Why did they put it there?

[Kipper]

If you are offended by potentially critical comment regarding your Zed read no further.

Had my Zed for a couple of years now and genuinely love it but a couple of ergonomic points really hack me off. Why on earth did they put the display for time/temp/mpg below the stereo. everytime I want to read it I have to take my eyes off the road.

Wouldn't a better place have been dead centre at the bottom of the rev counter? While I'm at it who thought the button to lower the roof would be best placed behind me under the central storage compartment?

There are a couple of blank switches either side of the AC and DSC, wouldn't that have been a better place, I'm not a contortionist!

Oh and the seat belt holders - made of milk tray grade quality plastic.

OK I'm being unfair this is a great car but BMW have been making cars for ages and should have got this right. Mine is a post 2000 car so why weren't these points adressed in the revision.

Controversial post as I'm being mildly critical but I feel my points are valid.

On the plus side I haven't driven the Zed for a while as I'm recovering from an operation and it's a bit hard to get into. Took it out yesterday and forgot how well it corners, I took a corner at speed and the car was fine but my stitches weren't up to it! I was laughing at the car and hurting at the same time.

Kipper - festive fish.

[spokey]

I guess that it would have been too difficult to fix these issues (except the seat-belt holder plastic, so that was probably a cost issue!)

The current crop of BMW's have the digital display in the dashboard, so they have learned that lesson and certainly my E34 M5 had an additional display in the dash. However, that type of display was also hugely prone to failure (my 750 had a similar display and they are quite prone to dying. ) So you might have had one problem replaced by another!

I think that the Z4 has a dash-mounted roof switch, IIRC, so they have learned that lesson too.

The blank switches on your console are probably there for other options and it would be too difficult to make them "either/or" switches -- you'd have to run the wiring for both, and what would you do if you'd got the options that they were actually there for?

But I'm glad that you found the real reason of the car beats all these minor niggles!

Get well soon!

[c_w]

I reckon it was partly to discourage lowering the roof whilst driving - or rather the theory is you can't be driving when lowering the roof, but I agree it is in the wrong place and can easily be transferred to the front of the console.

[Tourniquet]

you take your eyes off the road to change the radio statio/cd track. doesn't take that much more to see the OBC.
only thing that bothers me about the obc is that it reads out in km instead of miles

Oddly enough, the button to lower the roof is on my center console. maybe mine was a refit by the first owner?

my seat belt holders are still holding on so can't comment there.


If you really wanted to be critical of the car try these

Substandard stock tyres
not providing a built in tonneau that automatically covers the roof while down
the airbag/seatbelt pretensioner system and how easy it is to cause it to go into fault just by moving the seat.
The over-reliance on sensors in the engine than have a tendency to fail (I know it's probably unavoidable in modern cars)

still wouldn't have any other car

I sometimes think it would be interesting to have the Italians design a car, give it to the germans to handle the engineering aspects, then give it to the japanese to make it more reliable and finally give it to the british to select the colour scheme.

[komis]

Regarding the switches, my car has all the blanks filled up so there wouldn't be any space to put the roof switch!! Unless I swapped it with something like the ASC button... However if you have some blanks, then transferring the switch would be a piece of cake.

However, regarding the OBC, I wholeheartedly agree with you. It's a stupid place to put it. I have thought 1000 times about doing a project to move the display to the instrument cluster but it would be a major undertaking...

[Guest]

Since the Z3 is a 'sports car' do you really see it as a problem that the time, temp and mpg are not immediately under your nose? for that matter I am not sure an OBC has any real place in a sports car, but if it does, its surely a secondary thing, right?

Si.

[Guest]

It seems odd to place the roof switch where it may be accidentally operated by a bag or something, so that the roof may go up when one brakes! Later cars had it in front of the gearlever anyway.

I find the most utterly stupid switch position to be those for the front and rear fog lamps, which cannot be seen when driving, and are a pain to operate.

Front fogs are useless anyway (except for those poor souls who think they look 'cool.' We would be better off with long-range lights, but perhaps this omission is a plan to reduce speed at night.

[John Boy]

...While I'm at it who thought the button to lower the roof would be best placed behind me under the central storage compartment?

There are a couple of blank switches either side of the AC and DSC, wouldn't that have been a better place, I'm not a contortionist!

Strangely, on the earlier Z3s the Switch is in the area you identify as a good place for it. It was changed in later models to the place where yours is!!!

[spokey]

you take your eyes off the road to change the radio statio/cd track. doesn't take that much more to see the OBC.
only thing that bothers me about the obc is that it reads out in km instead of miles

Isn't there a button on your OBC to allow you to switch? I've never had a Z3, but every BMW I've had from that era with an OBC has had a button to allow the swap to miles and gallons.

[benelvin]

...

I find the most utterly stupid switch position to be those for the front and rear fog lamps, which cannot be seen when driving, and are a pain to operate.

...

I'm with you on that one sir! I know damn well where those buttons are and I STILL can't find them in the dark!

[spokey]

I know damn well where those buttons are and I STILL can't find them in the dark!

At the risk of dragging a thread off-topic, you do realise this statement limits your marketability with the ladies?

[c_w]

Mine doesn't have front fogs so it is easier to find the rear fogs as it's the only button in that area!

It would have been nice and very easily possible to incorporate the OBC into the digital display already in the dash.

[John Boy]

While I'm at it who thought the button to lower the roof would be best placed behind me under the central storage compartment?

There are a couple of blank switches either side of the AC and DSC, wouldn't that have been a better place, I'm not a contortionist!

I knew I had seen this before!!! See Tims link: HERE

[spokey]

While I'm at it who thought the button to lower the roof would be best placed behind me under the central storage compartment?

There are a couple of blank switches either side of the AC and DSC, wouldn't that have been a better place, I'm not a contortionist!

I knew I had seen this before!!! See Tims link: HERE

That's DEFINITELY a braver man than me!

[Tourniquet]

you take your eyes off the road to change the radio statio/cd track. doesn't take that much more to see the OBC.
only thing that bothers me about the obc is that it reads out in km instead of miles

Isn't there a button on your OBC to allow you to switch? I've never had a Z3, but every BMW I've had from that era with an OBC has had a button to allow the swap to miles and gallons.

Never found one:? . unless it can be done through a secret combination of holding down the the buttons i can find (like setting the clock... cept that's not very secret)

[pingu]

While I'm at it who thought the button to lower the roof would be best placed behind me under the central storage compartment?

There are a couple of blank switches either side of the AC and DSC, wouldn't that have been a better place, I'm not a contortionist!

I knew I had seen this before!!! See Tims link: HERE

I like the use of 3-core kettle flex . BTW, you shouldn't use it, as the sheathing is thinner than vehicle wire of a similar current rating. However, I use it all the time in my electrical mods and have never had a problem.


Back to the thread...

The main problem I had with my Z3 was that the body / suspension was not torsionally stiff enough. When I came off roundabouts, the R/H/R would squat down and the L/H/F would lift. It could probably been cured with non-standard strut braces and stiffened springs / dampers.