Rear Seat Armrest...

[iconoclast]

The F15 50i MS I owned had cup holder and storage bin. The X5M I own now does not. Why do some have a storage bin for the rear passengers and others do not?

[mswaz]

It does it comes out the end of the arm rest

[iconoclast]

My apologies for not being clear... I meant that the storage bin only is not found. The cup holder is there but there is no bin. This was extremely convenient for wipes, storing the RSE remote, chargers, cables etc.

[Montesquieu1748]

I had this same question. The X6 M has the extra storage compartment but the X5 M does not. Weird.

[Montesquieu1748]

At 27:53 into this video it shows the center armrest on a 2015 X6 M. With the extra storage compartment.

[Montesquieu1748]

Same video review but for X5 M. At 24:38 is the rear center armrest for the X5 M, which is different than the X6 M???

[iconoclast]

Going to wager this will cost more to retrofit than it's worth having but if anyone has done this please let me know how labor intensive it was to swap the arm rests. Thanks.

[VGM6]

Wow its kind of sad i dont think ive ever noticed the extra storage. I should go take a look haha

[iconoclast]

it is handy for children because if they are in a booster they cannot reach the cup holder or door panel cubby. also the remote for the RSE fits in there perfectly.

[Arturo_spain]

Hi

I think it has to do with option RSE as place to stow away the remote control

My X6M MY2016 has RSE & the armrest with cupholder & storage compartment

Regards

[iconoclast]

I have all of the above and do not have the storage been. My previous vehicle which was an F15 M-Sport did not have the RSE but had the storage bin. This is the odd thing about the situation. Seems the vehicles which should have it do not. Same with the grocery hook situation in the trunk. Some have a hook on the left, some on the right and some have both. No clear answer on why.

[Alberta]

Probably depends of the humor of the guy who assembled the car

[Montesquieu1748]

Seriously. It is a difference between the X5 M and X6 M. That simple. Check out the video. I have not seen a 2015-2018 X5 M with the extra storage, but the X6 M does have it. The rear seats are slightly different in the X6 M, so perhaps there is a difference in the size of the armrest. Pick up my X5 M tomorrow morning here Central European Time (CET).

[iconoclast]

The F15 is same dimensions and same rear seat configuration as F85. The rear arm rest has the storage cubby.

[aas5]

I don't have the storage compartment in my 2017 x6m

[Montesquieu1748]

Interesting. The videos I posted above were 2015 model year X5 M and X6 M. Maybe they trended away in 2016 or 2017. Why make two different rear armrests?

My only thought is that there are minor differences in the rear seats between the X5 M and X6 M.

I do not have a storage compartment in my rear center armrest for my 2018 X5 M.

[Alberta]

I have a 15' X5M with the Rear Entertainment System , and have no storage on the arm rest ; only the cup holders.

[iconoclast]

Very peculiar... This and the grocery bag hook situation makes me wonder what options or changes effect these features.

[Montesquieu1748]

Now all we need is to hear from an owner of a 2016 X6 M. We already know the compartment existed in the 2015 X6 M, and we know that it does not exist in the 2017 X6 M.

Sometimes the manufacturers run out of supplies, or the contracts end with certain suppliers. I recently read that BMW ended their relationship with a certain seat manufacturer.

Not sure why, but it seems they have phased out the rear armrest with storage.

[iconoclast]

As I mentioned earlier... I had a 2016 X5 M-Sport 50i and the rear seat center armrest had the cubby. I really do not know why there is such a great deal of variance for a storage bin but the parts were available similar vehicles.

[aas5]

Hey guys, I went to check this over the weekend and to my surprise saw that I do have the compartment in my 2017 x6M. I could swear I never noticed it before.

[iconoclast]

So it appears that every vehicle except the X5M gets the storage bin. Odd.