Merv the Derv

Has anyone got an E60 without sat nav, bluetooth and A/c advanced. If so have you ever thought what a waste of time that big silver knob is?

Joking apart I love the I drive system and all the bad press it attracts. The British press say its difficult to operate - Difficult to operate! Theres only 2 x button's. It certainly breaks up long journeys and is a great talking point with passengers

Good idea or not??????

Iceman

Yeah, the British press... No wonder it's difficult to operate for THEM.

I love idrive and don't have any problems with it.

purth01

I've had my E60 for less then 72 hours and my wife already figured out I Drive. Bluetooth integration was a snap. If you find it hard to operate you may have never used a computer, so the people on this board shouldn't have any problems. Now the british press that may be a different story.

Sans

I believe the folks (particularly auto press) that don't 'get' the iDrive are the (ahem) older crowd that don't get technology in general. They are likely old school purists who'd rather have little to no electronics in a car and certainly not something as different as iDrive. I like it and find it extremely user friendly. Frankly, I wish it could do even more. I like going through the menus and finding things to customize....

So before I get flammed by the (ahem) older crowd, I'll say I'm closer to that group than I am to the boy racers...

Stranger

Maybe because of all the bad press about I-Drive that I was surprised when I tried it. I was thinking what was all those ranting about how bad i drive was about?

Somehow I feel that sometimes because one critic says so, the rest seems to follow.

streak

I dont have nav or bluetooth and I enjoy my I-drive. In fact if I did have nav it would drive me crazy as it takes ages to boot up and is terribly slow to respond to user input. I found this on both the loaner 530D and 745i.

ISUK

They were talking about an increase in car accidents on the radio this morning in the UK and highlighting that most people involved said they were distracted by fiddling with gadgets in their car. This then led to a discussion about the rise in the number of in car gadgest such as navigation systems, phones, in car entertainment system etc. Can you believe that the number one cause of gadget fiddling related accidents was changing a cd?? These people should not be allowed on the road if they pay so little attention to what's going on around them. The radio show then had Quentin Wilson on to ask his opinion (British motoring journo and former presenter on Top Gear). What was the first thing he talked about - having to use i-drive to change temperature settings in a car and this resulting in someone potentially being distracted and driving up a motorway embankment!! What an a$$hole. Has he ever used i-drive properly? I doubt it.

The whole article just made me mad. Because of a few careless idiots out there on our roads who are not fit to hold driving licences, some do gooder politician will probably draft a load of new anti-car legislation and fine us for taking our hands off the wheel to change gear or flick on our indicators. This country is going mad. Whatever happened to individual responsibility?

black1444

I love idrive. I would love to have COMAND (mercedes system similar to i-drive but less modern) in my company S500 here in hong kong. i wanted to get a 545i like my old one but it costs about 115k USD here base price. So i will have to stick with my big benz with a hole in the dash.

dont laugh

urbo73

I think the negativity started when the 7 came out, with the more complicated iDrive. The new/simpler iDrive that's in the E60 and will be in other cars in the future is much more intuitive and easier to use. But the press still likes to yap about it. After 2 days I didn't even have to look to move the knob to get whatever function I wanted. Simple as cake.

BUT, I have to absolutely agree that it can definitely be a distraction in the hands of many drivers. I agree the more gadgets the more distractions. Most people are not like us, in the sense that they drive to get from A to B. And during that drive they eat, put on makeup, play with all the buttons in a car, etc. And iDrive is certainly part of this category. You can't fault BMW for this, but most drivers out there are not attentive - to use a gentler word. I find it funny how cars are getting safer (airbags, better rigidity, etc.) while the distraction factors increase. It's ironic, but necessary I guess. Sort of how computers keep getting faster, yet the apps just get bigger - net result = same speed!

beewang

The i-drive is fantastik!! Its a piece of well enginnered item.

cheers,

beewang

(Just wating urbo to jump back in w/ the key-words so we can start this daily excercise again )