Am I the only one who cares about steering wheel?

[buddenfan]

My 2021 x6m has a steering wheel that I cant stand. Its in the 8 series, the x5 etc. I noticed the Bmw XM also had this ugly steering wheel. However the new 760i and i7 have a gorgeous new sporty steering wheel and I for the life of me cant figure out why they didnt out this wheel into the XM. Every M model should have it

[nerdogray]

Looks like it's just cut off at the bottom to accommodate those trips to Wendy's for a Dave's Triple, large cheese fries, and a Diet Coke. If you can fit and drive comfortably with a regular, round steering wheel, pat yourself on the back for bucking current health trends.

[DavesZupra4]

Originally Posted by nerdogray

Looks like it's just cut off at the bottom to accommodate those trips to Wendy's for a Dave's Triple, large cheese fries, and a Diet Coke. If you can fit and drive comfortably with a regular, round steering wheel, pat yourself on the back for bucking current health trends.

Lmao. It does look a little bit sportier. But at the expense of losing so many easy shortcut buttons and the functionality of I drive 7 and all its BUTTONS that should always be there like for the AC, shortcut buttons, and media buttons etc.

Also the 7 series always introduces new tech ans trim..so highly likely the next car with this steering wheel is the 5 series, then the then the X cars and so on and so forth

[Llarry]

Yeah, I see what you mean. If the "metal" part were black plastic or fake leather, it would be more attractive. OTOH, I love the functionality.

[Patton250]

Originally Posted by nerdogray

Looks like it's just cut off at the bottom to accommodate those trips to Wendy's for a Dave's Triple, large cheese fries, and a Diet Coke. If you can fit and drive comfortably with a regular, round steering wheel, pat yourself on the back for bucking current health trends.

So you’re saying he likes the look of the other one better because he’s fat? That’s what you’re going with?

OP I definitely like the look of the flat bottom steering wheels. I don’t know why they just look more sporty in my opinion. My last Mercedes-Benz had that. I missed it when I had my 911 turbo S and I’m going to miss it when I get my F 90 in the next couple months.

[86Zed]

The flat bottom is nice, however not a fan of the change in the buttons. I did narrow my specific search for an X3 M40i to get the updated sport steering wheel, I could not stand the regular one and did not want to start my ownership with a $1000+ retrofit.

[smrtypants44]

New steering wheel has capacitive buttons which is a huge downgrade in functionality imho

[Tejas1836]

Originally Posted by smrtypants44

New steering wheel has capacitive buttons which is a huge downgrade in functionality imho

Sucks without haptic

[heavyD^2]

I had no issues with the regular M-steering wheel although it's a tad too thick for my tastes. I've had cars with the flat bottom steering wheel and it's fine as well and you can argue the bottom angles give you an indication of wheel position when turning but it's more for looks and large people that need extra clearance. I'm not a fan of the C8 steering wheel as I feel the top of the wheel should always remain round.

[wtwo3]

OP what's your issues with the current steering wheel? Is it the aluminum trim? Or something else? You're referencing the more angular design of the G70, is it that you just don't like circular steering wheels?

I don't have any issues with current steering wheel - I think it's made from high quality material and generally looks nice. If you don't like the aluminum trim you can always cover that up or option the car with carbon fiber trim (assuming that's an option on the model) as seen in the G8X:

[G30M]

don't care about shape, it's too thick, too heavy to turn

[Burrcold]

That new one looks very nice. Don't care for capacitive buttons, but the wheel and airbag cover look like an improvement.

[BeEmVe]

The idea of having a few easy to see, frequently used controls on the steering wheel was to improve safety. Having 10-12 controls defeats that goal.

[tturedraider]

Do not like flat bottomed steering wheels. Stupid. Form over function. Of course, form over function is pretty much BMW’s game these days.

[JTNHx]

I’m with ya - Always liked the flat bottom wheels and the standard seems pretty basic for options.

[Tejas1836]

The steering wheels are fat, I've seen more than one complaint

[fmzip]

I like the beefier steering wheels. Unless you have Trump hands, the wheels perfect IMHO

[stein_325i]

I think they could slim down on the new wheels actually, they are very chunky to hold.

[M4_ZMT]

I think it is really weird as well that the XM is getting this wheel, lol. I like the wheel- but this car is supposed to be the newest/best and it has IMO a last-gen steering wheel. As a matter of fact, it does seem the interior was finalized maybe much before the exterior design as it does seem more similar to G80 etc. than the new 7 or even X1. They have been wanting to do this "faux worn" patina look for quite a while now, look up images of the prototype first generation 4 Series and it had the same brown patina look, so they finally had a weird enough car to actually do it in and the person pushing for it must have gotten it finalized before anything else.

That being said, it is great to hold, and def do prefer the physical buttons!

[BMWGirlFL]

[No one]

Originally Posted by BMWGirlFL

Attachment 3078474

Heated steering wheel should be a must have in South Florida. And heated seats too: if you're not hot enough - no worries!

[Patton250]

Originally Posted by No one

Heated steering wheel should be a must have in South Florida. And heated seats too: if you're not hot enough - no worries!

I live in Florida and I’ll never go without heated seats again.