[johnung]

I was trying to locate front seats with a cooling feature for my F30 2015 335ix. I heard that BMW offered a cooling feature in 5-Series front seats but I have no idea what years or models that might include or how easy/difficult it may be to retrofit the 5-series seats into a 3-series? My seats are Black Dakota leather M Sport so they are pretty common as far as finding a potential match from a 5-series.
Any information or comments are greatly appreciated.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by johnung

I was trying to locate front seats with a cooling feature for my F30 2015 335ix. I heard that BMW offered a cooling feature in 5-Series front seats but I have no idea what years or models that might include or how easy/difficult it may be to retrofit the 5-series seats into a 3-series? My seats are Black Dakota leather M Sport so they are pretty common as far as finding a potential match from a 5-series.
Any information or comments are greatly appreciated.

There's no cooling feature; just ventilated. I've read mixed reviews about their effectiveness. My previous car had cooling seats and I miss them more than I thought I would. Had I known, I may have ended up in an XF instead of my 535.

[philipm785]

I have them and like them. As others have stated, they don't cool the air, but the ventilation is actually quite nicely done and it definitely helps me to feel cooler.

Edit: to answer your question, I think retrofit would not be super easy since you'd also need a new climate control faceplate and who knows what modules and wiring.

[Trian]

I also have them, and I do use them. In my opinion, I think having them on also helps draft the cold air better from the front. But, I think you will only notice them in hot climates. The ventilation is not that strong.

[mediocrechris]

I don't have any experience with BMWs with cooling seats, but I have sat in two cars with that feature.

Car 1 was a 2018 Accord. The seat was ventilated which means that it blew air onto your back and butt, but the air it blew was just the ambient air from inside the car. In other words, the temperature of the air was not cold, it was just air.

Car 2 was a 2018 Acura TLX and, if my memory serves me, it has air-conditioned seats which means it actually blows cold, air conditioned air onto your back and butt. Now that air was cold and I could really feel the difference between that air and the air that blew into the Accord seat.

[johnhva]

I have ventilated seats and use them - very effective - but I really doubt that F10 seats would easily swap into an F30.

[Qsilver7]

As someone mentioned above...you'd need more than the seats. Although the fans are designed into the seats...it is not completely self contained in the seat itself (unlike having lumbar support). The switches that control the ventilation is designed into the IHKA control panel...see buttons #11 & #16 in the pic below of the IHKA control panel.

So not only will you need the seats...you'll need to create a way to control the venting function if the F30 doesn't have an IHKA control panel that already has this function.

[TEF]

I have these seats in my 535d, but until seeing the drawings, I had no idea of how they functioned. As to whether they cool or not, the feature is great. In fact, one can feel too cool if seat is set to max. Maybe it was due to a long winter, but I probably had the car for six months before I even noticed the cooling buttons.

[Casebrius]

Living in a hot climate, ventilated seats are GREAT! It was one feature I searched hard for in my 16 535 purchase.