Hello all,

I am new to the board and as usual have a question????

I have a 530d registered march 2006 (06 plate). It has professional nav.

I though it should have voice control (there is a button on the steering wheel) as it has the pro nav. I talked with my dealer who said it was an option until late 06 then it became standard. My car is an early 06 so it does not have it.

Can anyone confirm this.

Thanks

I have done a search but nothing appeared relevant.

 

What happens when you press it? I haven't used mine for weeks, so I can't remember if it just beeps or if it asks you to say your command and then beeps. If you don't hear a beep then you don't have basic voice command.

I'm no expert though, so maybe it can be that you only have voice control of your sat nav. Is that possible peeps? If so, go into your navigation screen where you're entering where you want to go, and try pressing it then. This might be complete nonsense I'm saying here. I don't know, I have the full voice.

Worst case is that they never made a multi-function steering wheel without that button, so you get it just to tease you.

It really is just a novelty in my opinion. It was never a feature that was important to me in my hunt for the right car. When I realised this car had it, I thought oh cool, but the novelty wears off very quickly. Now I never use it. Well, that's a lie. I used it at the weekend when I noticed that after my recent software update, my max speed limit warning had been nuked and I wanted it set at 130mph because I'm on my winter tyres.

 

There were some permutations of options:

Just Prof Nav (does not have the Voice)
Business Nav/Media (does not have the Voice as far as I know)
Prof Media (does have the Voice)
Voice was an option across the range

When you hit the button the radio will mute and you should hear a beep...

It does work well if you use it and makes that rather fiddly iDrive (especially when new) a bit easier to use

 

Yes indeed. Especially for something like the speed limit you can set. I found it a lot easier to press the button and shout "limit" at it, than to find it in the iDrive. It's not deeply hidden, but it's deep enough.

 

Mine is a March 2006. It wasn't standard on my model. I had it fitted just after purchase though for about 180 GBP IIRC.

You should have a split button (menu and voice) just behind the iDrive controller if you have it fitted. I only had a single Menu button at purchase. I think the button on the wheel is there for Bluetooth phone control.

Marc

 

The button on the wheel works for me for regular voice control (I don't have bluetooth installed).

 

Yep, sorry. I didn't make that clear. What I meant was if you don't have voice control then the voice button on the wheel is used for BT control (if you have it) instead.

 

The car was sold as having the media pack which includes the prof nav, bluetooth etc.

The button on the steering wheel is next to the phone button and does nothing (no beep or mute on radio).

I only have a single menu button behind the idrive controller.

Therefore I am a little confused still. It looks like I do not have voice activation, but I also have a button that does nothing.

 

I also have an 06 530d with business navigation, but I also have voice control (on my steering wheel).

 

Do you know whether that was an option on your car or standard?