[i335i]

Does anyone know BMW's motive to switch to the new proprietary shifters as opposed to the traditional sliding shifters found in almost every other car? Anyone know the advantages it provides?

[cliveywolves]

bETTer looking for starters in my view thats 1 point
But im sure there is a tech reason too maybe ?

[ghueser]

Most likely because the new Eight Speed Tranny is totally electronic and no longer requires a direct linkage. Therefore likely less costly in parts and cheaper to do. The only downside is that it gets some getting used to over a gated type shifter....and we can no longer put the car in Neutral without having to start the car! (sometimes to get my old E39 out of the garage, I just used to get in...put it in neutral and could just roll it out) Can't do that anymore.

[Needsdecaf]

Clears up massive center console room not having to account for a shifter that moves. Just look at what the F10 center console becomes with the manual shifter.

[mspeasl]

Originally Posted by i335i

Does anyone know BMW's motive to switch to the new proprietary shifters as opposed to the traditional sliding shifters found in almost every other car? Anyone know the advantages it provides?

Gang,

Look at it this way, they are just getting us ready and use to a joystick for when they remove the steering wheel. Think about it. Move the stick left and the car goes left. move it right and so on. move it forward and the car accelerates. Pull bank and it stops. Like I said, "they are just getting us ready"

Just my 2 cents

[Jon D]

Originally Posted by ghueser

....and we can no longer put the car in Neutral without having to start the car! (sometimes to get my old E39 out of the garage, I just used to get in...put it in neutral and could just roll it out) Can't do that anymore.

Not to mention the inability to move the car in the event of an engine failure.

[bike99]

Originally Posted by i335i

Does anyone know BMW's motive to switch to the new proprietary shifters as opposed to the traditional sliding shifters found in almost every other car? Anyone know the advantages it provides?

No idea. Looks cool, but that is why my wife does not like to drive the car. We used to swap the cars every time we needed, and now she refuses to do that. The same applies to turn signal lever.

[Jon D]

Originally Posted by bike99

....The same applies to turn signal lever.

I don't understand your reference to the turn signal lever, it seems pretty conventional to me.

[F11-Diesel]

Originally Posted by bike99

No idea. Looks cool, but that is why my wife does not like to drive the car. We used to swap the cars every time we needed, and now she refuses to do that. The same applies to turn signal lever.

Funny, my wife quite likes all the gadgetery on the car.
She loves it more than the old E61.
I had to hand her some help, but that was for not longer then the first two weeks of owning the car.
Now after four months and ten thousand miles a lot of times my beloved F11 is not at the parking and the taken by her. And I have to drive the sullen VW Golf GTI to work......

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by Jon D

I don't understand your reference to the turn signal lever, it seems pretty conventional to me.

Most cars I've driven don't have self-centering turn signal stalks. Just saying.

[EV0LVE]

Originally Posted by bike99

No idea. Looks cool, but that is why my wife does not like to drive the car. We used to swap the cars every time we needed, and now she refuses to do that. The same applies to turn signal lever.

Isn't this a good thing? i Know I get nervous when my wife drives my car.

[Jon D]

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

Most cars I've driven don't have self-centering turn signal stalks. Just saying.

Guess I should have said it seems pretty conventional to me - in any car made since 1990 .

[bike99]

Originally Posted by Jon D

Guess I should have said it seems pretty conventional to me - in any car made since 1990 .

Maybe I drove wrong cars, but none of them had this feature. And I've had 7 cars since then.

[Alex170177]

Only bmw has those turn signals

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by Jon D

Guess I should have said it seems pretty conventional to me - in any car made since 1990 .

Errr, no. Not unless you've only been driving BMW's, as others have said. Most cars have turn signal levers that, you know, stay down or up until the signal turns off? In just about any car made since, uh, about 1940.

[raleedy]

Shifter looks like that because BMW made a bulk purchase from Norelco.

[Jon D]

Originally Posted by bike99

Maybe I drove wrong cars, but none of them had this feature. And I've had 7 cars since then.

Originally Posted by Alex170177

Only bmw has those turn signals

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

Errr, no. Not unless you've only been driving BMW's, as others have said. Most cars have turn signal levers that, you know, stay down or up until the signal turns off? In just about any car made since, uh, about 1940.

My comment was very much intended to be 'tongue-in-cheek' hence the (clearly misunderstood) , but there you go, I guess it got lost in translation somewhere in mid-Altantic.
As it happens the Vauxhall Vectra, to name but one that springs to mind, has the same type of non-latching turn signal lever and, from admittedly dubious memory, I'm pretty sure it was likewise in my old 2001 Audi. However, I could certainly be wrong there and I'll gladly admit it rather than cause any offence or angst amongst my fellow forum users

[MarcJ]

Safety: try to start with one door open, the car will switch to park automatically.

[bike99]

Another question: I was playing with this in a car while waiting for kids. I noticed, that in fact it has 5 positions. Neutral (middle) and 2 up (R) and 2 down (D). Is there any difference when you switch to D for example if you push it gently to the first position down, or to the end? I could not find any.

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by bike99

Another question: I was playing with this in a car while waiting for kids. I noticed, that in fact it has 5 positions. Neutral (middle) and 2 up (R) and 2 down (D). Is there any difference when you switch to D for example if you push it gently to the first position down, or to the end? I could not find any.

Yeah, I couldn't figure out why that was myself. Noticed no difference.

[bimmertaxi]

If the car is in reverse (R):

Gentle push backwards: Puts the car in neutral (N)

Long push backwards: Puts the car directly in drive (D)

[BMWrules7]

This design is called "stateless.". This allows you to turn off the engine and have it fall into park with no movement of the auto shifter.

Same goes for the turn signal. It is stateless too.

Now, fwd and reverse gears resolve easily (the shifter goes to park if u open the door at the right time). However, the stateless design failed to work if you left the shifter in sport mode and then turn the engine off.

The fix for this required an automated movement of the shifter to park to get back to its stateless state!

Go ahead and try it.

Power on the engine, shift to sport mode then power off the engine.

You will see BMW had to override the logic here by physically moving the stick from sport to park.

Almost all of the buttons are stateless. This allows the electronics to reset to on or off without having to manipulate the button into a physical position.

Except, of course, the sport mode to park described above. Or manual mode to park for that matter since there is no physical difference between sport and manual as far as the shifter is concerned as it stateless.

Compare to a light switch in your house that has an on state and an off state.

Originally Posted by i335i

Does anyone know BMW's motive to switch to the new proprietary shifters as opposed to the traditional sliding shifters found in almost every other car? Anyone know the advantages it provides?