Little Gripe

W

willc8

Member
So I am just over a month in as a Zed owner and I am loving the car. However, at the weekend I was in my sister's Ford Fiesta Zetec, couple of years old, a fairly standard model. So I get in and she starts the engine, I then hear an electrical mechanical sound from my left side, the wing mirrors were automatically unfolding on engine start, I thought, nice. We got to where we were going and got out, she then remote locked her car and low and behold they folded in again.

Now I know this feature is available to Zed owners if they get a Smart top, buy why do they just not programme it in as standard, I mean we are talking about a £28k + car, and a Fiesta has this feature!

It just seems lazy by BMW to me, I don't know if they have made this standard now on the LCI, but if not, that's even more of joke.

Small gripe/rant over...
 
i once drove a vauxhall corsa that had a heated steering wheel. there are loads of cars out there for much less money that might have a few extra toys on it! i still know which i would prefer to drive!
 
It is a shame some of this stuff isn't standard - especially when it is all software based, very little expense on BMW's part to add it. I guess they just sit on their laurels knowing that no-one will NOT buy a Z4 just because the mirrors don't automatically fold. Smug b*stards. :x

I will be getting a SmartTOP for my Z for this feature and the one-touch up/down - plus the various other benefits. Now that the roof hydraulics are rated to operate at 40km/h the SmartTOP adds a bunch of stuff that should really be standard.
 
Oh - I do remember reading on the SmartTOP website that due to design limitations there is no sensor to tell the current position of the mirrors, so all the button on the door handle does is toggle them from whatever position they are in, to the other - it never knows whether they are 'in' or 'out'. There is a disclaimer on the SmartTOP website that due to this, sometimes the mirrors can get out of sync.

This could be why BMW didn't add the feature, as it would generate too many complaints and dealership visits when it went wrong.
 
You used to be able to code this a few years ago. In 2011 when we got our new 1'er I asked them to do it as part if the pre-delivery. They said no problem.

Picked up car....no auto-folding mirrors etc. Apparently BMW have actually removed the option...so it cant even be coded! Some bullshit about the motors not being strong enough to open/close/open/close everytime!

What bullshit!
 
nowadays not a great deal of things can be retro fitted

cruise control needs an extra stalk and speedo clusters
seat heating needs buttons and heated seats (possibly ok to do)
heated steering needs a new wheel and button on side of steering column
nav would be a nightmare
paddles would be a pain to do if you had the older types and wanted the newer ones
the mirrors arent auto fold in as standard so you may need to get motorised ones to begin with

i guess thats how they can afford to sell them with good finance packages as once you start adding on the options, they soon bump up the price

my options were another 2-3k on top of the base m sport model
 
Hence why I bought the Merc, the only extra options I wanted was Nav and neck scarf, all the below we're standard

Cruise
Front & Back PDC
Heated powered seats, with adjustable support and very comfortable too
Head light assist (main beam with the turn round corner thingy which is actually quite good)
Auto dimming folding mirrors, which open and close with lock as per OP's wish
180 watt stereo
Wind deflector
 
supersebbo said:
Oh - I do remember reading on the SmartTOP website that due to design limitations there is no sensor to tell the current position of the mirrors, so all the button on the door handle does is toggle them from whatever position they are in, to the other - it never knows whether they are 'in' or 'out'. There is a disclaimer on the SmartTOP website that due to this, sometimes the mirrors can get out of sync.

This could be why BMW didn't add the feature, as it would generate too many complaints and dealership visits when it went wrong.
Click to expand...
I have had mine go out of sync once in the year I've had the smart top fitted all that was needed was to turn the smart top off fold the mirrors in and out
using the standard button then turned the smart top back on and all ok :)
 
jabber said:
supersebbo said:
Oh - I do remember reading on the SmartTOP website that due to design limitations there is no sensor to tell the current position of the mirrors, so all the button on the door handle does is toggle them from whatever position they are in, to the other - it never knows whether they are 'in' or 'out'. There is a disclaimer on the SmartTOP website that due to this, sometimes the mirrors can get out of sync.

This could be why BMW didn't add the feature, as it would generate too many complaints and dealership visits when it went wrong.
Click to expand...
I have had mine go out of sync once in the year I've had the smart top fitted all that was needed was to turn the smart top off fold the mirrors in and out
using the standard button then turned the smart top back on and all ok :)
Click to expand...

I don't think you even need to reset the smartTOP module in this scenario - all the module does is keep and internal memory of where it thinks the mirrors are - the only way it gets out of sync is if it thinks the mirrors are out when in fact for whatever reason they are in (or vice-versa). All that you need do is press the button on the drivers door once (to toggle the mirrors) and then they are back in sync with smartTOP's view of the world. Give it a go if it happens again.
 
