Anyone had a crash or near miss as a result of adjusting I - Drive whilst on the move?
Top Gear magazine in the UK seem to think we will!

 

No accident here, but I am not stupid enough to make the decision to have it distract me from driving. I have found the I-drive easier to use than all the small buttons in my other cars.

 

I would still prefer a regular radio with a seek and preset buttons. I hate having to go from presets to a seek/search.

 

Taking your eyes off the road for 1 or 2 seconds while doing anything else can cause an accident in the right situation. This is independent of I-drive (Nav, kids in the back, fumbling with cell phone, dialing, etc.). I-Drive, if used properly will not cause any more accidents than any other car's system. With Voice control or with the programmable button, you should be able to do what you "need" to do while driving and be safe as well.

Realistically, the Mag writer may think, hey...I know that I do things I shouldn't while I drive and others will play with I-drive while they drive and it will induce accidents. Theoretically it shouldn't cause any additional potential for accidents. Realistically, it probably will.

 

With less than a week with iDrive and voice recognition, using these things the way there were intended should reduce the amount of time taking your eyes off the road. I can do several thinhs I need/want in entertainment, communications (phone) and climate with just voice recognition. Some things need a little more drill down since they are not all a part of voice recog such as SAT Radio channels but I have all I need in presets so little effort and no leaning towards the dash or stretching at arms length to do it. NAV should be set up PRIOR to starting to drive. Having said that there are times I may have been diverted looking at the map to explain something to the navigator (wife who cannot read maps). And with HUD, except for the aforementioned briefings to passenger, I do not have to take eyes off road for NAV instructions. I say BMW is making a safer vehicle driving experience if used properly. I know I do not have to fumble around and wind up with a damn phone at my ear, driving too slow in the wrong lane, or making turns into traffic

 

I love the iDrive.

I love it because it allows me to remain in a comfortable position while driving, and operating all the features of the car.

When I drive my E60, I rest my right elbow on the center arm rest. I tend to use the shifter knob to change gears on my SMG, rather than the paddles. With my arm on the armrest, the shifter is just a flick of the wrist.

Then, the iDrive controller is also right there in hands reach. I am operate it without moving my right elbow. I find this setup extremely comfortable.

BMW did an excellent job locating the screen so high in the dash. Your eyes don't have to move as far from the road to view it. Look at Mercedes as an example of a poorly located screen. The E-class you have to look down halfway of the dash to see the screen.

 

What is it with the UK press and iDrive??? I only need to go deep into the menu's once in a blue moon - it works fine for me.

 

Anyone seen the dashboard of the Acura RL. You can crash just looking for the right button to push.

 

I'll admit that I was a skeptic regarding iDrive, but didn't let that get in the way of buying an excellent car. I have nav (w/ voice command), and after reading the manual and spending half an hour (in the safety of my garage) setting the various parameters to my personal preferences, it's a non-issue for me. Even without voice command, there are 2 programmable steering wheel buttons that address many of the complaints. Some "issues" are ignorance on the part of test drivers not familiar with the system--like supposedly having to use iDrive to change the temperature!

The placement of the iDrive control knob and screen are excellent, and compared to other cars with dozens of tiny buttons, I really don't think it's any more distracting. Common sense also goes a long way--lots of things can distract you--like talking on a cell phone...

 

Oh, it doesn't distract any more than finding the right button on a normal dash. The wheel buttons let you do volume, mute, switch among sources (AM-FM-CDdash-CDchanger), too. So I agree with most of the people here.

This kind of talk is why BMW thinks it has to flash that annoying warning screen on the iDrive screen at startup. So I wish the press would stop this silly talk, so BMW could take the annoying warning screen off on future versions.