X5 has worst air conditioning system of any car I've ever owned

[Violator]

There has to be more to this. I also live in Texas and don’t have any issues with my A/C cooling down the SAV. Mine cools down to my desired temp within 5 minutes after sitting in the sun for 8-12 hours, then Auto 72* for the 1-2 hour commute home.

[burnurass]

Originally Posted by Violator

There has to be more to this. I also live in Texas and don’t have any issues with my A/C cooling down the SAV. Mine cools down to my desired temp within 5 minutes after sitting in the sun for 8-12 hours, then Auto 72* for the 1-2 hour commute home.

I'm willing to bet that their fan speeds are not set correctly to let it have a chance to cool down the car.
I have no issues with mine as well.
Max A/C Cooling works awesome as well to get it comfortable enough to put it into Auto.

[DBV1]

Our 2018 X5 35d air conditioning works great!

[TXSTYLE]

Well.... With so many besides myself complaining, there is certainly some truth.

I will try some of the settings mentioned but I will definitely take her in to get checked out.
As I said, my 750 gets icy cold much quicker!

[unluky]

Here is something else - I am a newer F15 owner myself and something I just had to stumble upon and then when I read up on it, figured it out. It is not very intuitive AT ALL.

In manual mode - these fan buttons run the fan speed as expected and as you would assume. Like 99% of the cars out there.

BUT

When you are in AUTO mode - they control the "intensity" of the AC in AUTO mode. So select AUTO (hit SYNC after AUTO before you do this too) mode and see where the indicator above is at? If it is not all the way to the right (highest) hit the fan up button until it is.

Now when you put the AC in AUTO mode - the system will allow it to blow as hard as possible to cool/heat the interior as fast as possible. When it is all the way down (as mine was when I bought it) when in AUTO it will not let the fan blow past a certain speed to keep the interior quieter.

VERY stupid set up if you ask me and this changed everything with my AC system and I have very few complaints with it now.

When I hear people complaining about the AUTO climate control in these cars - I bet at least 1/2 are due to this. Who would even think to check this?

If you did not know this - I hope it helps! If not maybe it will help another browser later.

[CatalinP]

In AUTO, those buttons you mention control the MAXIMUM fan speed (ventilation speed). In other words, it you set it to max (5), it will adjust the ventilation between MIN and MAX as needed to maintain the set temperature.
However, if you set it to middle (3), it will only adjust ventilation between MIN and stage 3 (of 5).

It's worth reading the owner's manual...

[unluky]

Originally Posted by CatalinP

In AUTO, those buttons you mention control the MAXIMUM fan speed (ventilation speed). In other words, it you set it to max (5), it will adjust the ventilation between MIN and MAX as needed to maintain the set temperature.
However, if you set it to middle (3), it will only adjust ventilation between MIN and stage 3 (of 5).

It's worth reading the owner's manual...

Correct. I read the manual when I bought it and when I found the climate control less that stellar, but I somehow glazed past that part without understanding what it meant. I then had to read something that triggered me to go back and reread it with the right train of thought and the light bulb went on. It is just kind of written in there among everything else where I believe it should be called out separately and specifically since it is a HUGE part of the system working to expectation. Very easy to miss or not understand. I have told many owners about this feature that had no idea it was there like myself.

I don't know of another brand that uses this type of set up, so you don't even thing to look for it. Or at least I did not.

[Violator]

Speaking of poor heating, ventilation, and air conditioning/HVAC design. I have a 2019 X7 loaner while my X5 is being serviced and the X7 has 3rd-row w/rear A/C. It is designed to only function when the rear seats are fully open, and head-rest engaged. The X7 is a massive vehicle with a large cabin space to cool down and maintain a steady temp. I can’t imagine why they designed it to be disabled while the seat (and or headrest) is stowed. The rear space is a large area to lack ventilation and some cargo requires it to be cooler back there, like groceries and pets.
We took it for a road trip this past weekend and the poor pups were pretty warm in the cargo area, even though the rest of the cabin was nice and cool.
So I keep the 3rd-row seats up while I am the only person in the SAV so the rear A/C is enabled. Pathetic. (IMO)

[skoold2003]

Originally Posted by Violator

Speaking of poor heating, ventilation, and air conditioning/HVAC design. I have a 2019 X7 loaner while my X5 is being serviced and the X7 has 3rd-row w/rear A/C. It is designed to only function when the rear seats are fully open, and head-rest engaged. The X7 is a massive vehicle with a large cabin space to cool down and maintain a steady temp. I can’t imagine why they designed it to be disabled while the seat (and or headrest) is stowed. The rear space is a large area to lack ventilation and some cargo requires it to be cooler back there, like groceries and pets.
We took it for a road trip this past weekend and the poor pups were pretty warm in the cargo area, even though the rest of the cabin was nice and cool.
So I keep the 3rd-row seats up while I am the only person in the SAV so the rear A/C is enabled. Pathetic. (IMO)

Yup, at the prices we pay for these things there should be nothing that underwhelms us! I guess it just doesn't get that hot in Germany..

