'09 iDrive observations - improvement needed

[instantexpert]

I've had my new car for a few days now and I've got a few observations. First off, the new iDrive is a *huge* improvement. The responsiveness has been dramatically improved. However, there is still room for improvement. I'm going to list my complaints in the hopes that people will be able to help me learn to live with them...

• The iDrive system is more responsive and better organized *but* it still seems to be more complicated than it should be for many operations. For example, I think the nav should have the split screen setup with an optimal setup from the factory. I like the customizability of it but the user shouldn't have to find the most common good use of split screen.
• Importing music from a USB stick took me *way* too long to figure out and I still haven't imported everything because the import stops when I stop my car and an hour is not enough to import 10GB off of my USB stick.
• I have yet to figure out how to shuffle music from my iPod. I'm sure it is there, I just haven't found it yet.
• The white line on gray background without showing street names makes the navigation harder to follow than my much smaller Garmin unit. (Exit ramp mode and arrow display help on this but, still)
• Perspective w/3D mode is in the manual but not, apparently, on my car.
• Bluetooh pulls in my contacts but only phone numbers. It makes no sense to me that I can't use the addresses in my phone to navigate to.
• The Chevy Cobalt I rented the other day showed me tire pressure, why can iDrive only show me representations of green tires?
• Entering destinations can be a pain. If I enter ABC street, sometimes it will display multiple versions of that street with a zip code behind each one (in the same city, Chicago is big). I then have to go to each one and find out if my address range is in that zip code and, if not, go back and re-enter the complete street name again. This is *really* annoying.
• Sometimes my iDrive controller (this may be a fault in my car) double presses numbers. For example if I'm entering 2505 as an address, sometimes I will press 2...5 and the screen will give me 2550 and then I have to back up and re-enter 2505.
• Another car fault? - I had the encoder (rotating bit) fail to work for about five minutes the other day.
• I wish they'd left the radio display in the dash so that I wouldn't have to use iDrive to switch away from the nav when tuning radio stations.

I'm extremely happy with this car and, overall, I'm glad I ordered iDrive but I didn't expect to have this many complaints right off the bat. What are everyone else's impressions?

[123D-M]

3D is an option that you need to activate. From memory, when you are in the Navigation module, press the options button and I think there is a checkbox. But don't quote me on that as I don't have my car here to verify.

My 09 iDrive has completely shat itself and the car has been at the dealer for a week replacing the computer. So probably not the best person to ask about overall impressions...

[morgie2]

No complaints here. It's my first "Nav. system" in any car, so maybe I'm not the best judge. I love it so far. All this technology, and I get to drive it too!!! I do think you point out some nice things BMW could improve on, however.

[morgie2]

Originally Posted by 123D-M

3D is an option that you need to activate. From memory, when you are in the Navigation module, press the options button and I think there is a checkbox. But don't quote me on that as I don't have my car here to verify.

My 09 iDrive has completely shat itself and the car has been at the dealer for a week replacing the computer. So probably not the best person to ask about overall impressions...

What happened?

[EspressoBoy]

I have 08 nav. Glad to hear the grass is not always greener. It also sounds like the 09 is not that much better. At least you probably do not have to wait for the dvd to load and figure out directions. I have to wait like 60 seconds for it to calculate. You have the hard drive.

I hear people can watch DVD's when the car is not moving. Have you tried that?

The 08 can't use addresses from contacts either.

This post is a work in progress, I removed the stuff about the HD. This is not the place for that.

The system is calledthe CIC (Car Infotainment Computer) and here is a full review of it. No point in me saying much. If anyone wants to compare to flip up 08, I have it.

http://stage.bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3284

EspressoBoy

[enzo65]

I agree the nav is a major improvement and of course there are things that still need work. I haven't seen a system yet that is perfect. I only spent a week and a half with my '09 iDrive when I did European Delivery but here is what I know regarding your comments.

• Haven't tried importing yet so don't know.
• If you have the Aux audio input screen up hit the Options button and you should be able to check the box for Random that will shuffle your iPod songs.
• Don't recall any problem with the white line on gray background.
• If navigation screen is up on screen, hit Options button, select settings, and you should see a box to check for 3D for Perspective view. (sequence from memory but its in there for sure)
• Didn't have problems entering European addresses but haven't tried with US yet.
• Never had problem double selecting numbers.
• No faults.
• I used the steering wheel button or dash button to change radio stations and the station name was still displayed on the nav map. These buttons cycled through all the stations it could receive. I do wish though that the song information was displayed somewhere.

[123D-M]

Originally Posted by morgie2

What happened?

Was working perfectly initially. Then it crashed once. After that the bluetooth and voice control stopped working completely. Everything else was still fine. Then it crashed a couple more times.

Anyway, I eventually was able to leave the car at the dealer. They are having heaps of trouble fixing it. AG have now advised them to replace the entire iDrive computer. Not happy.

[instantexpert]

Doh! I didn't see the electronics forum.

[instantexpert]

Originally Posted by EspressoBoy

I hear people can watch DVD's when the car is not moving. Have you tried that?


EspressoBoy

Nope, I'll try it this evening.

[instantexpert]

The '09 iDrive does, indeed, play DVDs while the parking is engaged here in the US. Disengaging the parking brake cuts out the video but audio continues.

[pavelitto]

123D-M Don't worry
These things happen to new systems,
I remember my dad's 2004 5 series with the new version of I-drive and pro nav and it also crashed after a month or maybe more, they replaced the thing and no problems ever after till the car got sold. These are the early age problems with new technology and we somewhat risk a little by getting the very first models...

[instantexpert]

Originally Posted by 123D-M

3D is an option that you need to activate. From memory, when you are in the Navigation module, press the options button and I think there is a checkbox. But don't quote me on that as I don't have my car here to verify.

My 09 iDrive has completely shat itself and the car has been at the dealer for a week replacing the computer. So probably not the best person to ask about overall impressions...

Found it. I haven't actually understood the effects as I didn't see any buildings pop up out of the map here in Chicago. I'll have to play with it more.

As for the failed iDrive, that really sucks.

[123D-M]

Update: I have my car back with a new computer. No issues so far and all seems to be working including the bluetooth and voice control.

Fingers crossed that it doesn't happen again!

[white 125M]

Guys,

with the the 09 i-drive, I have seen some photo's courtesy of 123D-M but what I'd like to know is whether the nav map is only in the small 1/3 of screen, or can it also use the larger 2/3 of the screen or even the whole screen?

Phil

[123D-M]

if you have pro nav you can choose any configuration you like. Options are:

Split screen off: map fills the whole screen (or radio or whatever you are on)
Split screen on: Can have the map on the left and then something else on the right. When I am using nav I have the map on the left and the arrows on the right. If I'm free-navigating I keep the map on the left but then have entertainment details or trip computer on the right.

Can of course swap it around if you want, map on the right, arrows on the left. Pretty much infinite combinations.

And I programmed the various split screen views into my shortcut buttons so I can switch them quickly.

[white 125M]

Many thanks 123D-M. It's good to know as I've ordered my car to have the new iDrive but as we've haven't yet seen it here yet it's kinda hard to know just how good it is in the flesh. I've seen your photo's in another post and from these, it looks much better - bugger about the software bugs in your system though but I'm sure they'll sort it out.

Cheers,

Phil

[123D-M]

It seems to be all sorted. Had the car back for a few days now and it's all reprogrammed.