That's the thing Supersebbo, if it's just some lines of code, they only need to set it up once and after that they should just have to tick a box when the car is built for it to be included. We shouldn't have to fork out an extra couple hundred quid to get a smart top. It 's low cost to them but makes the life for their customer much more convenient, rather than having to manually push a button everytime we get in and out of the car. Like I said earlier, just them being lazy not making it standard for electric mirrors!
 
Kettleboy said:
I'm sure I was told this was an iDrive option on my forthcoming M135i
Click to expand...

I hope you are correct.....but only time will tell. If your dealer told you that, then I'd be doubtful.
 
I'm a little taken aback that anyone is still surprised that Options such as electric folding mirrors are are not standard, as it these options where the manufacturers really make there margins.

German marques have been notorious over many years for offering poverty spec basic cars and then charging for everything else. I remember my dad ordering a 520i in the eighties which came with a radio and nothing else as standard, he even had to pay for an upgrade to a cassette and for floor mats! So thankfully things have improved but could still be better!

The modern equivalent now seems to be additional price charged for power outputs. If you take the 20i and 28i as an example, I believe the only difference are the injectors and software yet the price difference is £4k+

Sadly, either way the constant need to deliver more profit always wins out in the end
 
Napastar said:
I'm a little taken aback that anyone is still surprised that Options such as electric folding mirrors are are not standard, as it these options where the manufacturers really make there margins.

German marques have been notorious over many years for offering poverty spec basic cars and then charging for everything else. I remember my dad ordering a 520i in the eighties which came with a radio and nothing else as standard, he even had to pay for an upgrade to a cassette and for floor mats! So thankfully things have improved but could still be better!

The modern equivalent now seems to be additional price charged for power outputs. If you take the 20i and 28i as an example, I believe the only difference are the injectors and software yet the price difference is £4k+

Sadly, either way the constant need to deliver more profit always wins out in the end
Click to expand...
:P +1
 
Napastar said:
I'm a little taken aback that anyone is still surprised that Options such as electric folding mirrors are are not standard, as it these options where the manufacturers really make there margins.

German marques have been notorious over many years for offering poverty spec basic cars and then charging for everything else. I remember my dad ordering a 520i in the eighties which came with a radio and nothing else as standard, he even had to pay for an upgrade to a cassette and for floor mats! So thankfully things have improved but could still be better!

The modern equivalent now seems to be additional price charged for power outputs. If you take the 20i and 28i as an example, I believe the only difference are the injectors and software yet the price difference is £4k+

Sadly, either way the constant need to deliver more profit always wins out in the end
Click to expand...

No, that's not the issue here.

Yes, BMW charge for extras. That's a given.

The issue here, is that if you have the power mirrors, that they don't fold automatically when locking/unlocking the car. This is a software issue that would cost them nothing to implement.

Having to press the little button, whilst not exactly the end of the world, is an irritation when other makes just do it.

So its people who have paid the money for the option, then finding out it doesn't work quite as possibly expected. Why can other makes implement it, but not BMW?
 
Always something I was surprised on my Z4 that it didn't fold the morrors when locked.

The Evoque does and it has some cool puddle lights when opened with a light emitted onto the floor with the Evoque silhouette!! :P

See here: http://youtu.be/-63EDkwRUXo
 
Just to play devils advocate here, :evil: if BMW enabled this feature - its not just the cost of the software. They would effectively be warranting the door mirrors to be reliable enough to be moved every time the car is opened/closed - many times a day. They would have to analyse the probable failure rate of the motor and work the cost of warranty replacement into the equation: i.e. if everyone started using their mirror motor 4+ times a day because it was automatic, compared to the much smaller percentage who actually do it manually because they need/want to, the failure rate would be much higher and many more motors would have be be replaced under warranty.

If there were any doubts as to the reliability of the motor (as a previous poster mentioned) then the warranty cost would likely outweigh the benefit in terms of increased perceived features of the model and resulting sales. They are a business after all.

Sorry to bring in cold hard logic :wink:
 
Good point - they told me it was for this very reason - they didn't think the motors were up to it.

So in that case, they should buy there motors from the same place as Mercedes, Ford etc (or those marques that do auto fold).
 
kevinmarkwhite said:
So in that case, they should buy there motors from the same place as Mercedes, Ford etc (or those marques that do auto fold).
Click to expand...

Completely agree! But the only way we'll get them to change their ways is to vote with our feet - go buy a Merc everyone!
 
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