F10 M5 does this, anything else I don't know about?

[HoHoHo]

Went out last night and whilst driving home used the (now standard on 2014 M5) auto main beam option.

That is very, very clever and no one has mentioned this before. The idea is once you hit the button on the left hand stalk the lights will switch from main beam to normal automatically, nothing new there and it's been an option on many models for some time. What I wasn't expecting is that they also alter the beam of lights in front of you depending on what's happening....let me explain.

If you approach a car on a wide busy road the lights go from main beam to normal - clever

If you are on a country road, the light only dips on the right hand side of the road leaving the left side more illuminated, not blinding the oncoming driver - very clever

If you follow a car on a country road the lights dip only in the middle leaving the left and right sides of the road well lit by the main beam which is visible by a darker area just behind the car you are following - now that's witchcraft

Is there anything else the M5 does I don't know about?

[Digger]

Here you go.

http://youtu.be/-dvPZ3H1Vm4

My M135i has a simpler version that (I believe) automatically puts on full beam. Works really well. It doesn't do the clever re-profiling of the beam pattern though, shame.

[HoHoHo]

Digger said:

Here you go.

http://youtu.be/-dvPZ3H1Vm4

My M135i has a simpler version that (I believe) automatically puts on full beam. Works really well. It doesn't do the clever re-profiling of the beam pattern though, shame.

Good link Digger, thanks.

That is exactly what I'm referring to - my lights are normal, not LED but a very clever option

[-Z-]

I've been really looking forward to this as most of my driving is on country roads.

Here's a good user made video showing their effectiveness with Xenon rather than LEDs

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZzt1hNFtog

http://www.f30post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=141...

That's the thread it came from

[RichardM5]

There are several levels of lighting control, regardless of Xenon/LED

Auto Lights - Just on and off with ambient light
Adaptive Lights - Adjust the angle as the wheel turns
High Beam Assist - Auto might beam depending on following/oncoming traffic
Adaptive High Beam Assist - Creates tunnel for following/oncoming traffic by moving the high beam.

6 series don't have Adaptive High Beam Assist yet, 5 and 3 do.

[W8PMC]

HoHoHo said:

Went out last night and whilst driving home used the (now standard on 2014 M5) auto main beam option.

That is very, very clever and no one has mentioned this before. The idea is once you hit the button on the left hand stalk the lights will switch from main beam to normal automatically, nothing new there and it's been an option on many models for some time. What I wasn't expecting is that they also alter the beam of lights in front of you depending on what's happening....let me explain.

If you approach a car on a wide busy road the lights go from main beam to normal - clever

If you are on a country road, the light only dips on the right hand side of the road leaving the left side more illuminated, not blinding the oncoming driver - very clever

If you follow a car on a country road the lights dip only in the middle leaving the left and right sides of the road well lit by the main beam which is visible by a darker area just behind the car you are following - now that's witchcraft

Is there anything else the M5 does I don't know about?

I hate this feature with a passion.

Got it on the wives Q5 & although fairly quick to switch off, it isn't always quick enough, thus annoying a handful of oncoming vehicles. In my M5 it's even slower so after a few unsuccessful attempts at using it i now leave it well alone which is a shame really

[HoHoHo]

W8PMC said:

HoHoHo said:

Went out last night and whilst driving home used the (now standard on 2014 M5) auto main beam option.

That is very, very clever and no one has mentioned this before. The idea is once you hit the button on the left hand stalk the lights will switch from main beam to normal automatically, nothing new there and it's been an option on many models for some time. What I wasn't expecting is that they also alter the beam of lights in front of you depending on what's happening....let me explain.

If you approach a car on a wide busy road the lights go from main beam to normal - clever

If you are on a country road, the light only dips on the right hand side of the road leaving the left side more illuminated, not blinding the oncoming driver - very clever

If you follow a car on a country road the lights dip only in the middle leaving the left and right sides of the road well lit by the main beam which is visible by a darker area just behind the car you are following - now that's witchcraft

Is there anything else the M5 does I don't know about?

I hate this feature with a passion.

Got it on the wives Q5 & although fairly quick to switch off, it isn't always quick enough, thus annoying a handful of oncoming vehicles. In my M5 it's even slower so after a few unsuccessful attempts at using it i now leave it well alone which is a shame really

Possibly because the best I've had previously is adaptive lights this is a bit of a novelty?

Time will tell how many times I hit the button

[Digger]

W8PMC said:

I hate this feature with a passion.

Got it on the wives Q5 & although fairly quick to switch off, it isn't always quick enough, thus annoying a handful of oncoming vehicles. In my M5 it's even slower so after a few unsuccessful attempts at using it i now leave it well alone which is a shame really

I don't know enough about it, but it's possible the camera/sensors might need cleaning?

Edited by Digger on Saturday 30th November 18:58

[HoHoHo]

Mine seemed to change pretty quickly and work well - could be the sensor?

Anyway.....

What else have I got (in standard spec) that I don't know about that's a bit funky?

[RichardM5]

I like the way that the options programmed into the shortcut keys below the monitor show up when you hold your finger just over the key without touching it.

[HoHoHo]

Yep, cool but had that on my 07 LCi 535D.

Currently got number 1 for tyre pressure/temp and number 2 for efficiency dynamics

Like the way info appears in the HUD to include track/radio station/nav etc. (when not in either M1 or M2)

[RichardM5]

Ah, I never had an E60, not a fan of the styling.

I believe that if the HUD is in M mode the track details should come up on the cluster, maybe only if that's not in M mode too. Not actually tried it myself.

See how far you can get with the Voice Recognition for dialling names from your phone book. Try 'Call Home', assuming you have an entry called 'Home'. I've never managed to get it to work, comes up with anything but Home, common options it gives are 'The Cleveland Up and Over Door Company' and 'Matt O'Brien (Plumber)'!!

[HoHoHo]

Ah, 'voice control', isn't that another phrase for 'doesn't work'?

[HoHoHo]

Track and station info comes up under the rev counter if in M mode

Nav stays only within the centre screen if in M mode.

Is something meant to happen with the little rectangular boxes above the rev counter in M mode or are they the for show?

[RichardM5]

Just for show.

Have you used the Nav yet? The distance to your destination is shown as a small blob on the range gauge on the left of the cluster.

You can set up Google to send destinations to the car from your PC once you have Connected Drive set up.

[HoHoHo]

RichardM5 said:

Just for show.

Have you used the Nav yet? The distance to your destination is shown as a small blob on the range gauge on the left of the cluster.

You can set up Google to send destinations to the car from your PC once you have Connected Drive set up.

Haven't used the nav yet and that seems like a good idea

Sending destinations to your car..............

Old hat

[RichardM5]

That's what you get summing from an E39, what I think is new, you think is old hat.

You can rip CD's and transfer music from a USB stick to the hard drive, picks up the track names etc. from CDs using the Grace Note database. Also rips surround sound CDs/DVDs if you have any and maintains the 5.1 audio.

[HoHoHo]

Forgot that - my 335i did that with DVDs and it was a good feature.

The iPhone Bluetooth software in my F10 is way ahead of that in my 2 year old 3 and for example over Bluetooth you get full search details etc. Previously you'd only get individual tracks over Bluetooth.

I'm not going to bother with a snap in adaptor as a cable does exactly the same job if the phone needs charging.

[Digger]

So will it rip my 5.1 SACD of Dark Side of the Moon? I'm guessing not.

[HoHoHo]

Digger said:

So will it rip my 5.1 SACD of Dark Side of the Moon? I'm guessing not.

Not sure, but you've got a 50/50 chance of it working