Will the developer of the BMW GPS system please stand up?

[shah269]

Will the developer of the BMW GPS system please stand up?

Friend? Person? Thing?
I know you work for Denso since Denso is the developer of the GPS system for BMW. I would like to ask you a question of great importance? Did you develop this system while recovering from a bender to end all benders? And also do you think Idrive will show up on Xray?

The reason I ask these two questions is simple.
First and foremost this system sucks, why is it telling me to take a U turn on the highway? Why is it telling me to pull off the highway do a few loops around some town I can care less about and then get back on? And the Xray question? Well let's be honest it will be very difficult to explain to the very nice folks at the ER,WHY YOU HAVE A GOD DARN IRIVE SYSTEM SHOVED 4 FRACKING FEET UP YOUR FRACKING RECTUM!

Wow what a fracking waste of time! I'm telling you when I find the dumber than bag of hammers moron who developed this system I'm going to have a little talk with them....and then someone will have to bail me out of jail....and then I'll have another talk...and then someone else will have to bail me out of jail again!

My god what kind of trunk monkey developed this thing?

[pinmagic]

I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: when I complained to my SA about how bad this system is, he told me that there had been a comparison of 26 nav systems, and this one came in 26th. BMW should be ashamed of itself. Spend another $10, and get your customers a decent nav system. This one truly is class-action worthy.

[rps]

After using Garmins for the past 15 years, I have to entirely agree with the above poster. I thought iDrive would be something to enjoy and get the Garmin off my dash. With the exception of GPS, I have really enjoyed iDrive. On my first road trip with my car, I used both because I didn't trust iDrive. The directions of the two units were wildly different, with the Garmin being more accurate. The up-date DVD's have helped some, but not to a great extent. Why did BMW have to reinvent the wheel? They could have just licensed Garmin like other manufacturers and have a better GPS.

[shah269]

I didn't trust iDrive

And that's where things get scarry! When you don't trust your tools life is not much fun and dangerous!

Funny part as I logged into I just got an email from BMWUSA asking my thoughts on the car....

1) A brief description of any points you'd like to discuss which are not

referenced in your survey.







BMWUS I have had this car for a good 6 months now. And though she is a very good car and a joy to drive I can't say the same thing about the Idrive GPS system



Of all the years I have utilized GPS to get from point A to point B the BMW Idrive GPS system is not only unable to provide me with a clear path for my trips but is downright dangerous!



This past week end I was traveling from my home down to central NJ to visit friends. Once the GPS decided that it was in its best wishes for me to pull off the highway, take a tour of a town I could care less about and then have me return to the highway? I'm sorry but last I checked it this was not only bad for the environment since I was now wasting gas but also bad for my blood pressure.



Along the way the GPS at times would also ask me to make a legal U turn on a highway? And not just any highway our NJ garden state highway?







I rely on my GPS unit as I would rely on a copilot. And sadly as of this past Sunday I no longer have any faith in the BMW Idrive GPS system. I now as if I were driving a base Carola take time out of my schedule to look on Google maps and to print out directions just in case Idrive decides that it is in its best interest for me to not get to my appointments on time.







To say I'm disappointed, is an understatement. Please rectify this issue as soon as possible. For a luxury manufacturer, this is a blemish on your reputation which sadly if not corrected quickly will only make things worse. Need I bring up peoples thoughts of Land Rovers and electronic issues?

[shah269]

Hu...BMWUSA called...they want to talk about this issue?
OK......this should be fun!

[pinmagic]

Holy cr@p - ask them to call me too! I'd love to give them my thoughts.

[shah269]

Ever see those commercials for Mayhem?
You know the one where he's pretending to be the guys GPS and puts him in the bushes!?
Yeah that's how my GPS on the Idrive is on most days!
Yeah I'm not to rely on it...as in don't be dumb enough to actually do a U turn on a major interstate just because it is confused but why the hell did it take me off the high way one town before my destination, drive me around that town and get me back on the very same high way at the very same exit I got off at?
I'm sorry for a car of this price.......your GPS has to be freaking P-E-R-F-E-C-T!
Especially when you have people with droids and Apples....why up grade when you have a phone?

And FYI take it from a guy who has friends who work in automotive industry...that Idrive...Set BMW back all of $100 installed! And how much did they sell it to you for?

It's a huge markup and a huge money maker! But if it doesn't work and people know it....FORGET ABOUT IT!

[ojabri]

Factory installed GPS is usually a waste. Its overpriced. slow. never updates. Its nice its built in, but that's it.

[shah269]

My dealer just called!
Good news every one!
I now can get a 25% off the $500 update cost! So now it's only $400 to update the GPS so i don't get killed by the GPS!?

Wait what! $400 to update the GPS? Yo how much for a nice Iphone that has better GPS?
Yeah EPIC FAIL!

[Groundzero]

I ordered my car without iDrive and bought the BMW Garmin unit/mount. It doesn't look quite as slick but the screen position and directions are far superior. Saved quite a bit of $$$ too.

