[Pprior]

EDIT: Just realized the title will cause some to think manual transmission - sorry that was not intended!! It’s Z4 OWNERS manual trivia LOL

I always read the manual front to back when I get a new car. I always find, in the words of our colleague Doug, “quirks and features.”

Here are a few things I found interesting while going through the manual today. Page numbers are referenced.

P89 - to open the door with a physical key: pull the door handle outward, with one finger behind the cover cap push the cap out, Door may then be unlocked via the mechanical integrated key (push button side of remote and it will pull out)

P101 - pull the window button up past the resistance point and hold it there - windows will close with limited jam protection. Pull it again and hold for 4 seconds and it will deactivate jam protection (useful if ice or snow I guess)

P114 - if mirror adjustment selector button is in driver position the auto-down passenger mirror function is active (while in reverse). If it is on passenger side it will not.

P132 standby state - press and hold down the wiper lever until the wipers stop in a vertical position. This is good for window cleaning and also for wiper replacement.

P136 To immediately drop down to the lowest possible gear pull and hold the left shift paddle while accelerating rapidly (does not work in manual mode)

P164 Auto high beam - activated and deactivated via the bottom button on the left stalk. P165 discusses how to adjust the sensitivity of this system if desired

P183 Blind spot detection does not work at speeds above 155mph LOL

P208 Parking assistant tone will go constant tone at 8” - if you keep getting closer beyond this it may stop as there is a blind spot

P214 Max speed for parking assistant to see a space 22mph

P236 Press the BMW button on the remote 3 times quickly to remote start and precondition the car. Note: you must first enable this option via car/settings/climatecontrol/precondition

P247 Fold out compartment if you didn’t know was there

P254 Break in period: manual states —up to 1200– miles, no more than 4500rpm or 100mph. No full throttle or kickdown. Obviously no launch control.

P298 For M40 engine recommended octane is AKI93 (91 for the non M performance engine), (minimum is 87)

P327 gas tank capacity 13.7 gal

[stlcdr]

While I knew most of them, and would consider myself ‘smart’ (LOL! Who doesn’t?!) I would consider myself inexperienced - first BMW and find the whole BMW as a ‘thing’ rather odd, but not unexpected.

What I found though, watching videos and reading the manuals before getting the car, is that all BMWs are the same (YMMV). That’s not a knock, just that ‘hey, this works, people like it, let’s do it to all our cars’ kind of the same.

[Balr14]

My experience with BMWs is there is usually something in the settings that isn't obvious when looking at the displays, that may be nice to have. Conversely, there are things in the display you would expect to be there (like boost pressure) that aren't and you have to dig to find out it isn't available at all.

[PSQ777]

I knew most of them but not the physical key one. I just went to have a look at my key to see how it works. I'd not noticed that little button before to release it.

[Bimmerfun82]

People say Teslas are super advanced in terms of software, which from an "ipad on wheels" standpoint I would agree. But BMW is superior in being over-engineered, and they've caught up to Tesla quickly on cool features they should have innovated a long time ago, such as the app features (phone controls)... but they still exceed most car companies including Tesla for feature-rich user experience. Sadly they also adopted that huge screen in iD8 which has its pros and cons. Mercedes tries very hard but fails most of the time to make things user friendly. Audi is cool too but nothing like BMW.