[aassad1]

My wife and I picked up her new x3 m50 yesterday and she is absolutely thrilled. It's her first luxury car and she can't get over the difference between her previous cars. One nit that came up on the ride home is that when you switch to sport mode the cabin lighting goes to a very aggressive red and orange. Given just how much ambient lighting the cabin has it was a bit much, so I dubbed it angry mode.

When going through the settings it appears that the only mode you can select your ambient lighting preference in is personal but the only mode you can select your performance variables is sport mode. Am I missing something or did BMW goof?

She wants to drive the car in sport but hates the color way which was even more rage mode at night haha.

[ModernAngel]

Yeah, Sport mode only has the red lighting. You could set your prefs to both dim the ambient lighting down generally and set it to dim more for night driving, if that helps a bit.

[RobM2]

The modes are dumb and hopefully BMW improves their usage with a software update.

Right now the modes double as both presets (which is totally reasonable) and also unlock unique functionality (which is weird). Ideally you could configure everything in Personal — it is silly only Sport mode allows you to manage the drivetrain, for example.

[aassad1]

Thank you for the quick response! That's a major bummer. I'm wondering if the inability to change the ambient colors could be coded back in... The car is probably still to new to know.

[avi66]

Originally Posted by aassad1

That's a major bummer. I'm wondering if the inability to change the ambient colors could be coded back in... The car is probably still to new to know.

Not unless BMW changes it via a software update.

There’s no third party coding using things like Bimmercode or similar after iDrive 7.

[aassad1]

Originally Posted by avi66

Not unless BMW changes it via a software update.

There’s no third party coding using things like Bimmercode or similar after iDrive 7.

Foiled again, that's it car is going back! (Kidding)

I know it's not a fair comparison but I had a g82C and now a G87 and I can set every parameter and ambient color independently on any mode. Obviously, the only real choice is M2. Just seemsime a step back from every modern bmw I've driven.

[MidnightLight]

What's the best official channel to send feedback to BMW about concerns like this?

[arRod1981]

In ID8/8.5 there is a setting to de-link drive mode and ambient lighting. Is there no such setting in ID9?

[aassad1]

Originally Posted by arRod1981

In ID8/8.5 there is a setting to de-link drive mode and ambient lighting. Is there no such setting in ID9?

Haven't seen it yet but will check. Perhaps a strongly worded letter is in order!

[arRod1981]

Originally Posted by aassad1

Haven't seen it yet but will check. Perhaps a strongly worded letter is in order!

It should be in the ambient lighting section.