[Rando]

...for the outside temp to be 52 F (as reported by the computer), and yet if the temperature for the A/C is set to 72 F, it's blowing out cold air???

Only when it's like 80 F does it finally blow out hot air...

How stupid was the guy who designed the AC unit??? (I've seen similar behavior all the time on this, and only my old E46 330i as well. Crazy...) Similar stupidity works the other way around, when it's really hot outside and the air isn't cold enough unless you enable "Max A/C" (60 F).

But on the bright side, I notice that if you max out the temp to 84 F, the blower will send out hot air as soon as possible (which is very fast, like 30 sec after starting). This warm-up is a lot faster than the E46 A/C.

If anyone has advice on this, I'd definitely appreciate. Thanks!

[canucklion]

you know it needs time to warm up and blow out hot air right? so of course it's going to take a while before warm air comes out. Vice versa in summer.

Originally Posted by Rando

...for the outside temp to be 52 F (as reported by the computer), and yet if the temperature for the A/C is set to 72 F, it's blowing out cold air???

Only when it's like 80 F does it finally blow out hot air...

How stupid was the guy who designed the AC unit??? (I've seen similar behavior all the time on this, and only my old E46 330i as well. Crazy...) Similar stupidity works the other way around, when it's really hot outside and the air isn't cold enough unless you enable "Max A/C" (60 F).

But on the bright side, I notice that if you max out the temp to 84 F, the blower will send out hot air as soon as possible (which is very fast, like 30 sec after starting). This warm-up is a lot faster than the E46 A/C.

If anyone has advice on this, I'd definitely appreciate. Thanks!

[ubern00b]

do you have the knurled knob on the blue side? throw it over to the red and you'll feel something.

[canucklion]

^ the knurled knob works surprisingly well and fast

[madman]

Originally Posted by ubern00b

do you have the knurled knob on the blue side? throw it over to the red and you'll feel something.

What he said

[lkn]

I do see weird behavior with the air ventilation such as the outside temperature is sub 60's and the air ventilation still needs to use the A/C to bring in cold air when set at 70's.

[Rando]

Yes, I'm talking about after the whole thing has warmed up.

Moving the knurled knob over certainly helps, because it essentially biases the temp control knob up a few degrees all the time.

I guess my question is: what is the explanation for the system bringing in cold air if the requested cabin temp is 20 F HIGHER than the outside temp? Obviously the system is capable of doing the right thing -- if I set the inside temp to 84 F, then it does the right thing.

BMW -- if you're reading, please add this to the list of fixes for future models. Thanks! Also please fire the idiot(s) who cannot program such a simple algorithm correctly. A $50K car should have an intelligent A/C!

[halB]

The car doesn't use outside temperature to decide whether to blow hot or cold air, it uses cabin air temperature. So if cabin air temperature is higher than the set point (due to engine heat or and/or body heat and/or solar heat) , it blows cold air and vice versa.

[jimf15e]

Originally Posted by canucklion

^ the knurled knob works surprisingly well and fast

Yes but why should anyone have to make another adjustment? It's supposed to be an AUTOMATIC climate control system - i.e. smart enough to change over to warm air when it's cold, cold air when it's warm. Like every other car with auto climate control I've owned. Retarded.

Add it to the list of fixes - it will come right after the addition of a way to set both driver and passenger temps the same with only one setting.

[purplewidow]

the knob doesn't "help" it controls hot air from the engine(red) or outside air(blue).it doesn't just make it a lil warmer by a few degrees...and the heating unit is totally different than the e46.. to get cold air just put it on 69-70 and leave it on blue for warm red for a mix a more natural cruise mode for trips put it in the middle..most German cars have them and just recently they are starting to fade away but only in the upper end.. i really don't think the system sucks.. i think the user is misinformed from the dealer or the owner just doesn't pay attention and gives the "" it's an A?C heater how hard can it be" thought and is excited about the purchase and driving off..that lil thing is crucial!!! and you just brushed it off.. but i hear it so much it's crazy but in europe it is understood as all their cars esp in the 80's and 90's had them..i am not an expert but i think i know what works b/c i never have a problem getting the result i want or my passenger wants.. personally when it gets chilly i turn it over to the red.. even at 60 i get the chills esp from living in hawaii for 5 years where it never got that cold.. and trust us winter people i need hot air asap!!!!!!! so turn it over and blast it on 84 till your warm then turn it down to 72-74 and you will be golden. if you still want warmer air go to 77.

[Rando]

Interesting, I'll try the "keep it at 70 and adjust using the knurled dial" tip. Thanks purplewidow for the tip!

