[Neon01]

I love the new ('09+) nav system. It rarely gets me from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible (Google is much better), but it's great for what it is. Probably the best feature about it is just being able to glance up and take a look at the local road system if you're in unfamiliar territory. I use this all the time during spirited back roads drives within an hour of my house. The roads here in northern MD and southern PA can get a little convoluted - which is great for the kind of driving I'm trying to do, but it means that a map that travels with me is pretty much indispensable. Also, it's great for giving me a decent idea of what "fun" roads are coming up if I'm just aimlessly driving.

I didn't realize how much I depended on this until I started doing the same drives when I got my S2k. I really did feel "lost". Not REALLY lost, of course, as I can always pull out my iphone and use it to get home, but that's not very user friendly in a car.

I guess the Garmin units - I used to have one 5-6 years ago - will do the job, and are probably a lot cheaper, but they feel cheap to me, and the new system has a great high res aesthetic that ties into the car nicely. Plus, I don't have to worry about pulling the built-in nav off the windshield and putting it away to guard against thieves when I park someplace public. Also, as maligned as the iDrive system is, I LOVE the fact that it's not a touchscreen. As a result, the screen doesn't get all smudged from finger oils, and it is partially shadowed and protected from the sun, since it doesn't have to be front and center to be accessible. Not to mention it's much safer and easier (right at your fingertips where your hand rests) to use the little wheel than to have to lean over and use a touchscreen. My wife's Sienna has the touchscreen built in, and I hate it with a passion.

One other thing I like about the nav, even if I'm not traveling far - like into Baltimore or DC - is the "take me home" functionality. I can get on the road in a hurry to beat rush hour traffic when I'm leaving a business meeting and just use the nav to get me back on the highway very quickly. Again, Garmins would do this too, but the OEM nav is much faster than having to reinstall the garmin on my dash and turn it on, wait for it to power up, acquire signal, then tell it to go home. My garmin (again, an older one) was extremely slow, maybe they're better now.

And that's just the actual nav benefits. There are many others that I really like -
1. Huge lists of MP3s on a USB or ipod are pretty much useless and inaccessible without a large screen to be able to display them all. My aftermarket Pioneer head unit in my S2k with USB playback has proven this to me.
2. Features like PDC are far more useful with a visual.
3. I find it much more intuitive to interact with car control features like the automatic venting, vehicle diagnostics, and computer (consumption, range, etc) with a large display
4. (at least on the E9X 3-series), the non-Nav stereos do not display correctly when viewed with Polarized glasses (this is a big one for me). The entire display disappears with my Revos on. Not positive if this is the case on the E82.
5. Phone book lists for bluetooth are much more usable when you're able to display several listings simultaneously.
6. DVD playback when parked. Yeah, it's of limited use, but it's still cool when my wife is taking forever and I want to watch a few minutes of Arrested Development or something to keep me entertained.

There are probably others, but those are off the top of my head. When looking for a used 135i, it's not that I wouldn't look at a car that didn't have it, but I'd certainly pay a small premium to get it.