2002 BMW M3: Hot or Cold?

What? It freaking rocks.

That is one of the stupidest features I have ever heard of.

stupidest idea ever. but not a deal breaker since one is sitting in the garage.

My wife has a similar system in her X3; I like the additional flexibility, but I don't miss it when I'm driving my 3er. No big deal either way.

Most of my bmw's have had this feature and I, for one, find it useful. I never tilt it all the way up or down, as it does overpower the climate control in that case, but I like being able to fine tune feet vs. head temperature. Who likes hot air blowing on their face?

3 BMWs and a Cooper - all four had this inane design. It's beyond idiotic.

Luckily BMWs are always hot as blazes so it's always set to blue. Even driving through the alps during a snowstorm I had the AC running.

Hmmm... maybe it allows vent (fresh air) through the heater core but does not use the fan. And when cool is selected it allows unfaned fresh air in. Our F350 work trucks do this if you leave the heater selector on hot or cold but in the off position.

The owner could be born with, or acquired some circulation problem where his upper body remains much better temperature controlled than his legs.
He could have too many blood vessels in his upper body or lower body, he could have narrowing of arteries leading to the lower body, things like high cholesterol or peripheral vascular disease, all leading to a temperature difference between the upper and lower body.

This sounds like a very useful control for those born with, or who have become old enough to be needing this feature.
Some BMW engineers must be one of these peeps.
They'll appreciate it.
All you normal people suck. You just discriminate against everyone else who isn't normal. You all suck. Freaks rule.

I've been told that this feature has been around for 20+ years for the same reason BMW avoided cupholders for so long: driving awareness.

Supposedly, it allows you to direct cold air onto your face to help keep you alert (and avoid drying your eyes out) when the rest of the cabin is getting warm air.

You can also fully turn off these central vents, a function most cars don't have (it's been growing in more recent years).

I've never owned this feature, so whether it's stupid or not I don't know. I am very much someone who can't stand warm air blowing on my head...so maybe I'm more sympathetic to it's design.

I'm a big fan of this as well, lets me keep the car cool/hot with out being blasted in the face.

there are many sunny winter days in the great plains that will roast you in your parka as you sit in the sun, yet still necessitate the use of the heater to warm the air of the cabin. on those days, it would be nice to have some cooler air coming from those vents so i wouldn't have to shed layers of clothing each time i got in the cold car or worse, as i was driving. though, in states with smaller temperature extremes, this feature could be annoying.

This feature generates reactions similar to BMW's old practice of putting the window switches on the center console; most either love it or hate it.

Prior to reading this I was on the fence between indifference and mild annoyance with this feature in my m. Some of you have made some good points in your posts^^. So now I feel that it does serve a purpose, and hey, if you don't like it...just leave it in the middle.

As predicted, the responses are polarized to either love or hate, with each side being equally passionate. :)

When you live up north and have to run your defroster on high with the heat cranked all the way up just to make a tiny space to clear the ice and clear the ice from the wipers, you appreciate a little cool air on your face:) My old accord had this feature.

I've owned 2 BMWs and it drives me crazy as well. I don't believe the 135 has it, which is another reason I'm a fan of that car. The auto climate control in my G8 GT is far better than the ones in the BMWs I've owned. I think this is something that makes perfect sense to the Germans, but nobody else.

I wish my 135i had it...

Set one full hot and the other full cold and see if you can make it rain in the car. You should be able to get a decent fog at the least.

Other than that novel use, that control setup is stupid.

I hate it in my BMW. Makes no sense to me in a car that has auto climate control.

Pretty much every BMW has this feature, of course. It seems fiddly to me but I can see its purpose, sometimes it's nice to be able to warm up or cool down the relative temp of just the vent air blowing on you without affecting the ATC. I tend to use it more on longer trips.

However, cars like the 750i have the ability to automatically vary the air temp based on vent location, plus all ATC systems blow cooler air through the vents and warm air through the floor/defroster vents anyway. Modern 4-way sunload sensors also compensate for those cold days with heavy sun by giving you cooler vent air on the side of the car that needs it.

It is very useful when driving in cold weather. You can get your feet nice and warm and stay alert at the same time by blasting cool air in your face. Frankly, I am just shocked that so many people don't see how essential it is in a cold climate. Many cars have this feature.

Mazda has (or had, in the '90s) a similar function on some of their cars.

This is similar to the Bi-level setting that GM cars had for years in their climate controls. I rarely used it then. But now, it can be nice to have when I want a different air temperature from the dash vents than I want from the floor vents.

"This is similar to the Bi-level setting that GM cars had for years in their climate controls."

Yes, the last GM car I owned(a 1974 Monte Carlo) had that feature.

Baffled how this is a "good" or useful feature. BMW's AC systems are exceedingly weak. On an 80+ degree day I always end up with the fan on high, everything set to blue and the temp dials fully down. Yet BMWs never get below 70. Ever.

If you turn off the AC and leave the windows up the cars (yes every BMW I've owned) turns into a blazing sauna. So if the AC is off, the windows must be open as the air flowing through HVAC without AC is just plain hot.

I love the way my BMWs drive but I detest the fact I can almost never get the car cool enough that I feel a chill. Score one for American makes - their AC systems can practically put ice on your nose.

My '89 Accord had this feature. I actually liked it in the winter time. Old Honda heaters blew flames out of the vents. So, when you were keeping your windows de-iced and feet warm in the winter, the nice cool breeze on your face from the vents felt nice. However, that car had a pretty basic climate control system (in fact you actually had to manually engage the A/C for the defroster). With a climate control system, I hardly see the point of this.

Why would you want your in car temperature in the 60's anyway? that's cold. 72 is ideal for the body.

this is a prime example of people hating on BMW just because it's fashionable
how can a feature like this annoy you ? furthermore, how can you manage to hate it ?

You either use it and like or don't use it. It's not like it's in the way of anything and i don't ever recall moving the dial by accident.