Surprise and Delight in a BMW !

[brenflys777]

I've just experienced my first 'surprise and delight' in my Z4. I've had the car for 10 months and thought I knew it well. It is great but flawed.. the engine sound - great, the seats wonderful, the outlook in the rear view mirror of the hips of the car over the back wheels evokes a sense of tremendous well being, but the ride is shocking and occasionally one of my four kids cries upon looking at it because they don't appreciate Bangles genius... however
I cleaned the car today and found that the beemer which I have always thought of as a clinical choice on my part has hidden depths. I pulled up the boot carpet to get at 10 months worth of detritus and found a space next to the battery with a holder for the owners book/service book ( its been lolling around the boot for 13000 miles ) and in the crevice a small tool set and some SPARE FUSES !!! The Germans care ! I almost cried.. someone has actually designed a feature into a modern car that will not sell it to you - but will make it better to own.
I am shocked, is this a one off or is there likely to be anything else BMW's keep in reserve for an owners appreciation ?

[Matt UK]

On my 530i I was recently delighted to realised that the light in the glovebox actually comes out and is a torch. Nice touch!

Edited by Matt UK on Saturday 26th September 00:07

[brenflys777]

I will be checking the glovebox tomorrow ! Would a saleman mention it - NO - is a torch fantastic when embedded in a cubby - YES !
I never thought the Z4 would illicit an emotional response except by virtue of being driven - fast - but somewhere a German engineer has grabbed his company accountant, hit him over the head with a nearby BMW option's pricelist - thrown him into the back of a suitably spacious 7 series boot and stolen his identity to sign off inefficient touches of humanity into the ultimate posing machine !

Edited by brenflys777 on Saturday 26th September 08:30

[Matt UK]

brenflys777 said:

I will be checking the glovebox tomorrow ! Whould a saleman mention it - NO - is a torch fantastic when embedded in a cubby - YES !

Mind you, if I looked back through the original invoice I'll probably find;

Option 824: Torch embedded in glovebox: £245 + VAT

[brenflys777]

Smeg. I will probably find ' warbling 6 cylinder soundtrack to accompany heavy right foot £69 + Gordon ' but I do now live in hope of finding a likeable quality to accompany its ability...

Edited by brenflys777 on Saturday 26th September 08:29

[Mario T PhD]

Just picked up my baby last night

After looking over it and the owner's manual I can only agree with the sentiment that BMw care about the owner post sale

So many things say, "we want you to enjoy owning and running this car" rather than, "here are features now buy it"

I guess that's ergonomics and thoughtfullness

And I guess a lot of us will buy another...

[Sticks.]

brenflys777 said:

I've just experienced my first 'surprise and delight' in my Z4. I've had the car for 10 months and thought I knew it well. It is great but flawed.. the engine sound - great, the seats wonderful, the outlook in the rear view mirror of the hips of the car over the back wheels evokes a sense of tremendous well being, but the ride is shocking and occasionally one of my four kids cries upon looking at it because they don't appreciate Bangles genius... however
I cleaned the car today and found that the beemer which I have always thought of as a clinical choice on my part has hidden depths. I pulled up the boot carpet to get at 10 months worth of detritus and found a space next to the battery with a holder for the owners book/service book ( its been lolling around the boot for 13000 miles ) and in the crevice a small tool set and some SPARE FUSES !!! The Germans care ! I almost cried.. someone has actually designed a feature into a modern car that will not sell it to you - but will make it better to own.
I am shocked, is this a one off or is there likely to be anything else BMW's keep in reserve for an owners appreciation ?

My surprise was when I found Z4 sculpted into the bodywork Btw, ride is good when you ditch the runflats.

[dibbly_dobbler]

brenflys777 said:

its been lolling around the boot for 13000 miles

cool - what did it find so funny ?

[brenflys777]

With the ride on the RFT's 'lolling' was probably not a good choice of word.. perphaps bouncing, flinging or smacking would have been better !
So has anyone got any suggestions beyond cubbys with fuses or torches for my next hidden feature ?

[jboy72]

The headlights on my 530i adjust for Continental use at the flick of a switch under the bonnet. Maybe on the Z4 as well? Not an essential feature, but it's that sort of thoughtfulness that I really appreciate.

