[thelom]

Ceramic controls. Soft close doors are sort of silly in my opinion and is just over engineering.

[jacobbmw]

While the ceramic controls are nice, I think the soft close doors add an element of luxury. They make the car feel special. I have come to the conclusion this is a luxury car and should be treated as such. My M is a different animal.

[khai Dow]

I'd vote soft close too, assuming my guess is right...

I don't have that option and I have 2 kids and a wife who never closes the doors properly. The back doors have child locks applied and occasionally she will sit in the back. So here's the situation....she's in the back on the passenger side and doesn't close the door properly. Child lock means I have to get out, walk around the whole car and close it properly. PITA! Will soft close doors fix this?

[tmac99]

I have both and the soft close doors are great for the driver but everyone else slams the door and you sound like a complete ass telling people not to slam the door that it closes on its own... They really are cool but since the rest of the world doesn't realize you have them they are of no use but to the driver

[Apple Corps]

Not really - the wife knows they are soft close. We rarely have any passengers in the cramped rear seats anyway.

[Keyser Soze]

I would go the other way too and spring for the ceramic controls. I've found even the normal doors close very easily and quietly once the seals are broken in.

kids? get an suv that they lil' ones can ruin and barf up Fruit Loops and fling boogers around....not a BMW!

I kid *ducks*

[ankitpoo]

I have both and love them. Yes in summer time the ceramic knobs use to get very hot. But having the windshield tinted, solved the problem. As per the soft close doors, yes it is annoying every time to tell people not to slam. I would get both the options again when leasing my next BMW.

[Apple Corps]

I have the ceramic knobs inbound as part of the executive package - exactly what knobs are ceramic? The BMW website is kind of general as to which ones are ceramic.

[Zaman]

I am experienced with 5ers with/without soft close doors. The doors of this car are heavy and my wife can never close them on the first shot. The soft close option is must in my opinion. The ceramic controls are something that not everybody would understand the difference.

[Apple Corps]

Zaman +1 on your comment. I don't like to slam the doors and often miss the proper force - my wife misses the proper force about 75% of the time. Soft close doors are a big plus for us.

[jacobbmw]

Ceramic knobs include the shifter, the iDrive controller, and the volume knob

[ezmaass]

Both - have them both and I don't think I'd opt to leave one of them out.

The ceramic controls really change the look of things like the gear selector and iDrive controller. It looks darker and rich. The stock controls are perfectly fine, but if you're after a nice little touch of extra luxury, especially against dark wood (anthracite), it's first-class.

The soft close doors are awesome. While we're all capable and accustomed to shutting doors all the way ourselves, the occasional situation arises where you just didn't push/pull hard enough, and this feature safes you from the annoying "retry." I will say, however, that it WILL confuse many of your passengers. I've had more than one passenger re-open and shut the door thinking it didn't close since the actuator catches the door prior to full contact and closes it the last half-inch or so on its own... leading some people to believe it didn't close fully. So, get used to explaining that to passengers who ride with you for the first time. But that's a really small down-side.

If you're looking for luxury, though, I think I'd certainly prioritize other features above both of these. If you're not considering them, before spending money on soft close doors or ceramic controls, also consider:

- Dynamic Handling Package. This is by far one of my favorite features. The ability to adjust the ride stiffness and active roll stabilization (ARS) is just plain awesome. Today I was cruising over some bumpy roads under construction in Comfort+ with no problem. Switched to Sport+ with the suspension at its stiffest setting, and it's like I suddenly swapped out the suspension for a completely different one at the touch of a button. Amazing.

- Active Cruise Control (ACC) w/ Stop & Go. I never used cruise in any of my previous cars because it was always just too annoying to deactivate and reactive each time there was traffic. ACC, on the other hand, is a blessing. I now use it several times a month on longer trips, especially when I'm a bit worn out. It takes the work out of driving longer highway miles when you want to relax a bit. The Stop & Go feature, if you get ACC, is a MUST to add. This has saved me from complete frustration in numerous situations where the highway comes to a crawl due to stop and go traffic. The car will literally brake to a complete stop and go again as the car in front moves. Not only is it one of the best features to save your sanity, but it'll totally impress any of your passengers!

- Luxury Seating Package. Again, if you drive long distances, this may be really handy. The massaging function keeps your bum from getting sore on longer trips while the ventilated seats really come in handy to keep you from sweating and getting all swamp-like on hot days. Even on a relatively mild day like today (roughly 70 degrees), I used the ventilation feature as I was in a suit sitting on black leather heading to a client... kept me dry and comfortable even though the seats were pretty toasty.

Anyway - just some of my favorite features there that I'd consider priorities over soft close doors and ceramic controls. Of course, it also comes down to what you'll use on a regular basis and what makes you feel pampered.

[radiofrequency]

Soft close doors, my hands are always full when I egress from the car, so it's nice to give the door a gentle bump with my hip and not worry about the door closing half ass - first world problems, I know......

[SoDigito]

Soft close doors for sure. The F10s kind of need it.

[valbmw]

The soft close doors is primary and perfect for me. My garage is 3-meter wide, so there is a relatively small room for opening and closing doors to step out of the car and then collect bags from the rear. In that situation, or when parking is narrow, the soft close works great. Also soft close trunk is very convenient, I wish they would both come together.

Black ceramics is a fancy feature, however after a while you don't look at it and don't notice. It's just a cosmetic thing with no added value, I wouldn't order again.

[wrickem]

Originally Posted by Valery.BMW

Black ceramics is a fancy feature, however after a while you don't look at it and don't notice. It's just a cosmetic thing with no added value, I wouldn't order again.

You don't think they feel nicer than the regular ones? I noticed so much of a difference in feel, especially the idrive controller where my hand always is that I spent big $ to change the ones on my other BMW to ceramic. Regular ones feel so cheap to me now.

[valbmw]

Well, this is up to everyone's taste, and you are right: they are made to feel nicer. Otherwise people wouldn't just retrofit. However in particular to me it doesn't matter, probably because my hobby is weightlifting, fingers aren't sensitive)

[Alan l.]

I have both and if I had to pick just one it would be soft close doors by a mile!

Alan

[konasunset]

Soft close doors--you definitely notice these and I really like them on my car. Ceramic control knobs? Nope!