Ben said:
WELCOME!!! sweet car!!! ok, that little blinking light is the anti theft light for the radio, and it does basically nothing. try pushing any button on the radio when the key is out of the ignition. you'll see what happens.
AFAIK, the blinking led is designed to let a potential thief know that the radio has an anti-theft feature, which is not an alarm but rather a code that needs to be entered for the radio to work if it is ever disconnected from the battery.
BTW, the feature you (pink floyd fan newbie ) describe as "a nifty thing that tells me when stuffs goin wrong" is known as the check-control system.
If you want to get to know your car, buy a repair manual (Bentley is best, Chilton okay) and consider purchasing a copy of the 3-series Enthusiast's Companion, about $30 from your local Barnes & Noble or equivalent.
Lest I forget, welcome to the community. If you are serious about being a Bimmerphile, join the BMW Car Club of America, at
www.bmwcca.org .
And while I'm lecturing like I was your father (LOL), get that car to a driver's school and learn a thing or two about high performance driving. Don't waste your time battling your local ricers, as hard as that is going to be at your age.