PaneraiLover

I drove my mom's friend's 2007 Acura TL and realy liked the NAV on it. Big size screen, touch screen, easy to navigate, and the most important is that you can search by name for a place on NAV that you want to go to, and just type it in while driving as you use the touch screen. Don't get me wrong, idrive has its very strong points, but scrolling down the letters to type them in is lame, touch screen is much easier to use i think. And the biggest problem that I saw was that I could not find a Lexus dealership from any "Information" sub-menues on my idrive, that was just could not be done!! All they have is BMW auto or Moto destinations you can search for within a range??!! That is pathetic or I am not doing something right. I could not figure it out, it would be so much easier to just input the name of POI-point of interest, by name, and find it!! Basicaly if you are looking to find nearby Lexus, Mercedes, etc dealer you have to know the address, and if you looking for Kinko's you have to know which submenu in Information section on idrive to search it in??!! Otherwise you would not find it. Can someone tell me where I can find a dealer in idrive nav other then BMW or lets say Kinkos so NAV could take me there. I fianlly called Lexus and got directions and got there without NAV!! I test drove GS460, I loved it, loved the touch screen NAV, and I do not mind buttons arround NAV to quickly get you to MAP, AUdio, Destination, Info, etc. So in Lexus if I want to find lets say BMW dealer all I had to do is press DEST button, then touch screen press POIs, then search by name button, then input BMW, and thats it. How can i do it in idrive?? The Car by the way was great and total difference from previous body shape I had, (GS430), loved the ac-vented seats, tight steering, fast smooth acceleration, good suspention, and looks are good, I might even consider it after this car, the seats where not as comfortable though as in my sport package 545i.. Please help me with idrive, thanks!!

JSpira

Let me understand, you can use the touchscreen in the Acura when the car is IN MOTION?

Can't do that on the Lexus. Can't do anything on the Lexus involving touchscreen when the car is in motion basically.

Re search, yes push to type is a bit slower but you can do it when driving and for ultimate ease, you press the Concierge button and BMW downloads the Lexus dealer's address to your car.

Rudy

Honda/Acura does allow use (entry, etc.) of the nav system while in motion while Toyota/Lexus has chosen the more conservative "pull over first" before allowing nav entry, etc. to take place. I guess they figure there's never a passenger available to do the inputting...

As far as POI entry via name/phone number, etc., clearly BMW is lacking a bit with these features but to their credit, they've made some improvements to the POI system over the years (and older cars may benefit from these improvements via software updates) but they still have some room to improve...

Touch screen vs. iDrive? I'll take iDrive any day over a touch screen! It's easy to fall for the perceived simplicity of a touch screen interface but after some time, you quickly realize that because there's no tactile feedback, etc., the touch screen requires much more attention to use which forces the driver to be more distracted while using it. With iDrive, you are able to visually see how many clicks or which way you need to slide the controller very quickly so that you're able to get back to watching the road while your hand operates the controller. In other words, once you become used to iDrive, you find that it's quite easy to operate after you train yourself to quickly glance at the screen then back to the road while you use the control knob to follow through with the command you're looking for.

Also, with touch screens, you'll find that they become quite smudgy and dirty from fingerprints and, more importantly, they need to be placed in a location where you're able to reach them. Compare that with the iDrive screen location that's much simpler for the eye to focus on with quick glances. You don't even have to move your head -- just your eyes...

doug_999

Acura makes a nice NAV system - their voice recognition is top notch and truth be told that's the only way my wife programs the NAV in her 2006 MDX.

Touch screens work nice - provided you are not driving. When driving, their low placement causes you to take your eyes completely off the road. Worse, you have to press in the exact spot - hard to do on bumpy roads (especially while trying to watch where you are going). Acura seems to think there is merit to the iDrive concept as seen by their RL which does not have touch screen correct?

Oh and you need to have PROGMAN 25 or higher to get POI in the BMW (I think that was the first version with it).

As a former owner of the GS430 myself, I find iDrive to be a much better system than the touch screen in the Lexus.

PaneraiLover

what is the conceirge button??!! I do have POI's under Information in NAV, then you have a choice to search on location, then you have a list of all kinds of things like:car and travel, businesses, etc.. Then you have to know the category in which a place you want to go to is located so then you can input it by name within that category.. Very confusing and too many steps to do a simple thing, where in Acura and Lexus you can just search for anything by name. So my question is if I want to find a Lexus dealership sitting in my car, how do i do it on idrive?? Or lets say one time i wanted to find kinkos, i had to go through all these subdmenus and did not know in which category to search it in, pathetic.

JSpira

POI merely means points of interest, and all nav systems have this. I'm not sure if you meant something else.

JSpira

You mean "concierge" and it's part of the telematics functionality through which you access BMW Assist. Specifically, you press that button and you are connected with someone who can then do your search and send the car a message with full POI info including telephone number.

PaneraiLover

J,
I think you did not understand my question I'm affraid. I know what PIOs are. I simply could not search for or find Lexus dealership when you searched for it in NAV within POIs under Information!! That is why I am complaining. Do you know how to find it if you wanted to go there. I rarely use this search feature to search for a very specific place, usually if i want to find a restuarant i just search for the one in the area under italian or asian, etc and then go through the list..

JSpira

Without running down to the car, I was providing a shortcut by using the CONCIERGE button. I do understand your question and provided one way of doing it.

stanatl

My recollection of my Lexus NAV systems is that the destinations you can enter while the car is in motion are six (I believe) pre-programmed locations. I think they called them "Favorites".

Having used both, I much prefer the I-Drive system to the touch screen. Less taking your eyes off the road and the smudging on the touch screens was always a problem. I also had to have them replaced twice.

On the other hand, the Lexus and Acura NAV systems are very easy to use and much more user friendly.