[LJKelley]

I always have a soda with me and having had both a 128i with and without the iDrive, i say the iDrive is a must.

#1 The Built in Navigation is great. I have used TomTom, and Navigon (iPhone) and my Mother in law has a Garmin. I would say overall it does compare well. It does not say street names, but it does give you more warning when to turn. For example, it will say prepare to turn left (cue to be in left lane) then it will say turn left in 800 feet, then turn left. Most GPS systems only give the last two directions. Remember that you can select alternate routes and that is had 3 modes (lowest mileage, quickest, and econmical) in which to determine routes. And if you are gonna compare to say a $100 TomTom, my BMW will find a route to Florida in less than a min here from NY, where as my friend's TomTom took about 3 mins. Also, as with all Navigation units: You do not NEED to follow the advice, if you know KNOW better than do what you want and it will recalculate and if you do a certain route often enough it will learn you like that route.

#2 Music control is so much better. If you use a USD Flash Drive or an iPod you waste so much time with the regular head unit.

#3 Settings are easier.

#4 Find car maintenance information at a glance.