Well we've just ordered an 06 530xi, Orient Blue, gray leather, steptronic, cold weather, premium package, rear heated seats, shades, NAV, HUD, split seat, active cruise, PDC, illuminated entry, leather/wood selector.

It was time for the x5 to go. Not sure about delivery. Owners Circle still says "On Order".

Has anyone had experience with the HUD, good, bad, or indifferent?

i just ordered mine today with HUD and i was wondering same thing....

HUD is awesome, especially if you have navigation. You'll love it once you try it.

HUD is great! I thought it was a gimmick, but my friend who has it convinced me to get it...Great not to have to take your eye off the road to see the nav instructions and speed and cruise control info

im actually not geting nav, but im getting smg so i figured id like to see rpm's, speed, and gear to make my driving safer/easier

How does the NAV interface work? Do you get arrows in the HUD giving you directions?

Nope...no rpm on the HUD. Its a great tool. I hardly look at the dashboard anymore.
The only info on the HUD are:

Speed
Nav directions
Cruise Control
Check Control Messages

Any of these 4 can be turned on or off via IDrive.

How does the NAV interface work? Do you get arrows in the HUD giving you directions?
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Yes, you see the next turn and distance to that turn (basically mirrors the "arrow display" option on the assist window). As you get near to the junction the display switches to a diagram of the junction and a distance bar counts down as you approach. You don't need to take your eyes off the road at all. It's one of those things that seems like a gimmick until you try it then you can't live without it! :thumbsup:

Arby545 - I'm afraid that the HUD options on the current 5-ers don't show that :( Without NAV you will see MPH, system messages, cruise control and check messages (seatbelt warnings, low gas etc). I have no idea why you can't customize it more in iDrive to show data such as RPM, gear, whether the indicators etc are on. The M5 does show rpm and other data on its HUD but for now, without NAV, it's more limited. The speed indicator alone though is helpful as you never need to look at the speedo. This must be nothing more than a software update and I can't understand why we don't get to choose from a wider range of data to be displayed.

HUD is one of those things that, at first, seems like a gimmick but I quickly realized just how great it is to be able to see speed, nav instructions, etc. without refocusing my eyes. I find myself missing the HUD on every other car I drive...

well shit..... lol i guess ill deal with it. BMW needs to get crackin cuz i dont feel like looking down to see what gear im in (not that i wont know im just going to exadgerate my laziness) and we all know that it is simply imposible to shift by listening... (once again exadgeration) but i figured if i bitch and moan and complain, well who knows... maybe BMW is reading it and if they are you need to add the RPM and gear to it cuz im a dumbass and thought that came with it....
:(