Fact: 2006 interior lights won't drain battery if left on
 

Today my wife and daughter were waiting for our son. He had an afterschool music lesson and it was pouring outisde. The girls were inside the X3 reading. The CEO had the front dome light on and and daughter was reading with the rear reading light. Car was turned off. Key out of ignition. Both front and rear lights turned off automatically after 15 minutes. Great feature to save the battery if you forget and leave them on. (Been there, done that with other cars.) I am not sure what happens if the rear hatch is left open for 15 minutes. More thoughtful engineering from BMW.

Jon

my 05 x5 has gone dead twice after i wash the car and have it in the garage deatailing..i had the radio on for about 20 min..went completly dead, had to call bmw assist for a jump twice. They replaced the batt a few days ago so hopefully it wont happen again...

That is thoughtful engineering!

My 02 X5 does not do this. I have often found an interior light still on because I forgot to turn it off. Luckily, my X5 has only gone dead once...not because of lights or radio but because the battery ended its life.

And that happened exactly 150km before I was out of the new-car warranty. :D

I have had the radio on for 2 hours once with the engine off. That's my record so far.

I think that aside from missing a V8 option, the X3 is, in technical terms, a superior vehicle to the X5. It has MUCH better space management, and has the same or greater cargo area! BMW's first was the X5, and once they learned from the many mistakes, the X3 was the refined result.

Hey Bav are you sure? My 02 has had the back hatch open x2 and door ajar and no lights on in the morning and started right up. Maybe worth getting checked as it should have this feature! :thumbup:

As long as the vehicle has the key turned to the off position it shouldn't happen, but if you're running the radio off of the battery it will do that every time!!! The vehicle has too many electronics in it to operate without the vehicle being on!!!

My CEO frequently is incapable of closing the rear hatch all the way :doh: and from what I can tell that light remains on - I'm guessing because it thinks you're back there doing something as opposed to just forgetting and leaving something on. I can't get too upset with her, she's 5' and has difficulty even reaching the hatch to close it. She's gotten better - and so far no dead battery. . . yet.

My hatch lights will also shut off after 15 mins in my '04 X5, even if left open...

I thought all bimmers did this. My 1994 does this whenever any door/light/trunk is left open for about 15-20 min....

My daughter has proven this fact many times in my X3 and my wifes 325XI.

i think it all depends in how old your battery is. The newer the battery the longer it retains the charge. If you have an old battery and you like to leave radio on or lights, your battery will not keep the charge as when it was new due the old cells in it. Specially on cold weather.