder.

[Lezam]

The cup holders are annoying, and the lack of storage space is even worse...

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by DesiRoc

For the cruise control I wish it was up and down to increase or decrease speed instead of forward and backwards. That sort of bothers me because I used cruise control at highway speeds daily for my 25 mile one way commute.

As for the cup holders, it would've been nice to not have them both placed on the passenger side. It really messes with the passenger's space cushion.

As for cruise control, I think it uses forward/back because that requires less precision and is therefore easier to execute. When I need to go up/down I need to move my whole hand down to that stalk either to get my finger under the bottom of the stalk to go up or to be able to press the stalk down far enough to go down, whereas I can just drop my fingers keeping my hand in place to go forward/back -- and that's probably exactly why the Germans didn't set it up that way.

For the cupholders, as other have said the Euro-spec cars don't even HAVE cupholders. It's an afterthought concession to us. I heard a story that when the new Xers were being developed, one of the main criticisms from America was the size of the cupholders, so BMW NA sent BMW AG some Big Gulp cups to show them what their cupholders had to deal with over here!

[edirtaynine]

i love the cruise control setup in our cars. best one ive had yet.

windshield wipers are retarded tho.

[dday]

So from what I gather you can't figure out the wipers or cruise.

1. Wipers - Push button, they are automatic (done)
2. Cruise Control - Pull stalk, sets cruise control. Push lightly adds 1mph push harder and moves in 5mph increments, converse is true when you pull it towards you.

What's hard about either of those things? You shouldn't be looking at controls while driving that's the whole point.

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by dday

So from what I gather you can't figure out the wipers or cruise.

1. Wipers - Push button, they are automatic (done)
2. Cruise Control - Pull stalk, sets cruise control. Push lightly adds 1mph push harder and moves in 5mph increments, converse is true when you pull it towards you.

What's hard about either of those things? You shouldn't be looking at controls while driving that's the whole point.

Also add:

Wipers - adjust the little slider switch to adjust the sensitivity of the rain sensor.

Cruise Control - Move stalk up/down to disable cruise without braking, press the button to resume.

I agree, what's so hard about that?