I appreciate it. And as you said COMPLEX!

Best wishes,

ABC

Isn't that plus GSM data costs?

And so it goes...

ABC

I got TomTom Go 700 Bluetooth cost 700? while as only dumb Bt for BMW costs 800? + 3000 for the Nav.

not for me. Still I got the HUD and luv that :thumbsup:

Yes, but :

a) I have a company phone
b)You can decide on the frequency of traffic updates for your route

We are not talking big bucks here and relatively small data transfer for your specific route. Would be suprised if the GPRS costs matched the information fee over the course of a year for the casual use I indicated.

And by the way this saved me from over a 2 hour delay twice in the last month due to accidents closing motorways :P

I didnt get NAV either. But I dont know if I can say I'm "happy" that i didnt. but it doesnt really bother me. there are pluses and minuses with and w.out nav.

With Nav you get
obviously Navigational guideance,
MP3 capability,
force feedback idrive wheel,
voice commands
larger iDrive screen

Reasons why I didnt get it.
I wanted to keep the price down on the car,
I dont use NAV that much,
I too like looking up where i'm going before hand to get a general idea instead of going in blind.
I have a portable NAV system already.

And after I found out that w/out NAV the iDrive responds a lot faster which I like!!

I picked up my car in Germany, and had planned many trips in that country, so Nav was essential to me.

Back here in U.S., I probably use it 2 time a month to get to a location. Most importantly, I oftenly use the map screen to re-route my trip due to changes in traffic condition.

Lastly, Nav equipped car will sell faster or have a little higher re-sell value when selling it in the future.

I would definitely order it again.

Without NAV, the navigational experience in Europe and USA is entirely different.

ABC

In countries with corners, using the map with "heading up" mode at all times is great as it
(a) gives advance warning of sharp bends coming up, and
(b) allows early positioning for possible overtaking if a decent straight is coming up around the bend
Navigation routing is very much the secondary benefit

The Nav depending on what you select is ?1.5K to ?2K here in the UK, I doubt very much that you will get that much as a mark-up at re-sale time. A good touch screen Nav like the Sony Nuvi 350 is small, configurable & transferable between cars and at under ? 400 can be replaced a lot cheaper & easier than a costly built-in unit that is not as good.
The PDA Nav systems like the Dell one that uses Navteq data are poor Nav systems and not worth the money. If BMW or any car maker for that matter charges reasonable money then more people would clearly get built in units, as it stands now they are expensive and not as good as the dedicated Nav makers.

FYI I drove the Acura RL and used its NAV with Real-Time Traffic Updates. I thought it SUCKED.

It only shows traffic for major interstate highways. No data for city streets. The way it indicates traffic isn't that helpful - just 2 colors red and yellow. It doesn't change colors for a section of a highway, so you can't tell if the highway is only congested up to a certain exit or if the entire highway is congested. Although I didn't get to play with it for that long, I don't believe it can reroute you if you want to avoid a congested highway.

So lots of limitations in that Acura system. I hear NAV systems in EU and Asia are much better integrated with real time traffic info...