It truly is bizarre - I've driven a lot of cars lately and this exact BMW shifter took the cake of the most unintutitive and annoying to use by far. (And it's not even the most dumbass UX decision in that BMW by far.)
In comparison, Mazda I drove had much much simpler approach - grab the stick, push it all the way forward for Park, push it all the way back for Drive. That's it. The "unlock" button was under the index finger so you just grabbed it naturally.
(In general, Mazda felt much better thought out inside than VWs, BMWs and MBs I drove.)
I know different people have different expectations for UX but for me that BMW had few of none UX flaws.