[DSM2]

brenflys777 said:

With the ride on the RFT's 'lolling' was probably not a good choice of word.. perphaps bouncing, flinging or smacking would have been better !
So has anyone got any suggestions beyond cubbys with fuses or torches for my next hidden feature ?

What about if you let a main dealer change the oil, there is a good chance they will crack your sump by overtightenng the plug and then send you a £650 bill for a new one? (Though reduced by 3/4 and counting..................)

[brenflys777]

That covers surprise but not really delight !

[Sticks.]

jboy72 said:

The headlights on my 530i adjust for Continental use at the flick of a switch under the bonnet. Maybe on the Z4 as well? Not an essential feature, but it's that sort of thoughtfulness that I really appreciate.

Yes, same for the Z4. Unless you have Xenons, which don't need adjusting.

There are hidden menus on the obc. One of them can be used to turn the odometer into a digital speedo.

Just don't ask me which one lol

[gizlaroc]

You do need to adjust xenons, they still dazzle people, just happens a lot later and a lot brighter, by the time someone has been dazzled and can react by flashing you you have gone passed them, hence why people say "I didn't get flashed once when I didn't adjust them."


You only need to adjust the passenger side xenon, the small round sticker from the cheap packs at Halfords are enough to reduce the height of the beam.

[adycav]

When I first saw the little lights under the door handles on my 1er I nearly wept with joy.

[AdamD]

gizlaroc said:

You do need to adjust xenons, they still dazzle people, just happens a lot later and a lot brighter, by the time someone has been dazzled and can react by flashing you you have gone passed them, hence why people say "I didn't get flashed once when I didn't adjust them."


You only need to adjust the passenger side xenon, the small round sticker from the cheap packs at Halfords are enough to reduce the height of the beam.

The self levelling xenons do have a hand shutter in the unit to block off the top of the beam on each lamp for european driving. It takes 15 minutes each side and is documented in the handbook - stick on beam benders are not required.

To find the shutter turn the wheel on full lock, remove the upper access panel (2p works great on the tabs) and then ping off the spring clip holding the lamp cover on. With all the lights off run your finger down each side of the main lamp unit and you will find a metal lever, slide into the position required for left or right hand drive roads

That said they will only self level correctly if they are aimed using the MOT device whilst the vehicle is level.

[Matt UK]

OK, here's another; the xenons on my e39 5 series, produce two small 'point beams' on the garage wall as you drive in. As you get closer to the wall they get closer together. When they meet, you are parked. Slightly pointless as the car has front parking sensors, but still a nice touch.

[clonmult]

Matt UK said:

brenflys777 said:

I will be checking the glovebox tomorrow ! Whould a saleman mention it - NO - is a torch fantastic when embedded in a cubby - YES !

Mind you, if I looked back through the original invoice I'll probably find;

Option 824: Torch embedded in glovebox: £245 + VAT

Its the item that irritatingly rarely seems to be left with the car upon being sold later on ....

Thankfully you can get them after market for about a tenner.

I was so happy when I found that my old 318iS still had its complete toolkit in the bootlid, and the warning triangle had sat unused in its placcy container for the previous 8 years to my looking around the car.

[HellDiver]

Heh, my housemate's '88 318i Touring still has the original first-aid kit totally intact, the little torch, and until 2 years ago the original Michelin spare tyre unused (it was replaced due to being a little dozy).

[spandexx]

I managed to drive my A3 for three years without noticing the cubby draw under the drivers seat and I did not know until a week before I got rid of it that the windows go up and down if you held buttons on the keyfob.

Hmm, nice touches on the Z4;
The standard radio in the Coupe is MP3 CD compatible (burn MP3 files to a CD and it will read them and play them 150+ songs on one CD rather than 12).
There is a 'noise generator' under the bonnet. It is a small plastic pipe that feeds into the bulkhead. It has foam wadding that you can remove and adjust to change the engine noise in the cabin.
I know it is daft, but I appreciate the handles on the inside of the boot lid so I don't have to press down on the paintwork.
The orange downlighter LED behind the reading light illuminates the dash and gear stick with a pleasant orange glow at night.
The boot has a space that is just right for the velcro wallet for the 1l oil bottle to nestle in.
And the windows go up and down with the press of the keyfob (so does the roof if you have a ragtop).