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irvine123_IHB

irvine123_IHB

New member
Since there are many BMW lovers on this blog, I figure I can use some help!

I am so frustrated with my navigation system!! It is basically useless! With my other Japanese Nav, I can do key word search, search by business phone number. With the BMW Nav, I can't search shxt! The only way you find something is to know which city the business is located at, then the system displays a full list of the business in that catagory. I have to use the stupid dial to go through the whole list.

So Graphrix, is the Nav really that bad or I am just stupid?

( I guess I could have put this under the other car trends, but I figure BMW at least deserve its own trend! )
 
Even Graph must agree on this one! I have a friend who had an older Acrua MDX, traded it in on an X5 --- and hated the BMW nav so much that she went back and traded the X5 in on a new MDX. I know exactly what you are talking about! Now, I am not a proponent of that sort of irresponsible financial management --- but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. Personally, I've got the Honda/Acura voice activated system (built by Alpine) in my car, and just love it. Let's you control almost every vehicle function by voice and is almost scary in how accurate it is....I never ceased to be amazed with this technology.

Did anyone see the op-ed in the register a couple of weeks ago about how all the technology like nav is literally sucking our brains out? We never need to think for ourselves anymore. He made a point that Navi has eliminated a whole topic of conversation at dinner parties --- what's the best short cut to get from here to there, alternative routes around traffic, etc. So true. Those were great conversations.
 
I personally hate the i-drive. It is so complicated just trying turn the heater on.

Do not have a BMW nav but our Lexus nav is great (although the whole cannot use it while someone is driving thing is very annoying).
 
If it was iDrive, I feel your/their pain. I got a chance to play with it about three years ago in a 7. I wanted to beat it with a hammer within three minutes.

Then again, I don't even like any kind of automatic climate control, so what do I know?

(DIY guy)
 
I found the iDrive to be just fine. It is really the funcationality of the nav that bugs me. It is poorly designed. Kia probably does a better job that BMW in that department. Next time I will get the Bimmer without the nav and buy a $600 after market.

Also, did any one of you notice that the nav calcuation is soo slow? My other Nav on a Japanese car is about 5 times faster!

Still love my bimmer though.
 
Navigation???? Blah, I'm a guy, I have GPS embedded in my skull. When it breaks down, I do ask for directions though.

The nav sucks in the bimmers. The guys over at bimmerforumshave mentioned a nav system they want to add to their non-nav equipped bimmers. IIRC it is hard to find, and when you do find it, it is expensive.

The Acura nav system is the best I have ever used. I'm sure there is someone on the forums who has converted it in their bimmer.
 
I think Acura converted over to an i-Drive style system. Big minuses from the critics about that.

"When it comes to ergonomic bungles, nothing comes close to the replacement of Acura's exceptional touch-screen control and navigation system display with the knob interface from the RL flagship sedan. Bad move. Terrible move. Colossal, inexcusable regression. It has a rotary joyknob, and the touch-screen aspect is gone from the 8-inch display. In review after review, I've held up the Honda/Acura system as the way other automakers should do it, so I won't go easy on Acura for this lapse in judgment. I don't know if the point is to get the display up higher, closer to one's line of sight, but I'm sure a quick poke at a touch-screen lower on the dash is less distracting than monkeying with a knob for 30 seconds.

If this seems familiar, it's because we've seen it before — called Multi-Media Interface in Audis, iDrive in BMWs and Comand in Mercedes-Benzes. OK, I get it, Acura. These are the brands you want to compete with. But if BMW jumped off a bridge... Since their appearance I've been trying to convince automakers that turning a knob is not the best way to select letters from the alphabet. If it were, you wouldn't be sitting behind a keyboard.

I suppose I should mention that the navigation system, which comes in the optional Technology Package, includes a rearview camera and integrates real-time traffic information in more than 30 U.S. cities. Great. Have fun operating it. I'll be over here with my AM radio and my map."

www.cars.com/go/crp/research.jsp

The picture of the layout gives me a headache already.

ctrstack-lt.jpg
 
Its' not like you couldn't buy an after-market portable navi from buy.com and stick it up against your windshield via suction cups.

I get maps and live traffic info on my iPhone, but no GPS.
 
The BMW nav does have really time traffic information. If you select dynamic routing, the system will reroute you around the traffic jam. But I don't trust it, since I am not convinced the traffic info is updated often enough. The live traffic information does tell you when, for what reason, and how long is the delay. Unless Bimmer changes their nav, I will never buy another bimmer with the nav system. I hate it...
 
starting in 2009. # BMW to cut 8100 jobs # GFK reports steady German consumer morale # UK heading for sharp slowdown - ONS Stefanie McIntyre reports. BMW to cut 8,100 jobs

(03:05) Report

Email Video | Embed Video:

Feb. 27 - The reductions are intended to generate annual savings of $752 million starting in 2009.

# BMW to cut 8,100 jobs

# GFK reports steady German consumer morale

# UK heading for sharp slowdown - ONS

Stefanie McIntyre reports. (more) (less)

 
The CEO of BMW talked to CNBC about the car market at the NYC car show. The main thing he was saying, was how bad the resale market is in the USA.

Mmmm... I could always use another bimmer. M3 here I come, er maybe M5...
 
No matter how bad the Nav is in BMWs, it can't be worse than in Maseratis. :)

On the other hand, iDrive is so annoying that when I test drove a 750, I decided against buying it primarily because of the interface and went with an Audi A8 instead. :P
 
Do BMW's ever offer rebates or cash back? Never bought one before and never looked at buying one until about 2 months ago, so I am virtually clueless about BMW pricing.
 
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