Quote:
Originally Posted by teropa
There are obviously two very good reasons why the leather swoosh continues on the driver's side. I am surprised that people are wondering about this so much.
- It supports the driver's arm in cruise. If it were open, like it is on the pax side, the arm could not be supported as well. You would need to have your arm way back on the center armrest to support it. Now you can keep your arm wherever between the armrest and the dash and it's supported. Much like hanging your hand from an open window (elbow out).
- The leather structure supports driver from the right in turns and corners. If it were open, there would be diminished support to keep the driver still. Now it's elevated to support the driver's foot and thus entire body far better in turns. Imagine it being fully open, then the seat would have to take all of the sideways motion.
rgds,
Tero
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Well, to be honest, from an aesthetics point of view, I still think it's on the wrong side. As for the added amount of support that 1" wide piece of leather has, I think its minimal, if any, and is probably serving more as decorative trim. From watching the BMW F10 video, I don't recall that piece of trim ever being used as an arm support. I doubt that much support is needed so far forward of the driver (unless you like sitting really close to the steering wheel). My hand's usually resting on the gear shift or steering wheel anyways. If anything, I would think more arm support would be needed on the right, so that you won't develop carpal tunnel syndrome while working the iDrive.
Plus, that piece of leather is on the top of the console, and doesn't really provide that much lateral support. The transmission tunnel is still there, and would supply the bulk of the support needed (as in all other bmws). The bulk of your center of gravity would probably be over the seat, so your seat is supporting much of the lateral support. Your leg probably wouldn't appreciate the difference between the leather and whatever material they use to cover the transmission tunnel. For added lateral support to the leg, they should have either raised the entire console area or go with a dedicated pad a la the E89 Z4 (now why don't we see that more often?)