bruce_miranda

My BMW warranty will come to an end in Jan 09 and I was wondering if I should bother getting the software level upgraded to the latest version just before that time. I have CIP 25.0 and have no problems at all. I consider CIP 25.0 a major change from the previous versions because that was when we got the new modern UI and the POI search function and fixed the CD spinning even after stop issue.

What have people noticed in the latest version that I should consider worthy of taking the plunge or should I just stick with "If it's not broken don't fix it".

P.S. : I've never had a software problem before but upgraded to CIP 25.0 because of the major changes and I'm glad I did so. Will I be glad I went to the latest CIP version too before I will have to start paying for them?

porsche911targa

Two things to ponder: 1) Dealers don't automatically update if you don't have a problem, and 2) If it's not broken don't fix it.

bruce_miranda

1. Is easy to solve
2. Is the bit I'm most bothered about. But if that was my criteria I would not have all the nice features than CIP 25.0 brought with it.

porsche911targa

Just for my own curiosity. What nice features did you receive with CIP 25.0? I was just updated to 31.02 because of a transmission replacement, and honestly, I don't see any difference from the original CIP except that my tranny shifts a lot better, but then again, I also have a new tranny. I don't have NAV, so I wouldn't be able to see any improvements in that area and I understand that many upgrades have improved the look and feel of NAV, but this is a moot point for me as I don't have that option.

Being somewhat ignorant in this area, I would wait until more experienced owners chime in, but I personally would not have updated if my car showed no symptoms of erroneous operation.

Being a techie, I have updated all my PC operating systems, but then I use different applications, after, that justify my updates. Had I used a PC just for email and basic web browsing (no streaming) and for writing the occasional letter, I would have kept my Windows 98, since it was plenty adequate and robust for fulfilling those basic tasks.

What I mean to say is, unless you are planning to change your driving pattern or are thinking of adding mods that may require the latest CIP, you may want to consider keeping what you have instead of possibly introducing some unknown issues. It would be great if we could find out what has been added since CIP 25.0; that would surely make your decision easier. Unfortunately, I don't have that information. Hopefully someone will be kind enough to post the changes, if they know them.

Just my $.02, but G/L with whatever decision you end up making. These are great machines, indeed.

cobradav

Bruce, if you were not at v25 I would say update. But 25 was a good update and we actually lost some ground with v29. There are no new "features" so if you do not have specific issues I would leave well enough alone. You just never know when teh next update has a flaw or some regression and without compelling reasons it is not worth it. Most of my recent updates were simply because I had hardware or real software issues otherwise I would not have had so many.

EM_5

Leave v.25 as it is. I have v.25 and it is working great. I, like you, updated it mainly for the POI and the newer look. Bugs like the amber eyebrow thing was fixed in that version as well.... and as far as I can remember, v.25 is the 1st version with POI. I have v.25.04.

On the M5's, there was much debate over a power loss and slower shifting v.26>. As far as we can tell, there are no new features... just perhaps a different haptic feedback and a lil quicker loading menus. BUT, since your car is going outta warranty, don't you worry that if you update it and there are problems (as in all software), you are SOL and must pay your way to get it right?

tbal

1. easy solve... howw, dealerships seem so anal about doing system updates, even though i've complained countless times about crashing/slow idrive.

bruce_miranda

Is your CIP feature list up to date? I'll have a look through that to see if there is anything that I'm missing that future CIPs will give me.

tbal

how bruceeee lol

cobradav

As up to date as it can be in the current environment where BMW no longer issues service bulletins on PROGMAN. Since about version 27 (Sept 07) they quit this practice. Even then they really did not play up "feature" changes, just fixes.

Most of what I report on features is more antedotal, gleened from the various boards or my own experience (I have had 8 different PROGMANS in 3.5 years). I have to temper this review since a lot of reports are by folks that really don't know what they had and then upgrade to something they are not sure of what they got and report "oh look what I got". But it really is repeating what was already known. The biggest instance of this is anyone with pre v25 upgrading to anything post v25 and repeating all the things we knew about.

Fixes are a little more accurate but harder to track now with out a single PROGMAN service bulletin. Often times the individual area service bulletin (AUTO TRanny, engine elctronics, Audio, NAV, etc.) that reports a fix will say upgrade to TDS E60.xx.xx.xx or higher and if other models (3 series, X5, 7 series) are included it list their TDS versions as well. Then a month or so later they may update that same bulletin with new info especially if that fix did not work. Plus we can have identical cars and software and I have the problem and you don't!!! It really gets hard to filter fact from "I think it fixes X or Y" And I get a little lazy at times in tracking this stuff too especally if MY car is working ok