PDA

View Full Version : Power window switches


Masskrug
10-19-2003, 06:06 PM
I personally think the RIGHT place for them is the center console. I am much more used to keeping the right hand free to shift, adjust climate/radio, open/shut windows, pull e-brake for power slide.

My X5 has them stupidly on the door. It is counterintuitive to use the left hand, normally firmly fastened on the steering wheel, to perform this function.

From what I can see, all the new model BMW's seem to be doing this. (where are they on TD's new Saab?)

What do YOU think?

TD
10-19-2003, 06:09 PM
I personally think the RIGHT place for them is the center console. I am much more used to keeping the right hand free to shift, adjust climate/radio, open/shut windows, pull e-brake for power slide.

My X5 has them stupidly on the door. It is counterintuitive to use the left hand, normally firmly fastened on the steering wheel, to perform this function.

From what I can see, all the new model BMW's seem to be doing this. (where are they on TD's new Saab?)

What do YOU think?

All older BMWs have them in the correct place (center console) but, as you said, the newer ones are doing the "mainstream" thing of putting them on the door.

The Saab has them in the center.

SARAFIL
10-19-2003, 06:10 PM
Your X5 is supposed to have an automatic transmission, thus allowing you to freely choose which hand is off the wheel, and leaving your left hand free to operate the windows.

Please return to the dealership at your convenience, as there is a defect in your vehicle. Your BMW Center will promptly replace the transmission with an automatic version, enabling you to operate the windows while you drive.

-BMW Customer Relations.

;)

operknockity
10-19-2003, 06:18 PM
Maybe, due to my driving "mainstream" cars for so long before the bimmer, that it is just habit for me to want them on the door, but I also find that having them around the center console requires too much extra movements to get all the windows open/closed. Now if they would just give us a master one-touch up/down switch that ran all the windows, then it wouldn't matter so much.

Masskrug
10-19-2003, 06:19 PM
The Saab has them in the center.



Nice. :thumbup:

Masskrug
10-19-2003, 06:23 PM
Your X5 is supposed to have an automatic transmission, thus allowing you to freely choose which hand is off the wheel, and leaving your left hand free to operate the windows.

Please return to the dealership at your convenience, as there is a defect in your vehicle. Your BMW Center will promptly replace the transmission with an automatic version, enabling you to operate the windows while you drive.

-BMW Customer Relations.

;)

Heheheheh.

Sadly if this were true, it would likely add to the resale value of the vehicle.

Not that I would care, as 'the pig' is gonna get pounded into the ground by my family.

Bruce330cic
10-19-2003, 06:36 PM
I love having them on the center console. That's just where they should be in a BMW. Our 1988 528e has them there too.

kognito
10-19-2003, 07:35 PM
good poll!! they belong in the middle.

I can switch between driving a stick, and a slushie 10-15 times a week, and I never miss a shift, or move my left foot when I'm driving a slushie.

But in my Trailblazer, I always reach for the center console when I want to open the window :dunno:

claresecl
10-19-2003, 09:39 PM
Maybe, due to my driving "mainstream" cars for so long before the bimmer, that it is just habit for me to want them on the door, but I also find that having them around the center console requires too much extra movements to get all the windows open/closed. Now if they would just give us a master one-touch up/down switch that ran all the windows, then it wouldn't matter so much.

I agree with you. I have had my car since the end of June, and I still have to search around when I want to open a window!

Mathew
10-19-2003, 09:42 PM
Center.

dredmo
10-19-2003, 09:49 PM
Center.

operknockity
10-19-2003, 10:21 PM
I agree with you. I have had my car since the end of June, and I still have to search around when I want to open a window!
I've had mine since Feb 2002, and I still sometimes reach for the switches on the door. 25+ years of habit die very hard.

lip277
10-19-2003, 11:10 PM
Window switches?

:eek:

Masskrug
10-20-2003, 12:54 AM
Window switches?

:eek:

Heheheh.

So, you're a holy roller eh? So, did BMW previously have the cranks on the center console or what? :D

operknockity
10-20-2003, 01:00 AM
So, did BMW previously have the cranks on the center console or what? :D
:lol: :lol:

lip277
10-20-2003, 11:08 AM
Window switches?

:eek:

Heheheh.

So, you're a holy roller eh? So, did BMW previously have the cranks on the center console or what? :D

Nope-
On the doors where they belong.... :lol:

My Mercedes has them on the center console though and I like them there (The Yukon has them on the doors though.... I guess either way is OK as long as they fit with the rest of the interior layout)

GSR13
10-20-2003, 11:24 AM
I love having them on the Center Console. Owning two Acura's before, I was definately accustomed to having the switches on the door, but I much prefer them the way they are on my 330i.

JST
10-20-2003, 11:46 AM
Center.

Weirdly, I rode in a new rental Cavalier the other day, and that car now has all four switches in the center console.

FC
10-20-2003, 11:46 AM
All older BMWs have them in the correct place (center console) but, as you said, the newer ones are doing the "mainstream" thing of putting them on the door.

Merceds-Benz is doing the same thing. :roll: It really bothers me. I wish they still put them on the center console. It's a shame. Both my cars have it on the center. It lets you keep your left hand on the wheel at all times.

Eugie Baange
10-20-2003, 12:14 PM
I bought my car strictly because it has the switches in the center.

clyde
10-20-2003, 12:30 PM
They belong on the door, just like the cranks that they have replaced.

What was insane was the switch layout in my Q45. All four doors had switches on the doors. All windows could also be controlled from the center console EXCEPT the driver's door window. :roll: That was one of many things about that car that always made me think that that the first gen Q45 was the car that Jaguar should have built.

clyde
10-20-2003, 12:40 PM
They belong on the door, just like the cranks that they have replaced.

I forgot to mention that the best location in any car that I've had was in the '86 Mustang GTs. The location on the door was absolutely perfect, allowing the left knee to operate them.

operknockity
10-20-2003, 01:04 PM
I bought my car strictly because it has the switches in the center.
:lol: :lol:

Masskrug
10-20-2003, 01:05 PM
Hmmm, quoting yourself. Isn't that, like, one of the first signs of insanity?

operknockity
10-20-2003, 01:08 PM
I think for me the issue is not really wether the switches are on the door or the center console, but where the switches are relative to each other. When they're on the the door, they are all located in a tight little group, so that you only need one finger to quickly get to them all. If they were grouped this way on the center console then I'd have less of an issue with them. Or BMW could give us a single all windows auto up/down switch on the console.

operknockity
10-20-2003, 01:10 PM
Hmmm, quoting yourself. Isn't that, like, one of the first signs of insanity?
:lol: :lol:

clyde
10-20-2003, 01:47 PM
Hmmm, quoting yourself. Isn't that, like, one of the first signs of insanity?

first? :?

ARCHER
10-20-2003, 01:48 PM
Center.

mv945
10-20-2003, 02:25 PM
Center

SpaceMonk
10-20-2003, 09:13 PM
Center.

3LOU5
10-20-2003, 11:43 PM
No preference.

Just as long as the dang thing works.

:mad:

Roadstergal
10-21-2003, 01:10 PM
The BMW is the first car I've had with power windows. :paranoid: The center console is a decent place for them.

But the crank windows in the Miata aren't bad. I can roll down the passenger's side window while belted into the driver's seat.

Keith
10-22-2003, 06:45 PM
Center............