In the iDrive's main menu, press the controller down to access the "i" menu and choose "units". When selected in mph, speed should be displayed in the information display.

BTW, having HUD rocks

 

Really? Where does it display? Where the date/time normally is? Where the trip-computer normally displays (e.g. miles->refuel or mpg) ? Is this turning it on permanently? Or only while the "i" menu remains visible. I'd try it myself but I can't access my car until tomorrow.

 

+1 and let me know if you're interested in a TomTom GPS, I've got a couple I'm trying to sell (510 model with up to date maps).

 

all good advice............prob just look at at the car data when I change the units to Mph. I do have a an external GPS and probably would work too. You would think with all the features we have, this should've been a priority.

 

I'd like to get this speed in mph displayed also. I tried what you suggested and changing from km to miles in the units option doesn't add the ability to display the current speed in mph. All it does is change the distance-to-refuelling to miles and anything else that uses km to use miles. There's still no current speed in mph display option. Or am I too dumb to find it (this could easily be the case). Here's some pics I just took. First one is of the options available in the units menu, then I cycled through the computer display modes and took a pic of each. No mph (or kmh either) available.





Average speed since I last reset it (a few weeks ago):


Distance until fuel runs out:


Fuel consumption:

 

Changing the settings in your iDrive will show you non-metric measures in your on-board computer, but will not change anything on your speedo dial at all - you are not going to get a current reading in mph. I have simply memorised the approximate translation of a couple of key speeds so they are always in my head when I head over to the UK for example (of course, I have been "lucky" in the sense that I first learned to drive in a country that was in the process of going metric at the time, so we had to know both).

Here are the key ones I keep in my head (bear in mind that these are approximations - the real rate is 1.602km to 1 mile):

30mph ~ 50km/h
50mph ~ 80km/h
70mph ~ 115km/h
80mph ~ 130km/h
100mph ~ 160km/h

Short of actually changing your dash or getting an aftermarket GPS, I'd reckon this is the way to go.

 

Yeah, me too. I've been back and forth between UK and Germany for the last 15 years with UK (mph) cars in Europe, and Europe (kmh) cars in UK. I have those speed you listed and more engraved in my brain. On the other hand though, if the option to display a digital readout of your speed in MPH while the speedo dial shows KMH I find quite appealing. We all know it can be done with GPS (via an idrive hidden screen somewhere, or by an external GPS device like my Nokia N95 phone), but having it right in the middle of the speedo and rev counter while still being able to use the iDrive for navigation maps is extremely appealing.

 

Huh, I thought that if you change the units from "km" to "mph" it would show the current speed in mph. I have HUD and if I change the units, it shows mph on the HUD. I thought that it would show on the information menu as well.

 

it still cant get over why a car thats expensive and luxurious as a BMW would not have this option. I had to take my car in for service one day and the dealer gave me a loaner car, it was a Buick Regal. The speedo on that car only had one set of numbers and was showing Kmh. I started to fiddle around with all the buttons and picked Mph for all the readings, the Kmh on the speedo disappeared and Mph appeared. I started to go and it was reading Mph intead. Light bulb went off in my head and thought there would be a similar function on our cars but came to find out there is not.