[albertw]

I would like to have the Control Display off when I start the car. Is there a way to set this?

The only way I know to turn it off is using the Option button, then selecting Control Display Off. But this function is available only after I start driving, and that makes it a needless distraction. I do it anyways, but I would rather have the Display default set as off.

(No nav, never use the audio system, declined Connected Services - too creepy - and my cell phone is off when I'm driving, so I don't need the Control Display normally, and the available screens are all much less attractive than a blank screen.)

[BEM-S4]

I have not found a way to do this and I have searched high as low.

I'd love to be able to set it to turn off after 10 seconds of no use but stay on when GPS is active. That's a pipe dream though.

[Maynard]

FWIW, I hadn't really considered that it could turn off and was just finding the least annoying display (torque/hp meters, or the trip data are my defaults). It took my instructor and me about 5 minutes of fiddling to figure out how to turn it off at the HPDE. A comical start for sure - I guess I was the poster boy for 'those guys who don't even know what their cars can do' in more ways than one.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by Maynard

It took my instructor and me about 5 minutes of fiddling to figure out how to turn it off at the HPDE. A comical start for sure - I guess I was the poster boy for 'those guys who don't even know what their cars can do' in more ways than one.

You're being too hard on yourself.

The Genesee Valley Chapter had a seminar this past winter for the purpose of getting instructors' heads wrapped around the complications of the modern cars that are now showing up at the track. Of course, the meeting was focused on nannies and related safety issues, but I hope no instructor is surprised when he and/or the student are unaware of some aspect of the car. After all, not everyone reads the manual cover-to-cover.

I couldn't get away to attend the meeting, and really wish that I could have. Understanding fully how the nannies operate concerns me particularly, but things like power being cut because the car thinks it needs to do that to "help" the car and/or the driver scare me. I don't want to be in the car when the driver thinks he's turned everything off, he has his foot planted exiting the Carousel at the Glen, and the car suddenly decides to go into limp-home mode, or that it's going to "help" him steer the car(!), or some other such nonsense.

[Maynard]

Yeah, the artificial steering is the most troubling, and fortunately not part of this car. The artificial braking is a close second, and at least mine only does that as stability control.

[Silver6spd]

I have "control display off" mapped to one of the present buttons on the dash which makes it easier than having to dig through a few menus each time to use it.

I use the present to turn off the display at night to keep interior glare to a minimum.

[RoundelM3]

^ This - on my non-nav 335i, button #8 shuts off the display, and it stays off unless I use one of the other programmed buttons to turn on a particular display/feature. If it's off when the car shuts down, it is still off when I restart the car. Works on my 2016 228i too.

[Maynard]

Thanks for this suggestion - obvious once you wrote it, but not s/t I'd thought to try (I'm sort of a short-bus guy when it comes to tech). I have to say that, for all the weird opaque controls, those user-programmable buttons are a genius move.

[Silver6spd]

Now if I could only program one of those buttons for hvac sync that would be even more genius.

[wjjkoevoets]

Originally Posted by Silver6spd

I have "control display off" mapped to one of the present buttons on the dash which makes it easier than having to dig through a few menus each time to use it.

I use the present to turn off the display at night to keep interior glare to a minimum.

This is a very good solution.