Remote Engine Start

Start the engine before you get in, from the key or from your phone, and the car brings the cabin to the temperature you left it at. It is BMW’s own Remote Engine Start, option 1CR, and on many cars everything it needs is already fitted. Casto Flasher turns it on.

What it does

Your parked, locked BMW starts its engine and runs the climate control at the settings you left it with. In winter that is heat and clear glass; in summer it is real cooling, which no fuel burning parking heater can offer. Where the car has them, the heated seats and the heated steering wheel come on as well.

After 15 minutes at the latest it all switches itself off. The car stays locked the whole time and never moves.

How you start it

Press the lock button on your key three times, and the engine starts. If your car is connected, the manufacturer’s own phone app shows the same function as "climatise now", and that missing button is usually where owners discover their car does not have it yet.

When you come back you get in and drive off as always. Nothing about your car changes, except that it now does this.

Which cars can take it

• BMWs on the current body electronics: most G series cars from 2018 on and the 1 Series F40, and the 5 Series, 7 Series, X3, X4 and their M models after their facelift
• A petrol engine, manual or automatic gearbox; diesels, plug-in hybrids and electric cars cannot take it
• Every model, with its build years, is on the compatibility list

Limits

• The engine runs while the cabin is conditioned. Do not use it in a closed garage, and check the rules on running a stationary engine where you park.
• It runs for up to 15 minutes per start and then stops on its own. That limit is the manufacturer’s.
• The purchase belongs to this one car and cannot be moved to another later.

What it costs

You pay once, in the app, for one car. The check that tells you whether your own car can take the feature is free and comes first.

How it gets onto your car

It is a coding retrofit: the activation comes through the official channel, and the app installs it on your car while you stand next to it, over the MHD Universal adapter. No part is fitted and no wire is run.

Plan for a few minutes at the car while the app reads it, 3 to 5 minutes online while your files are prepared, and about 10 minutes at the car to install.

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