E60 vs 330

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Dec 7, 2003 | 09:36 PM

#11

amethyste_beemer

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Woodstock' date='Dec 5 2003, 03:57 PM

I'd like to hear from people who have bought or are buying an E60 who also considered just going with a 330i? What tipped the ballance toward the 5series. Was it a larger car (trunk, backseat size, ?)? Want newer model? More features(which ones)? Just want iDrive? HUD?

I'm ready to order my E60, but the delays on nav/hud and questions around bluetooth, etc, make me think that a 330i is a better(safer?) bet (in the US). I'm looking to be convinced, though.

I went for the E60 because it's simply bigger! I have even test driven the demo car which was a 530i, and it was great! I've ordered a 525i for myself.

The car is excellent, it's all new on the inside, as well as on the outside. The 3 series is till basically using the old shape with some minor changes. I don't know if the 2004 3 series will change significantly.

Besides, when i get a 2.5 or a 3.0, i'd always go for a 5-er! :-) no point getting a smaller car with a bigger engine, as i am not much into Gone-in-60-Seconds-kinda-driving"!

i am happy being gone in a minute or two!

Anyway, the E60 of course has a lot of new features - new instrument panel, blue tooth, I-Drive, etc etc.

I got the european version, as I am not in the US. And blue tooth should be working fine because it's based on GSM phones. I can guess why blue tooth is giving hickups in the US because the US mobile communication is not GSM, but CDMA. CDMA cells are less versatile, i think.

So your CDMA phone has to have blue tooth for the car to detect. And it's not easy to find blue tooth in CDMA phones... i don't even know how they'd work in the CDMA system. I have blue tooth in my Sony Ericsson and my mobile service is GSM based. And the dealer showed me with his blue tooh phone.

One solution i can think of, some service providers in the US are switching to GSM. Why not subscribe to their service, get a GSM mobile phone with blue tooth, and then try it on the E60?

All the best!

Dec 7, 2003 | 10:01 PM

#12

Woodstock

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From: Seattle, WA

Quote:

Originally Posted by amethyste_beemer' date='Dec 8 2003, 12:36 AM

I got the european version, as I am not in the US. And blue tooth should be working fine because it's based on GSM phones. I can guess why blue tooth is giving hickups in the US because the US mobile communication is not GSM, but CDMA. CDMA cells are less versatile, i think.

So your CDMA phone has to have blue tooth for the car to detect. And it's not easy to find blue tooth in CDMA phones... i don't even know how they'd work in the CDMA system. I have blue tooth in my Sony Ericsson and my mobile service is GSM based. And the dealer showed me with his blue tooh phone.

One solution i can think of, some service providers in the US are switching to GSM. Why not subscribe to their service, get a GSM mobile phone with blue tooth, and then try it on the E60?

All the best!

Lots of carriers here are GSM (in fact, mine happes to be). I think it's because BMW Assist uses a cell phone like communication mechanism, and the car can't figure out how to talk to two cell phones. I doubt it's GSM vs. CDMA issues.

Does BMW have "BMW Assist" in europe?

Dec 7, 2003 | 10:13 PM

#13

Woodstock

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From: Seattle, WA

Damn, now my wife is talking about the E320. What can I say to here? I've tried, "Well, honey, if we can find a roundel on it, sure". I'm not sure how long that's going to work, though. Help!

Dec 7, 2003 | 11:25 PM

#14

rodybmw

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From: Los Angeles, CA USA

Quote:

Originally Posted by amethyste_beemer' date='Dec 8 2003, 12:36 AM

So your CDMA phone has to have blue tooth for the car to detect. And it's not easy to find blue tooth in CDMA phones... i don't even know how they'd work in the CDMA system. I have blue tooth in my Sony Ericsson and my mobile service is GSM based. And the dealer showed me with his blue tooh phone.

One solution i can think of, some service providers in the US are switching to GSM. Why not subscribe to their service, get a GSM mobile phone with blue tooth, and then try it on the E60??

All the best!

You are correct in saying that it is hard to find a CDMA phone with Bluetooth, but we have had GSM carriers here in the US for many years. I got my first GSM phone 4 years ago from Cingular Wireless and now we have ATT M-Life and even T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom). But as Woodstock mentioned there is a conflict with BMW Assist being in the same car as Bluetooth. I know that the Bluetooth conflict with NAV Pro should be solved by Sep. 2004 production, but I don't know if the BMW Assist conflict would be solved by then.

rodybmw

Dec 10, 2003 | 02:21 AM

#15

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Other than the reasons cited, like the rumored new I-6 in '05, and the robustness of a glitch-free 330, I felt that the price of the new 5's was hard to justify when compared to other BMW models like the X5.

I bought a 330 (my 7th 3 series by the way) and am very happy with it. Not a single issue with 4k on the odometer.

I suspect if BMW lower prices a bit on the new 5 and bring those new options and try to change that awful rear seat divider then maybe we'll add one to the family stable. If not, then the re-shaped X5s look mighty good.

z