M button help

[mamadub]

Keeping in mind that I'm a new M3 owner and trying to learn all I can about my car.........can you all please tell me when/why you use the M button? The dealer set it for me (I'm still trying to figure out all the settings and what they mean) and I know when I drive with it on, the car is more aggressive. Please don't "Hate" on me for asking a question that may seem ridiculous to many of you. Remember, I upgraded from a Suburban. I think I really need to find a club in the Scottsdale area so others with M3s can help me! Thank you in advance.

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by mamadub

Keeping in mind that I'm a new M3 owner and trying to learn all I can about my car.........can you all please tell me when/why you use the M button? The dealer set it for me (I'm still trying to figure out all the settings and what they mean) and I know when I drive with it on, the car is more aggressive. Please don't "Hate" on me for asking a question that may seem ridiculous to many of you. Remember, I upgraded from a Suburban. I think I really need to find a club in the Scottsdale area so others with M3s can help me! Thank you in advance.

First off, welcome. Second, I would STRONGLY suggest reading the manual after you get the thrill of the initial drive out of your system, because you'll learn about a lot of fun and useful features you may not even discover organically; some of my favorite small features I only learned about from reading the manual.

However, the M button lets you basically call up a different driving profile for your car. The settings that can be controlled via the M button are:

Steering weight: Normal (default) or Sport
DSC mode: On, MDM, or Off (the "Off" option has been removed in later M3s, so the only way to turn it off now is to press the DSC Off button).
Power: Normal, Sport, Sport Plus (doesn't change the power of the engine, just how sensitive the throttle is)
EDC mode (if you have EDC): Comfort, Normal, Sport
Drivelogic (if DCT): Controls how quickly shifts happen and whether automatic or manually controlled
Shift Lights (if DCT): On or off

For these features, you can set each so that pressing the M button puts that feature into a particular mode or leaves that feature Unchanged from the state it was in before pressing the M button. Note that there's a separate area in iDrive where you can control the settings your car starts up with, but you can only customize EDC and Power for that (and maybe shift lights on DCT, can't remember). DSC always starts up On, steering is always Normal, and Drivelogic is always S3 to start.

[CBS]

A Local BMW CCA Club Chapter is a good idea. You can access them by going to www.bmwcca.org - The local chapter is the Mesa Chapter (Roadrunner). Their primary contact person and web page are on the BMW CCA Website under Chapters.

The M Button controls many different functions. The best thing to do is to access your Supplementary Owner's Manual (for my 2011 it had an Engine on the Cover) and turn to the section that deals with M Drive Adjustments (page 21). Each Setting is explained in detail.

For me and my DCT Transmission M3, I accessed my Settings for Drivelogic, EDC, DSC, Power, Servotronic and Shift Lights. The Settings I chose are in line with how I believe the car is best "set up" for running at the local track. Therefore, when I press my M Button the car goes into Track Mode.

I hope this has been helpful!

[mamadub]

Thank you both for taking the time to further explain this to me. I will look into joining the roadrunners. Thanks for the link!

[bsiciliano]

I pretty much drive in MDM all the time. Frankly, it is just more fun.

[mamadub]

Originally Posted by bsiciliano

I pretty much drive in MDM all the time. Frankly, it is just more fun.

Really? I thought you were just supposed to use it at certain times. Does it use more gas??

[Mr. ///M3 RD]

Originally Posted by mamadub

Keeping in mind that I'm a new M3 owner and trying to learn all I can about my car.........can you all please tell me when/why you use the M button? The dealer set it for me (I'm still trying to figure out all the settings and what they mean) and I know when I drive with it on, the car is more aggressive. Please don't "Hate" on me for asking a question that may seem ridiculous to many of you. Remember, I upgraded from a Suburban. I think I really need to find a club in the Scottsdale area so others with M3s can help me! Thank you in advance.

Sorry, I cannot help here (since I don't have the iDrive or the "M" button) other then I agree with the others that the answer can be found in the user manual. I always send my wife back to the dealership (she just got a new Benz) they are very forthcoming in going over every aspect of the car with you, as you may well know. They do have specially trained people that can help.

Other then that I find that Google is a fantastic avenue to seek help on almost any subject ... I know you are aware of this as well ... for example

For the M Coupe, the M Button activates a razor-sharp throttle response program for the sportiest driving. This means that the performance characteristics of the engine can be varied according to the driver's wishes.

The manual and Google ... will provide further deedback

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by mamadub

Really? I thought you were just supposed to use it at certain times. Does it use more gas??

