fast

Car in question is a 2010 528 and has all the other options but no NAV. Can some one help me comprehend, if there's no Nav, than what do you have in it's place? How do you check the car Info, change music, weather etc?


Is it better not to have it from reliability point of view?


Thanks

acefuture

All BMW E60 cars (including the 2010 528i) have IDrive and it's screen. All the car information is still displayed along with your cellphone phone book, incoming/outgoing call information, music sources, titles artists, radio stations, etc. Factory navigation is an just an option that is controlled by IDrive and displayed on it's screen.

As to your second question, certainly if you don't have an option (like navigation) then obviously it is one less thing to possibly break on the car.

In truth the navigation system on the E60 wasn't very good. Many owners of F10 cars (the current 5 series models) also say their navigation systems aren't great. Lot's of BMW owners with factory navigation prefer to use their cell phones' navigation apps instead of their car's system. Also there are stand alone systems like those from Garmin that have much better features and usability than the BMW factory systems and are portable in addition and can be used in rental cars, etc.. Also the cell phone and Garmin systems provide you updated maps several times a year often for no cost, while BMW wants to charge you anywhere from $100 - $150 for a single map upgrade.

If you like the 2010 528i in question and it meets all your other requirements, I wouldn't worry about the lack of factory navigation. If you think about it, how often do people use their navigation systems (of any type). If you're a delivery man or long haul trucker you might use navigation a lot. But for ordinary people driving in their neighborhood and home town.....? Of course this is just my opinion.
Ultimately only you know how important it is to you.

DanielFD

On the contrary. I wouldn't buy a 2010 without NAV and specifically a 2010. NAV option isn't the only thing that changes. All e60s have iDrive but there are different versions of iDrive. All non NAV cars have what is called MASK. Its basiclly an overly simple computer with a simle 8" screen and low res graphics. Bit shoppy, bit laggy, average iDrive interface. NAV option means CCC. Which means more advanced computer, still a little laggy but better screen, bigger screen 10", nicer graphics/colors. 2010s thats a different story all together because you get CIC with NAV on those models. Which has a nice crisp screen thats no longer laggy and looks completely different then the CCC/MASK interfaces. Really and honestly dont buy a 2010 e60 without NAV, you're going to regret it. People are paying $$$$ to get the newer CIC installed in their cars..

txag_530i

The 2010 E60 cars have the hard-drive based CIC which is a much better system than the old CCC and M-ASK. You have to decide if navigation is important to you. or not. Personally, I would invest in a smart phone mirroring system that will display maps, movies, etc. on the car screen and not have to worry about shelling out $200+ to BMW to update the maps every year.

acefuture

You caught my interest with that mention of phone mirroring. Is there really such a thing? Can it be used/adapted/installed on an E60? Where can I find out more information about this, if it indeed exists? Thanks.

For the last few years I've thought all car manufacturers should forget about their own brand of navigation system and just install some kind of standardized screen with the ability to use some kind of common interface to a smartphone. That way anything on your smartphone can be mirrored/displayed on the car screen. Something similar to the way Google Chromecast operates between a smartphone and almost any size/brand of HDTV. Or even something as basic as an HDMI input to the car screen that can in turn be connected by a cable to the microUSB port on most smartphones.

DanielFD

I looked into the iphone mirroring. Found a couple of companies that offer a product. simple search of phone mirroring idrive should return a bunch of things on google. But you'll still need the larger screen (CIC or CCC) to take advantage..

fast

Focusing more on a car with the Navigation though

Thanks

JDeezyNYC

I use my Nav quite often but regardless, the idea of a $45+k BMW comming without something like that when even a Civic offers it, just irritates me. For me it's a deal breaker because unfortunately you cannot easily change the radio in these cars and it's a pain in the dick/expensive to add a phone mirroring module.

MCR

The nav imho is just another ever changing gadget that is outdated the second its released.

funglenn

you can actually install the NAV into a 2010. It can either take the CCC of you can put in a CIC (the nicer hard driver based one). It is not that much work but will cost you about $500 for the CCC and 800 for the CIC -- assuming you do it all yourself.


I had a CCC in my 2009 and now have a CIC.. worth the upgrade. nicer