[ALScott]

For those who may be lamenting the deletion of the above I thought I would share my thoughts and experience with the above on the X5 and other vehicles.

I was dead set that cooled seats were a must for this order. It's my wife's car but I will be in it a lot. Even more than I originally thought after test drives. The x5 is awesome. I am in AL and it is hot and humid as hell here June to October so I thought this was a must. Our friends have an X5 and when I have been in it I was not blown away (pun intended) by the cooled seats. Maybe a bit better than none at all but I had to concentrate on whether or not it made a difference. I was in a friend's brand new AMG GLE 53 yesterday and even its cooled seats were just OK. I had a 2015 F150 and 2017 F250 and those cooled seats were awesome which is why I thought they were a must for this new X5. They were far and away much cooler than the X5 or the AMG. You really felt and noticed the cool air. I have read on here that the X5 "pulls" air rather than pushes/blows and that may be the issue. We also went with Ivory seats which I think will make the simplest and biggest difference based on our test drive. Long story short, for those of you fretting over this deletion I don't think it should be a deal killer. As far as massaging goes it only came into play for me on very, very long drives (400-500 miles) in my F250 and even then I would forget to use it. Plus the massaging on it was way more palpable than the X5. The overall comfort of the seat was way more important and the multi contour seat completely takes care of that on its own.

Also, remote start has the most impact on cooling by far.

[Wild Blue]

As this comes up often, I'll point out that BMW produces "ventilated" seats, not "cooled" seats. For those that feel they're underpowered, the fan speed can be increased with coding.

[E91toG05]

For what it is worth, I agree. I recently took delivery of a 45e in Orlando with the luxury seating package. Even on the highest setting, the seat ventilation is of questionable value. There seems to be more noise than actual ventilation.

[2Slow.]

Originally Posted by Wild Blue

As this comes up often, I'll point out that BMW produces "ventilated" seats, not "cooled" seats. For those that feel they're underpowered, the fan speed can be increased with coding.

Bimmercode?
Got link on how to do?

[wufpak]

The one thing to keep in mind that Merino seats aren't perforated if they don't have ventilation. I've realized that perforation is more of a necessity than ventilation with leather seats for me. Either way, the ventilated seats do work, just not super strong like my IS350 was.

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by 2Slow.

Bimmercode?
Got link on how to do?

r33_RGSport coded the ventilated seat fan speed increase for me with E-SYS. He can also code for you remotely. I'm not aware if that feature is available in Bimmercode.

[doyall]

Agree with OP ... Ford's ventilated seats on the F-Series is top-notch while on the X5 it is only marginally acceptable.

May have to look into E-SYS coding. Wonder if a dealer is willing to do this?

[nZtiZia]

why code fan speed above and beyond? are default levels not enough?

[eelnoraa]

Originally Posted by E91toG05

…. There seems to be more noise than actual ventilation.

Same impression here. The “hum” noise vs effect isn’t aligned.

[doyall]

Originally Posted by nZtiZia

why code fan speed above and beyond? are default levels not enough?

If you haven't been in a vehicle with good ventilated seats, find one and try it out. You will understand.

Yes, the BMW seats are plenty loud for what they do. Thinking about it, not sure any louder would be worth it.

[techie_1412]

Originally Posted by doyall

If you haven't been in a vehicle with good ventilated seats, find one and try it out. You will understand.

Yes, the BMW seats are plenty loud for what they do. Thinking about it, not sure any louder would be worth it.

I remember my brother's IS250 had super nice ventilated seats. When he switched to BMWX5 the difference was VERY noticeable.
Frankly the BMW's cooling system itself is very under powered. That plus Texas heat was overwhelming on some days.

[nZtiZia]

Originally Posted by doyall

If you haven't been in a vehicle with good ventilated seats, find one and try it out. You will understand.

Yes, the BMW seats are plenty loud for what they do. Thinking about it, not sure any louder would be worth it.

i ask because I have experienced both sides of the coin. BMW seats ventilate by sucking in the warm air radiating from one's body surfaces, rather than cool those surfaces by pushing AC air out through the seat perforations. for myself knowing the difference, i prefer the latter (as do most folks here on numerous threads on this subject), but I find the BMW ventilated seats do an adequate job at their job description at default fan speeds, thus don't understand the need to code differently.

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by nZtiZia

i ask because I have experienced both sides of the coin. BMW seats ventilate by sucking in the warm air radiating from one's body surfaces, rather than cool those surfaces by pushing AC air out through the seat perforations. for myself knowing the difference, i prefer the latter (as do most folks here on numerous threads on this subject), but I find the BMW ventilated seats do an adequate job at their job description at default fan speeds, thus don't understand the need to code differently.

You hit the nail on the head. Many, perhaps most, people do not understand how BMW's seats work and what they are supposed to do. I have never experienced AC seat but understand many folks like them.

I always have mine set on speed 2 (3 is too noisy) and it does a great job of evaporating any sweat and keeping your back/butt dry and cooler. My wife just started using them on our recent road trip and said she can't believe she hadn't tried them before. She said they make a big difference in keeping her cooler.