Automatic Climate/HVAC is quite good in new '11 E70
 

The HVAC/Automatic Climate in my 2007 & 2008 E70s drove me mad. Either too warm, too cold, too strong, too weak..... It was just never right, and it made me mental fidgeting via iDrive... setting things warmer/red or cooler/blue or up, down.... Argh!!!

In my new 2011 E70, I just leave the iDrive setting in the middle/neutral, set the AUTO to 70 or 72F (and I leave the recirculation on Automatic always). The car heats very well, evenly and quickly. When warm/hot, the car is quickly and efficiently cooled. I leave the blower intensity on Medium. I find soft is way too slow and Intensive is too loud and strong.

So far, the AUTO climate in my E70 is pretty excellent. Not as good as in the 2010 750, but a lot better than in our 2010 M6.

Something you may or may not know is that both the 335d and X5d have electric ceramic heaters built in the car which is why heat is nearly instantaneous. Pretty damn nice option because diesels take forever to heat up.

They call it an auxilairy PTC heater btw. It does NOT heat the coolant but just the air that pases through it up to 1250W at 13 volts.

I just took my '11 X5d on a 1000+ mile round-trip to Nebraska where the temps were as low as 3 degrees F. The X5 did great in terms of starting up no matter what the temp and it ran very well, but it didn't seem to heat the cabin up all that quickly. What I found was that it helped to drive around a bit to put some load on the engine. It's definitely better than my '03 GMC diesel pickup, and far better than the MB diesels I drove back in the 80's, but I was glad to have the heated seats and steering wheel while the engine warmed up!

I think the climate control is very good on the X5, better than the '07 335i that I previously drove. What I can't seem to do is convince my wife to "set and forget" it, as she wants to fiddle with the fan, open and close the vents, etc. She is convinced that it is either too cold, too hot, too much air is blowing, and so on. Drives me batty! :pullhair:

A-ha!!! Thank you. My last 2 diesel cars were a 1983 300TD and a 1992 300D, when it was cold outside (CA standards for cold, 40-45F)...it took FOREVER to get any heat.

Both myself and my spouse noticed that the heat in the 35d is like you said, nearly instantaneous! It's been great these past few weeks, when we have had 35-40F weather day & night! Good job BMW!!

I actually WORRIED about whether it would be able to cool efficiently in this Carolina climate.

My Lexus GX always froze me to death - I mean, until parts were numb. I used to complain to the dealer about it and they would take great lengths to tell me that it was the right temperature (without telling me what it was supposed to be), it was such a sophisticated system, blah blah. It could blast cold or hot air, no problem, so it wasn't BAD, it just wasn't COMFORTABLE.

I have yet NOT to be comfortable in my 2011 35i, hot or cold. No problems. Works VERY, VERY well. Something I was worried about turns out to be a very nice feature. :)

I'm with you on this one. Can't stand it when passengers get in and crank the heat to 90 thinking it will miraculously warm the cabin more quickly. Leave it set at 70, turn on your damn seat heater, and be patient! It's called automatic climate control for a reason!

My best friend - who should know better - does this too.

It does - it drives me up the wall. Two degrees in Physics and somehow he can't stop cranking up the temp, adjusting the vents, etc. "Um, you know it has to pass through 70 to get to 90, so why don't you just set it at 70?"

It's like Goldilocks too.. "I'm too cold!" followed minutes later by "I'm too hot!"

The only saving grace is he hasn't noticed it has "SOFT / MEDIUM / INTENSE."

It's like a child and a shiny object.

My Mom gets in my car (worse than the spouse fiddling)...changes Climate temps, takes it off AUTO, fiddles with fan air distribuion, enters iDrive, seat heaters, changes seat setting (thank god for seat memory),....

I never use Auto Climate Control.

Uhhhh, why?? It is the easiest, most efficient and best way to keep the cabin heated, cooled, fresh, de-humidified in moist weather, defrosted, etc, etc...

People without Auto Climate would kill to have Auto climate, especially in a BMW!