But... it's still true that the displayed temp should be what the A/C is trying to achieve. And if it's blowing cold air when it's cold in the cabin (after the car has warmed up), that's still not the right behavior, in my opinion.

[jimf15e]

Sorry, still think BMW's solution is unnecessarily complicated, unintuitive, and not what I paid for. In my house I set the thermostat to 69 degrees - guess what, the heat pump turns the A/C or heat on as required to make it 69 degrees inside. In my (previously owned) Saab - same thing. Set the big number to 69 and guess what? It maintains 69 degrees. In my (previously owned) Audi S4 - same thing. Set the driver side/passenger side/both sides to 69 degrees and guess what? It maintains 69 degrees. In the E90 - set it to 69 degrees then fiddle with a 'knurled knob.' Then it gets too cold so turn it warmer. Then too warm so turn it cooler. So much for automatic.

[Aurora Bearialis]

Originally Posted by ubern00b

do you have the knurled knob on the blue side? throw it over to the red and you'll feel something.

turn the knob noob

[Vnak]

weird system, so you have a knob that goes from cold (blue) to hot (red) and then a temperature adjustment on top of that? if so, that doesn't make sense at all. those 2 different adjustments should be only one adjustment like most other vehicles out there...

[Aurora Bearialis]

or you can just leave it in the middle, then it works fairly quickly for hot and cold, instead of going to the extremes. damn it's snowing TURN IT TO RED! ISH! that volcano just erupted TURN IT TO BLUE! oh just a regular day lower the windows or leave it in the middle

[BK]

Yeah, the knurled wheel is redundant, but it's there, so we deal with it. Leave the wheel in the middle and you can have your auto climate control, just like your Saab or Honda.

For me, I like cold air on my face, so I usually keep it biased toward blue.

[jimf15e]

Originally Posted by BK

Yeah, the knurled wheel is redundant, but it's there, so we deal with it. Leave the wheel in the middle and you can have your auto climate control, just like your Saab or Honda.

For me, I like cold air on my face, so I usually keep it biased toward blue.

I love how when people complain about a poorly designed or implemented system on a BMW, someone always chimes in to defend by telling us to buy/drive something else. "If you wanted a decent nav system you should have bought a Lexus", "If you wanted a real automatic climate control you should have bought a Honda", "If you didn't want artificially created turbo lag you should have bought a (insert any other turbocharged model here)." Instead of just admitting that the almighty BMW may have made a mistake or designed a poor system. Sure, the car drives great and has a lot of positives. But you know what? It's far from perfect. I don't want a Honda - I want a normal automatic climate control worthy of the price I paid.

[g2artist]

the automatic climate control works just fine. If you set it to 80 degrees it will acheive 80 degrees and maintain it. The knurled knob is to bias the temperature cooler or hotter just for the vents that blow at the passengers. It is so you dont have hot air coming directly at you. When you have floor vents and windshield vents open these are unaffected. Since these aren't pointed directly at you they are less likely to cook you when the car is heating up. I usually set my temp at 76 and get heat coming out of the floor and windshield but dont like heat blowing from the dash directly on to me. I use the knurled knob to bias just the dash vents to cooler air.

[Omni]

Originally Posted by halB

The car doesn't use outside temperature to decide whether to blow hot or cold air, it uses cabin air temperature. So if cabin air temperature is higher than the set point (due to engine heat or and/or body heat and/or solar heat) , it blows cold air and vice versa.

+1

[que2k]

Originally Posted by halB

The car doesn't use outside temperature to decide whether to blow hot or cold air, it uses cabin air temperature. So if cabin air temperature is higher than the set point (due to engine heat or and/or body heat and/or solar heat) , it blows cold air and vice versa.

Makes perfect sense to me. It would be a retarded system if used outside temperature as the OP thinks it does

[g2artist]

Originally Posted by BK

Yeah, the knurled wheel is redundant, but it's there, so we deal with it. Leave the wheel in the middle and you can have your auto climate control, just like your Saab or Honda.

For me, I like cold air on my face, so I usually keep it biased toward blue.

It is not redundant, it is merely to bias the temp hot or cool only for the vents directed at your body. The other vents stay hot or cold

[ElRedOne]

Most other vehicles do not provide the option that BMW does (i.e. upper vent air hot-warm-cold); you get what they give you w/o any alternative. Also, few of them will give you really warm air at your feet and really cold air to the face; it's usually a blend that's neither. You also have the option of eliminating the upper air vent output completely by pressing the "foot" button, which directs air only to the footwells.