Sheer Fiddling Pleasure: The Setup Menu From BMW M Models Is a Hoot

The entire list of settings shows the Engine, Chassis, Steering, Brakes, M xDrive system, and finally, the M Traction Control.

The first highlighted option you'll notice once you've pressed the SETUP menu button is the Engine. It has three settings, EFFICIENT, SPORT, and SPORT PLUS. You will have also noticed the EFFICIENT mode is on by default, by the color red. Whereas the options that are turned off are colored in standard white.

Now, as a side note, I find it a bit odd that they chose to go with this style of coloring. Because if you were born anywhere after 1920 and have lived in places that have paved roads and motorized carriages, you will have noticed something we today call... traffic lights.

Even the Amish use them, even though they prefer the more environmentally friendly vehicles with one or two horsepower. And as we have been taught since we first laid eyes upon these traffic lights, red means stop, and green means go.

Thus my conundrum regarding BMW's coloring choice raises the question, wouldn't it have been more natural and at the same time more psychologically appropriate to color the off settings with red, and the on settings with green?

Now returning to our daily program, let's continue with the options. The SPORT and SPORT PLUS settings from the Engine Menu don't just give you more horsepower to play with, but they also make the car louder. BMW tweaked it so the car's timbre and sound intensity match that extra oomph.

The Chassis is next, displaying the COMFORT, SPORT, and SPORT PLUS profiles. The first one has been tuned for daily travels to account for eventual uneven road surfaces. They didn't mention if it also covers potholes, but common sense would dictate that you should still avoid them.

Moving on, the SPORT profile stiffens the suspension system and has been tweaked after heavy testing on the Nurburgring Nordschleife. (Try and say that 10 times fast). If you don't like this setting, you can simply blame it on the track. The third SPORT PLUS profile simply optimizes the car as if you were driving on a smooth F1 track. This is where the driver can go all out and see what the car is (figuratively) made out of.

Then, it's on to the Steering submenu. The COMFORT option is all about making the handling for the steering wheel feel like the car was as light as air, or at least as low-fat butter. The SPORT mode requires more force to turn the wheel, while also making you feel everything from under the wheels in the palms of your hands.

The COMFORT option from the Brake menu is meant to make the pedal have that light push feel to it, whereas the SPORT mode makes the brake pedal more trigger-happy, so to speak.

Next up is the M xDrive submenu that lets you choose between the basic 4WD, the 4WD Sport, and 2WD modes. The former is the best of all worlds, so to speak. The second option means business by redirecting more torque from the engine to the rear wheels, while the 2WD mode makes the car RWD only. The 2WD mode also lets you drive exactly how you want, without any attempts to stabilize the car.

The last one is the M Traction Control, which lets the driver set the wheel slip limitation threshold. In other words, you set how much you let the car control your driving, or better said, your drifts.

This is everything you can customize aboard the M models from BMW. As far as the "perfect settings" go, you'll have to figure them out all on your own. And when you do, you can assign two of them to the M1 and M2 profile paddles from the steering wheel.