iDrive or no iDrive?

[gordongekko]

Originally Posted by mattryan

LOL i don't think it's a matter of whether i know how to park or not but i live in downtown toronto and parallel parking on the street the majority of the time is a PIA

Yea, I was j/k of course. I could see it being useful in an urban setting, where you are doing a lot of parallel parking.

[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.

[mattryan]

Originally Posted by gordongekko

Yea, I was j/k of course. I could see it being useful in an urban setting, where you are doing a lot of parallel parking.

haha i figured! plus i'm planning to tint my windows pretty dark probably 15% (same as before) so it will make parking at night less of a guessing game

[pinmagic]

Originally Posted by mattryan

honestly and hate me if you want to but i think if your spending this kinda money on a car garmin or tom tom stuck to the front windshield just looks plain ghetto lol.

I don't actually keep one in my car, but if I ever need to get somewhere - and be SURE I'm getting there, I'll bring along my old Garmin, cause the BMW system is the pits.

[pinmagic]

Originally Posted by LJKelley

Remember that you can select alternate routes and that is had 3 modes (lowest mileage, quickest, and econmical) in which to determine routes.

Oh, don't even get me STARTED on that "most efficient route" choice! When I did ED, I didn't realize it was set to that. A 2.5 hour trip turned into a 3.5 hour trip, through every single podunk 1-light town between Hamburg and Bremerhaven. Apparently, the autobahn isn't "efficient" enough for this car. I can't imagine what standard it uses to determine "most efficient", but I strongly suggest you not try it, unless you're in no hurry, and you want to take the scenic route.

[ennislaw]

I didn't order iDrive for the simple reason it's another BMW electronic to go buggy. Also, not a single auto mag I've ever read actually recommends the iDrive (even though the latest iteration is better previous ones). Not to mention, the price of iDrive option buys a lot of maps. Yeah, and I got the MT and manual seats, too.

pge

[Tom K.]

iDrive is definitely worth it as is PDC (although it's only $350 in the US), especially for parallel parking or backing into garage spaces.

And the iDrive cupholder is the same one that's standard in the 6 series - it works quite well. I find the cupholder under the armrest useful for change or candy, but not for drinks - unless you keep the armrest in the unusable up position.

Tom

[BMW86]

Originally Posted by ennislaw

I didn't order iDrive for the simple reason it's another BMW electronic to go buggy. Also, not a single auto mag I've ever read actually recommends the iDrive (even though the latest iteration is better previous ones). Not to mention, the price of iDrive option buys a lot of maps. Yeah, and I got the MT and manual seats, too.

pge

The old idrive and new idrive cannot be compared to each other, it's day and night. Idrive integrates the entire car and because the new system is so practical everything just works. I'm happy with what it does, it's basically an onboard computer. The old idrive was so bad it killed the entire driving experience, I didn't like using it at all because it was such a poor design.

[Wakka]

my friend has it in his 335is... its pretty damn sweet. My car doesnt have it so i dont know if its different for the 335is or not.

[KingOfJericho]

Originally Posted by ennislaw

I didn't order iDrive for the simple reason it's another BMW electronic to go buggy. Also, not a single auto mag I've ever read actually recommends the iDrive (even though the latest iteration is better previous ones). Not to mention, the price of iDrive option buys a lot of maps. Yeah, and I got the MT and manual seats, too.

pge

Pretty amazing that people who drive the car on a daily basis highly recommend it, pretty much unanimously, but reporters who drive it for one day or less do not. Reminds me of someone who has used a PC for a decade then tries a Mac for 20 minutes and trashes it. I have also read of VERY few issues (if any) with the idrive bugging out. With all of the HPFP issues on this car, the thing that worried you before purchase was the idrive? It's almost 2011, time to graduate from the paper maps.

[mattryan]

now for those of you with iDrive did you get PDC too?

[KingOfJericho]

I did not because I ordered a light color and didn't like the way the sensors looked on the bumper but if I had a black car I would probably have checked it off on the order sheet. The only options I regret not getting are the comfort access and the alarm. The alarm only because the car doesn't chirp when you lock it and I frequently forget if I locked it or not - the alarm beeps upon locking. I really wish we could enable some type of a chirp.

[mattryan]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

I did not because I ordered a light color and didn't like the way the sensors looked on the bumper but if I had a black car I would probably have checked it off on the order sheet. The only options I regret not getting are the comfort access and the alarm. The alarm only because the car doesn't chirp when you lock it and I frequently forget if I locked it or not - the alarm beeps upon locking. I really wish we could enable some type of a chirp.

i think i'm going to get them just b/c i park dt alot of the street so it would make parallel parking alot easier... but when you say noticeable how noticeable is it? i hated the chirp from my old car so i'm glad my new one doesn't have one

[KingOfJericho]

Link to pics

You're basically saying you need the PDC so just order it. It's a no brainer for your situation.

[abirmaher]

i drive!!!!

[FJUNO78]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

Pretty amazing that people who drive the car on a daily basis highly recommend it, pretty much unanimously, but reporters who drive it for one day or less do not. Reminds me of someone who has used a PC for a decade then tries a Mac for 20 minutes and trashes it. I have also read of VERY few issues (if any) with the idrive bugging out. With all of the HPFP issues on this car, the thing that worried you before purchase was the idrive? It's almost 2011, time to graduate from the paper maps.

I really don't find it amazing. To me it's obvious that people who use their car everyday, have different needs compared to the guy who drives a car for fun.

A heavy user of any product is going to want more choices and customization than an occasional user.

[sparoz]

Originally Posted by mattryan

now for those of you with iDrive did you get PDC too?

Originally Posted by mattryan

i think i'm going to get them just b/c i park dt alot of the street so it would make parallel parking alot easier... but when you say noticeable how noticeable is it? i hated the chirp from my old car so i'm glad my new one doesn't have one

Have PDC as well - I am wishing the 1M have the fronts as well as it is always a pain to judge how close the front is when parellel park. Put it this well, it's nice to have all the options, but it's something you don't need to have.

[KingOfJericho]

Originally Posted by FJUNO78

I really don't find it amazing. To me it's obvious that people who use their car everyday, have different needs compared to the guy who drives a car for fun.

A heavy user of any product is going to want more choices and customization than an occasional user.

I can agree with that as my Exige had literally nothing but was a blast to drive once a week but this is an entirely different type of vehicle. This is a car that the vast majority of the time will be daily driven and the added features make the car a triple threat. My favorite feature aside from the acceleration is certainly the idrive.

[JBW]

I regret not getting it. But, all things considered I'm happy having my Garmin Nuvi 3790T. It's a nice little unit.