Oh experienced E60 owners,

What is the scoop on Bluetooth? I have used it for sometime to have a neat little wireless handset. I hear mixed messages on what my new E60 can and cannot do when it comes to Bluetooth - so any wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

I have a US purchased E60 545i. and I hear Bluetooth is pre-installed in my car. I do not have the BMW provided phone, but I do have a phone indicated in my I-Drive window that shows me signal strength (I am assuming this is for the emergency assistance, etc.

If I go into communication and select phone it says, "Contact a BMW Service center for information". I do not have any Bluetooth bonding options that I can see. I do have a Motorola V600 Bluetooth phone however.

Can anyone fill me in?

 

David,

Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Bluetooth isn't really there yet.

There is a great thread on the topic in the forums. Just search on BlueTooth. Someone went through great lengths to figure out the built-in phone, etc.

As I understand it, it's a retrofit that will be available this fall. And from my understanding (not confirmed by BMW, just hearsay on this forum -- which has been pretty acurate), it's goign to be $$$$$.

Sorry, but if you'll stay tuned here, the people in the know are all interested in this topic.

James

 

I talked with the service dept at Flow BMW in NC and they are installing Bluetooth in cars. I believe they also like to use the CTP 9000 or something like that.
But he said they are putting in bluetooth packages.

 

kigerka: On the e60? I know dealers are doing BT on applicable E85's, E46's and E39's. But I've not seen anyone in the US doing E60's yet. If you can confirm they are doing E60's would appreciate it as I can use this as leverage with my local center.

 

Sorry, last post was mine, I was on a different system that wasn't logged in. <_<

 

This topic has been discussed extensively on this board in the past. Try the search facility.

 

Do you know whether the bluetooth retrofit is one of BMW? My dealer told me that they could install an aftermarket bluetooth kit (SE or Nokia) but that it would not integrate with I-drive. Maybe this is what they are doing there too?

 

I called them and was specifically only talking about the E60. If he went off topic he did not let me know. You can give them a call if you want. I called them becuase they were from my home town and I needed US spec answers that I could not get from here in Germany.
I just tried calling and the one with answers was in a meeting. Will call again later

 

More info,
I got impatient and called BMW of Fairfax in Va. They have to look up your VIN to see if you are compatable. To my dismay, I cannot have Bluetooth.
I believe it was NickP who left a message in the previous thread that if you have BMW Assist, you cannot get bluetooth. Unfortunatly he was on the money. I did not think I had Assist but when they checked my VIN, sure enough I had it.
When I asked why I had a Passkey he could not answer because he only worked the parts dept. He did explain that most 2004 models were coming with the assist loaded.
So if you want to know if you can get Bluetooth, jus tcall your parts dept near you and give them the last 7 of your VIN and they will be able to tell you.

My next question is, Can I use Assist here in Germany with a US spec car?

 

US Assist won't work in Germany as it's a CDMA internal phone. I wish someone would wake up at BMW AG that BMW NA customers DON'T CARE always about assist. An "Assist Delete" option would have been nice that gives us a close to European E60!