[jacobbmw]

If you were ordering a new 535 luxury line, would you spend your money on ceramic controls, soft close doors. One, neither or both???
Which do you think enhances the luxury feel of the car more?

[s.alnaqbi]

Both

[MotormanDan]

explain "ceramic controls"

[jadnashuanh]

Originally Posted by MotormanDan

explain "ceramic controls"

Instead of the plastic as the 'touch' surfaces on the buttons, it is replaced with hard ceramic. This has a distinctly different feel and appearance. Personally, the 'stock' control surfaces seem to wear fine, and while it is different, I'm not sure I"d spend extra money for them, but they offer them as an option for a reason...some people love them.

Regular passengers in any vehicle get used to what it takes to close the doors...infrequent ones, may not get the door closed on the first try, and that's where the softclose feature can be handy. some people always seem to slam the doors. I read one user where even with warning, people still slammed their doors, and eventually, broke the soft-close mechanism. I have no idea if that was a fluke or a real issue if you were to slam the door shut very often.

Not having owned one with that feature, I can't say that I miss it, and have no trouble closing my own door, thank you! Now, if it powered it closed from full open, that might be useful, since sometimes, that can be quite a reach if the wind caught it.

[jacobbmw]

ceramic controls seem to be a polarizing option and i agree that the silver knobs look fine but the feel of the ceramic is special. I still don't think i will get that. The idea behind the soft close is the hope that the doors will be less likely to creak over uneven pavement or driveways. Having owned an E39, E46, E60 and E90 the doors eventually creak unless the dealer applies silicon tape. I just figured the electric mechanism would decrease this from happening???

[naamanf]

I say ceramic controls. Gives a nice little touch to the interior, but it's a shame it's an upgrade since they could just make the standard controls the same color. I'm underwhelmed by the soft close doors and don't really see the point. I found I would normally close the door with enough force that the soft close wouldn't really do anything. Have to try and close the door softly enough so they do the soft close thing. Silly IMHO.

[Gilgorm]

Since you are ordering new, I would vote neither.
Passengers slam doors all the time so explaining to them not to slam would get old real fast.
Ceramic controls are purely cosmetic and IMHO only add value to the owner.

[0_steve]

I have both and would recommend both but if I had to choose it would hands down be soft close doors. I love them!

[jacobbmw]

truly a first world problem, but the soft close doors seem so cool

[pillpusher84]

Both ... I couldn't live without either

I can't tell you how many times I get out of the wife's car, and get so pissed off about having to re-close the door because it didn't shut completely

The ceramic controls look nicer in my opinion and have a higher-quality feel over the standard controls (iDrive controller in particular)

[Bobby_Drake]

soft close doors hands down....

[Igor_M5]

Softclose... its one of those features that once you live with, you can't live without. $700 for ceramic controls? GTFO, LOL... like seriously? I'd rather get so much other stuff for that money and I'm the type that loves and appreciates "fine" aesthetic upgrades and modifications.

[jacobbmw]

Originally Posted by Igor@ONEighty

Softclose... its one of those features that once you live with, you can't live without. $700 for ceramic controls? GTFO, LOL... like seriously? I'd rather get so much other stuff for that money and I'm the type that loves and appreciates "fine" aesthetic upgrades and modifications.

I am agreeing with you!

[Sjoerd]

Soft close doors!

[Russkey]

Both for sure. Soft close doors are more important imo but the ceramic controls make interior look better and there's no doubt about that.

[P1]

Now that I see it's $700 for the ceramic controls, that's a bit steep...

[raleedy]

I wouldn't get either one, but that's me.

[Catfish454]

I have both, and the ceramic controls do NOTHING for me...except burn the crap out of my hand after the car has been parked in the sun! The feel is nothing special at all. In fact, to me it feels identical to the standard plastic one. The soft-close doors are nice, but I probably wouldn't order them again.

[top6491]

I would have gotten both if the dealer had shown them and pusghed them a little. Don't know how many times I've had to reclose my door.

[The Beast]

Ditch both and go for an upgrade on the sound system

[ectower]

We had a 328i and a 535i without the soft close doors. I always thought they were a waste, well till our X5 came with soft close doors. Man its NICE to just barely close the door to just before normal contact and then the mechanism gently closes the door. Very nice and convent if your like me and always try and close the door very softy anyway. Guess it could help keep the slam door rattles away, possibly forever.

Oh yea the X5 came with the upgraded sound system too, big improvement over base system.

James

[Apple Corps]

ectower - +1 on the soft close doors. I always try to shut the doors gently - almost always wind up shutting them 2 or 3 times

They are now a must have feature - especially if you want a more tranquil experience. Our Lexus has the soft close trunk lid and it is so nice to not have the big "wump" when shutting the trunk - or having to carefully gauge the shutting force.