[WilliamCheung]

When is "Soft close" available for the new M5?

Will you wait for it?

 

[Ashok Arora]

If you referring to comfort access it's on from MY2006 as standard.

If you referring to the soft closing doors as they have on the 7 series I think you're out of luck - the M5 is based on the E60 5 series for which there is no soft close option. After all, they have to reserve some luxury touches exclusively for the 'flagship' 7 series even though we may consider the M5 the flagship.

 

[m_five]

Soft close doors will be available spring of 2006 according to the US M5 product information guide:

M5 product info

 

[Ashok Arora]

Soft close doors will be available spring of 2006 according to the US M5 product information guide:

M5 product info

Wow - great information. I stand corrected - soft close option from '06 it is. I wonder if this is North America only or worldwide, since NA gets a number of unique options (like Sirius).

 

[MRichmond]

Soft close doors will be available spring of 2006 according to the US M5 product information guide:

M5 product info

This is good information. Not only confirms the manual but specifies that it will become available with fall 2006 production. I wish we could have a full scan of this guide.

 

[m_five]

This is good information. Not only confirms the manual but specifies that it will become available with fall 2006 production. I wish we could have a full scan of this guide.

Manual trans starting September 2006 was confirmed in this dealer bulletin:
M5 Dealer Bulletin

 

[MEnthusiast]

I love the soft door feature on the 7. Its really great if you have sleeping kids in the back and dont want to slam a door on them- plus friends think the car is magic Would I wait for my dream M5 for this? No- but if available I would order it.

 

[Opposite_Lock]

How does soft close work, exactly?

I rather enjoy the bank-vault thud feel when I close BMW doors.

 

[MRichmond]

Although I usually am one to relish the latest gizmos, this one doesn't have too much appeal to me. My e36 M3, which has frameless front door glass, pulls the window down a fraction of an inch when the door is opened and then pulls it back up when the door is closed. I always was concerned that this function would break. To BMW's credit, it still works perfectly after seven years, but seems like an unnecessary complication. I am happy to close the door myself.

 

[MEnthusiast]

The lowering window trick is not soft close. I forget why they do it- but they do it on all their frameless cars- something about air pressure and the windows breaking. It costs them to put this in the car- its there for a good reason.

The soft close system works by pulling the door closed for you when it is about 95% of the way closed. If you are on the outside of the car, just nudge the door closed until you can feel the locking system begin to engage. On a regular car the door will push back open. With the soft close feature the door will be pulled closed. Its one of those things that seems totally silly until you live with it.

If you go by the theory of more things to break then I think these modern cars offer far too many things that could go wrong.

 

[rvacha]

Its one of those things that seems totally silly until you live with it.

Personally its one of those things that will remain totally silly to me. This doesn't belong in an ///M even if it only adds just a couple of ounces of weight. It would be nice if BMW took weight seriously and put an end to worthless feature creep

 

[Wolverine]

Personally its one of those things that will remain totally silly to me. This doesn't belong in an ///M even if it only adds just a couple of ounces of weight. It would be nice if BMW took weight seriously and put an end to worthless feature creep

I have to agree - they started with that feature on the trunklids of Cadillacs to assist the 'older people'. I can't get that image out of my mind. I'll pass on that feature.

 

[Jessem]

I tend to like gizmos, but the soft close feature is one I would pass on. Easy for me to say since mine's in production as we speak.

The wait is killing me. It'll probably get here just in time for an early snow!

 

[bernhtp]

I learned to like the feature on the 7. It seems to have a cumulative appeal as you notice that it eliminates those times when kids don't fully close the door, you no longer have the tradeoff between a tight door that's hard to close and a looser one with wind noise, and it just feels good.

Tom

 

[golfnut]

Soft closing door option usually comes bundled with power truck close feature. That is kind of handy after you unload a whole bunch of stuff from the trunk and your hands are too full to reach up and slam the trunk. When in 2006 can you order this feature ?

 

[M!]

the lowering the window thing was to get a proper seal on frameless doors.

soft closing doors are nice features. however, for your friends who are not used to it, they will continue to slam the doors and it will be very annoying.

 

[dyc1077]

soft closing doors are the best! i wish i had known there were going to have this feature. once you have it, it's hard to go back. every door i close now i dont have to slam it...but when you go back to a car without the feature, you sometimes forget and dont close the door all the way the first time.

 

[Mark Carson]

Once you've lived with soft close, you want it again in your next BMW. My 2002 745i has it while my recently delivered ED 2005 645Ci does not. I surely miss it. Now I have to "slam" doors again vice moving the door to the body where it latches itself.

The soft close doors and the power trunk close are wonderful if you have school age kids. A couple of years ago when my daughter was 9 and I dropped her off at school, I would open the trunk with the dashboard button on the 745i and she would retrieve her backpack from the trunk and press the button herself to close it. I never got out of the car. And of course the kids closing the car doors was never an issue. None of the "too much" (slammin the daylights out of it) or "too little" (door ajar) problem. You're right, one's friends do think its magic

And yes, it real annoying when someone who doesn't know slams the door.

I tried to tell a security guard once during an airport car check to use the trunk button to close it, but the dumbass insisted on slamming the trunk down by hand and was pleased with himself for doing it his way. That did fry me :nono:

I wouldn't pass on an getting an M5/M6 just because of this feature, but since it will be offered soon, you might want to seriously consider it if your beast is your daily/family ride. Weekend maniacs, well who cares, it doesn't make the car faster...

I recall a quote from Road & Track magazine from 30 years ago:

The definition of a sports car - it doesn't have anything on it that doesn't make it go faster. (which was the justification for a particular Shelby Cobra 427 not having a radio of any kind).