I found that the dial (hot/cold) changes the setting only in a very minute way, however, it does work. The main temp setting seems to be the major factor in determining the temp setting. The passenger and I usually don't play around with it much. Same goes with the rear temp setting in the center console.

it does a lot. put it on cold and run your heater. no heat... mine does not stay put either

Uh, yeah.....
 

...I have owned three BMWs and have always been completely PUZZLED as to why this dial even exists. Is not such a dial completely and utterly at odds with the entire concept of an AUTOMATIC climate control system? The previous poster was entirely correct - put this diall all the way "blue" when the heat is on and you get essentially no heat. What exactly is an AUTOMATIC climate control system when there is a MANUAL dial that changes the temperature by 30 degrees? For the life of me, I simply cannot figure out why I have to keep manually adjusting my automatic climate control system.

Mine works perfectly, and has done so in the last 5 BMW vehicles I have owned. It isn't a temperature control per se, it is an air mixer that provides an offset from the automatic temperature, only for the centre dash vents. One blue dot means that the centre dash vent air is one degree colder than the automatic temperature (when your system is running at steady state, ie engine is warm), so you get fresh air in your face. Putting it all the way to cold or hot and the auto setting the other way is completely illogical and shows that people have never read the manual. It is clearly explained there.

That's why its not "Automatic"...
 

...its a manually-adjustable automatic. I've been in lots of other luxe vehicles and the automatic climate control is truly that - automatic. Just "set it and forget it" as the guy who cooks rotiserie turkeys on the TV says. The cabin air should not need to be mixed separately for your face; if I set it for 72 degrees, the entire cabin should be 72 degrees. Just because its in the manual doesn't mean it makes sense. I'd rather have a truly automatic system than an automatic system that I have to adjust a degree or two from the setting I've already entered. Or maybe thats just me!

It is fully automatic. I get 72 degrees automatically, or 19C in my case. Set it and forget it, all year round. Just put the thumb wheel in the neutral position after setting the auto temp.

But if you want 72 degrees to be held, and at the same time get cooler or warmer air on your face, you can do that to. It isn't any less automatic, unless you dial the thumb wheel to one extreme and set the auto temperature to the opposite extreme. The system can't cope with that, but that is what we call user error, not bad design.

We'll just have to disagree as to how the system works.
 

It is not accurate to say that the wheel can be left alone in its neutral position and the system will be entirely automatic. In my experience, the "fine tuning" wheel needs to be adjusted regardless of what the temperature is set at other than when it is at an extreme - very hot or very cold - and the whell is just kept at all RED or all BLUE. Having to constantly adjust a little wheel to obtain the desired temperature is not fully automatic, in this user's opinion. Its not like I'm am amateur with this thing; I've been fiddling with that damnb wheel in 3 cars over 10 years with the same results.

OK, we can agree to disagree. I just think that you would be better off to just quit fiddling with it, leave it in the neutral setting (no coloured dots) and then let the automatic system be automatic. Make sure the snowflake is selected so you have airconditioning, make sure the air recirc is on auto or non-recirc, and put the fan on automatic as well as the temp setting. With that done, I have always found that fully automatic works great. I think that there are just too many manual settings that get in the way of it being automatic.

Good luck with it.