Power Rear Sunshade 

The power rear sunshade includes an automatically deployable rear sunshade along with manual side sunshades for the rear seats. The rear sunshade is deployed using a button on the driver’s side door. The shade has two positions: fully raised and fully closed. The side sunshades can be operated by passengers in the back seat using a small tab to pull the sunshade as to cover the window and locking it in place by aligning the shades with hooks on the door frame. 

The rear power sunshade has been pretty quiet during use. The deployment and retraction of the device is not noticeable in terms of sound. I have heard other M3 owners complain that the rear sunshade will vibrate and squeak during driving. I personally have not had any problems with the sunshade. It might creak occasionally while raising the shade but I have not had many issues with it so far. The sunshade is nice when you are driving away from the sun and there is glare coming from the rear mirror. By deploying the sunshade, it eliminates most of the glare and I am still able to see out of the rear. My passengers also tend to enjoy the shade in the back. It helps keep the car cooler. It might also be useful to deploy the rear sunshade when parked so the leather doesn’t wear as fast. The sunshade can also be deployed at nighttime to reduce glare from vehicles behind you.

The manual side sunshades provide additional protection from the sun for your passengers in the back. On each door there are two side sunshades. There is one for the main window and another for the smaller secondary window. The passengers in the back tend to enjoy this feature since the back of the M3 isn’t all the comfortable due to the stiffer suspension setup. This nice feature that’s exclusive to the rear passengers is kind of nice. Some gripes about the setup is that the side sunshades are manually operated so if you drop off your passengers and the side shades are still up, you still have to get out of the car and bring them down yourself. I wish it was deployable with a button controlled by the driver and rear passengers. I suspect that BMW did this mainly to save weight on an already heavy vehicle. I have a personal preference for the side shades to be down when I don’t have anyone in the back as they interfere with looking at my blind spot. Sure, I can still see through the shades but it’s still distracting when it’s up and not in use.

​I spent $575 on the rear power sunshade so I don’t think it’s quite excess for the price. I do agree that it is on the steeper side for what you are getting but I do like it. I don’t always use it but when I need it, I have it.