[TXSTYLE]

Originally Posted by Violator

Speaking of poor heating, ventilation, and air conditioning/HVAC design. I have a 2019 X7 loaner while my X5 is being serviced and the X7 has 3rd-row w/rear A/C. It is designed to only function when the rear seats are fully open, and head-rest engaged. The X7 is a massive vehicle with a large cabin space to cool down and maintain a steady temp. I can’t imagine why they designed it to be disabled while the seat (and or headrest) is stowed. The rear space is a large area to lack ventilation and some cargo requires it to be cooler back there, like groceries and pets.
We took it for a road trip this past weekend and the poor pups were pretty warm in the cargo area, even though the rest of the cabin was nice and cool.
So I keep the 3rd-row seats up while I am the only person in the SAV so the rear A/C is enabled. Pathetic. (IMO)

Wow.... That's a pretty shitty design flaw. This essentially admits they are not designing the A/C system correctly to cool down large interior space. The quicker the entire vehicle can be cooled or warmed, the more comfortable occupants will be.

[TXSTYLE]

Originally Posted by skoold2003

Yup, at the prices we pay for these things there should be nothing that underwhelms us! I guess it just doesn't get that hot in Germany..

It doesn't. But the fact that they know they rely on big sales volume from the US, they should design their systems accordingly.

[Carpe_BM]

My AC is shit too. I had it at 60 MAX AC and barely cooled anything down. The vents are either not allowing air to come through or something. I had an appt to show it this weekend so ill be highlighting this thread as evidence...

[TXSTYLE]

Yes. There are a few things you can do to help. But for a vehicle in this luxury, class and price, it should Freeze your ass on medium setting!

[8202632]

So for those of you in hot climates that say your ac freezes you out, do u have the 4 zone and if so is it on or off???

My ac experiences the same symptoms as most of not cooling well at all until you disable the rear. Upon disabling the rear, system runs great.

Design flaw or something else going on? My car has no fault codes.

[TXSTYLE]

Originally Posted by 8202632

So for those of you in hot climates that say your ac freezes you out, do u have the 4 zone and if so is it on or off???

My ac experiences the same symptoms as most of not cooling well at all until you disable the rear. Upon disabling the rear, system runs great.

Design flaw or something else going on? My car has no fault codes.

Nope! Welcome to the No Cold Club. My dealership could not find anything wrong. It is a design flaw.

[MPizza]

is there a way to code out the rear climate option so it doesn't turn on when sync is pressed?

[Ex_Stig]

I dumped my X5 about 18 months ago because of how bad the AC was. But, last week or so I was on a CCA drive and another member said that once they changed the cabin filter (behind the glove box?) that air started flowing a lot better.

Not sure if that actually works, but I wanted to pass it on to everyone just in case.

[ponytuning]

Originally Posted by GNALUZU

I dumped my X5 about 18 months ago because of how bad the AC was. But, last week or so I was on a CCA drive and another member said that once they changed the cabin filter (behind the glove box?) that air started flowing a lot better.

Not sure if that actually works, but I wanted to pass it on to everyone just in case.

I changed the cabin air filter last week, no change in AC behavior, it's still weak until I crank it up close to max, but I can live with it.

[turboawd]

I had posted in another thread how my ac wasn't cooling good. Hooked up a set of gauges to see high and low pressure. Both were a bit low. Added just a little bit of freon and it made a drastic difference. Mine is a 2014 with 120k,so some freon loss is expected.

[chong0]

couldn't agree more...

the F15 system is terrible. Compared to an F10 M5, 958 cayenne and GY0 cayenne, the F15 is a distant last place from day 1.

the X7 story sounds like they didn't upsize for the increased interior space...

[TXSTYLE]

Originally Posted by ponytuning

I changed the cabin air filter last week, no change in AC behavior, it's still weak until I crank it up close to max, but I can live with it.

How simple or difficult is it to access and change this?
When does BMW recommended changing it?

[turboawd]

Originally Posted by TXSTYLE

How simple or difficult is it to access and change this?
When does BMW recommended changing it?

Remove panel below glove box. Then pop out filter. Takes a minute.