No, MDM basically just puts traction and stability control in "Reduced intervention mode", allowing wheelspin and a small amount of fishtailing. It's helpful for accelerating in a straight line since the limited traction control still controls wheelspin enough to prevent losing TOO much speed to smoking rubber but allows enough not to kill your output right off the line. MDM can also be fun in the corners for kicking the tail out a tad, but if you turn it on not realizing that it allows that and gun it through a turn, you might need a few sheets of toilet paper on the other end.

So no, it won't use more gas, but you might need to replace your rear tires more often.

[mdosu]

you deserve this::sign 0012::sign 0012:

[mamadub]

Originally Posted by mdosu

you deserve this::sign 0012::sign 0012:

Read it, wanted some clarification, which I received from some nice people. I also asked when and why individuals use the M button. Don't think I came across that in the manual.

[SD-E93-11]

As jphugan alluded to..keep in mind that m-mode is the only way to access Sport+ throttle sensitivity, which I'm a fan of.

As someone with the same car as you, my settings might be of interest to you:
I switch from sport to the default D mode (D3, no 'power') at startup until I get the engine warmed up a bit and also when I'm in commuter traffic.

All other times I switch to 'm-mode' which for me is:
Drivelogic - D4 allows higher revs to pair with the more sensitive Sport + power setting
EDC - no change, find 'normal' and 'sport' unnecessary for the street and you'll definitely feel the road more.
Power - Sport +, yes it's sensitive but you get used to it quickly. I think the convertible with extra weight really benefits from this when pulling from a stop.
DSC - no change (on) - not sure what reasonable rationale could be stated for turning off DSC on the street
Servotronic - normal (don't have a strong opinion on this, sport agrees with me too)
Shift lights - on

You obviously won't see shift lights until you switch to sport, which I only do by clicking paddles from drive. I do this because if you do alot of switching between the two I find it's easy to forget which mode you're in if one is set to S and one to D (sounds easy to remember but it will happen to you; so I set them both to D. Normally in D4 the transmission downshifts quickly enough for me but when I really want to get on it, I'll do a quick double-blip on the downshift to drop two gears and be in Sport.

Keep in mind that d1 is a second-gear start designed for snow. I suspect that the different modes in S also affect throttle response otherwise there wouldn't be much of a difference between modes with the driver in control. You'll want to try sport + S5 or D5 (most agressive settings outside of launch control) but that can be a dicey start with far more wheel-spin, smoke and noise than befitting a soccer mom.

I haven't seen that much difference in fuel consumption between the different modes, but would say that shift bars (Drivelogic) influence mpg more than power settings and S modes produce slightly worse fuel economy than D modes.

[persian54]

Originally Posted by mamadub

Really? I thought you were just supposed to use it at certain times. Does it use more gas??

Sorry but...


MDM is just your traction...it has no influence on more gas...
But....you have a V8...and...gas?

You can drive the car however it is you want to drive it and in any more that you want to drive it at any given time.

[mamadub]

Originally Posted by CBS

A Local BMW CCA Club Chapter is a good idea. You can access them by going to www.bmwcca.org - The local chapter is the Mesa Chapter (Roadrunner). Their primary contact person and web page are on the BMW CCA Website under Chapters.

The M Button controls many different functions. The best thing to do is to access your Supplementary Owner's Manual (for my 2011 it had an Engine on the Cover) and turn to the section that deals with M Drive Adjustments (page 21). Each Setting is explained in detail.

For me and my DCT Transmission M3, I accessed my Settings for Drivelogic, EDC, DSC, Power, Servotronic and Shift Lights. The Settings I chose are in line with how I believe the car is best "set up" for running at the local track. Therefore, when I press my M Button the car goes into Track Mode.

I hope this has been helpful!

Hey CBS, just wanted to let you know I joined the Roadrunner BMW club yesterday. Thank you so much for the suggestion!

[Templar]

You can easily access M Drive features by hitting the voice command button on your steering wheel and saying "M Drive." It will bring the menu up so you can make changes to your settings.

My personal settings:
Steering weight: Sport
DSC mode: MDM
Power: Sport Plus
EDC mode: Normal
Drivelogic: S5
Shift Lights: On

[dakine]

Didn't know about the voice commands for mdrive either. Thanks. Also, on a side note, you can set default settings, such as power button, on startup in a somewhat hard to find location if you have idrive. It's in settings -> m drive. Then move the idrive controller to the right several times -> -> (past the split screen settings). There's little to no indication of another menu past the mdrive (m button) settings.