[Greenkirby21]

smartphone maps ftw

[Rodzilla]

I use the Waze app on my phone works great and its free!

[shah269]

That's what I said!
You know the map isn't wrong, the map is spot on the computer just has a bug?
Take a U turn on the highway why? Pull off on this exit only to get back on the same exit...WHY?

[shah269]

Ring ring
Shah "Hi!"

BMW "Mr. D we are calling about the report you had in your survey about a faulty gps unit?"

Shah "Yeah thank you for getting a hold of me, but I think my GPS wants to kill me."

BMW "How so sir?"

Shah "It wants me to make U turns on major highways for one and more than a few times it will take me off a highway, through a town I could care less about, make me do a u turn and get back on the high way on the very same exit I got off at...ever see Benny Hill? Well the car has a Benny Hill moment."

BMW "That's not good."

Shah "No kidding, do you guys have a fix for this?"

BMW "How about updating the maps?"

Shah "For $500? That's a car payment for a firm ware update? Isn't that a warrantee thing?"

BMW "Sadly no."

Shah "Oh...that's not good! I mean it's kind of like having Hall 2000 as your co pilot....and I'm nice to my car!"

BMW "Yes this can't be good have you adjusted the setting?"

Shah "yes, still the same"

BMW "Well we don't have a solution at the moment but feel free to contact Teleatlas at 8662-543-6848 and see if they have a solution."

Shah "Who is Teleatlas?"

BMW "The programmers of your GPS unit, they may have a over the air solution."

Shah "Wow ah ok! Thank you? I think?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tele_Atlas

[shah269]

Shah calls
Ring ring
Teleatlas (aka TomTom) "Can we help you?"

Shah "My GPS is trying to kill me!"

Teleatlas "Sorry to hear that...let's see your make and type....."

Shah "135I w/ Idirve"

Teleatlas "Yeah there is an update and it's avaliable from BMW."

Shah "Really? That $500 update! WOW!"

Teleatlas "Nope only $199 and it's not a DVD for your car."
http://store.bmwgpsmaps.com/dataSele...&nocookie=true

Shah "Ok thanks"

Ever get the feeling you are going to get kicked square in the nuts just so you can stop your hickups?

Judas! $199 for an update! WOW! I mean really!

[coda72]

So glad I didn't spend the $2K or whatever it costs for Nav. But you should really get a free update or something, Shah.

[JimD]

I have 3 Garmins, one for each vehicle and 1 spare. I could tell you Garmin stories too. Like the time it wanted me to take a washed out bridge and would not come up with a new route no matter what I did. But it works the vast majority of the time. And lifetime map updates is less than $100. I have it on the two Garmins I regularly use. Garmin has a good visual system of displaying information in addition to decent routing. I've checked the routing when going to places I know how to get to and it is not always the best but it gets you there (without U-turns on the interstate).

I wonder if the best way might not be for car companies to let you dock your smartphone and/or GPS and just use the car for the display and sound. But I don't know that it will happen as long as they can make lots of money on semi-functional GPSs. The lifespan of cars and electronics is pretty different. In 10 years we go through awfully big changes in electronic things. If the phone suppliers would standardize enough that the car docking station would work as the phones change, it could be possible for it not to matter. But the economics of making this work is not obviously there.

Jim

[shah269]

In this day and age your modern driver relies on his or her navigation unit as much as they rely on the fact that when they press the start button the car will start.
We rely on this technology to guide us from point A to point B with accuracy and security.

I have no idea what BMW USA will do for me or for anyone who has this device. But it would be a very sad if they did nothing. All it will take is one old oldy making one turn based on GPS and well....yeah

[shah269]

OK this is good one.
Sit down for this.
Apparently my GPS unit is so nutty that it has corrupted the entire cars computer and they have spent the past two days reprogramming the entire car.

[tracer bullet]

Crazy.

I'm glad I just use my system for the big screen to help ID the MP3's I'm playing at the time. I know there's a GPS in there too but I haven't ever used it. LOL I check Google, write a few things on a post-it, and bring that with me. Sounds like I might be doing it right.

[shah269]

Ok sit back and read this!
A month back my GPS started missing turns and overshooting turns. It's internal clock was way off!
Then it started trying to no joke kill me!

And then all of a sudden last Friday my car tells me that it's airbags and safety restraint systems have failed and that I should take it to BMW right away!

I take the car over and within one hour BMW tells me that my GPS was so corrupt that it was infecting and interfering with all the other systems....they think! WOW! OK!

10 hours of reprogramming later I get my baby back.

AND OH MY FREAKING GOD! I want to kiss the service guy's who did the update! The car runs like a freaking TOP! Now! Not only is my entire Idrive updated with the latest version of the software package but the car actually feels better! The throttle response is crisp and clean and the general feel of the engine management is just so much better!

Thank you BMW! For killing the guy responsible for the fuckup of Idrive! You guys ROCK!

[rps]

My pass airbag threw a code last week. I took it to the dealer and they found just about the same thing. No problem with the pass side sensor and they re flashed the car. Everything works better now and the GPS even displays icons which it didn't do before.