Hi,

This friday I will be visiting the BMW plant in Dingolfing where 5-,6- and 7- (and where Z8 used to be) series are build.

These are the some questions I will ask:

What about bluetooth:
1) When will the retrokit will be available toward NavPro cars (like mine)
2) What types of mobile phones will work with bluetooth (Will the SE P900 be supported in the future like some rumours are mentioning?)

MP3
1) When is MP3-support going to be activated? (is it true that it won't be until march 2005?)
2) What about the latest IPod-news, will it be (made) compatible with 5,6,7 (Idrive cars)

Probably other questions will popup when I'm there, but I'm sure I'm missing several important other questions from this board .

Any other questions you want me to ask?

Grtz

I'm well aware that some information won't be released, but again I'm pretty sure some questions will be answered!

dvw,

Good luck getting the answers to your questions. Something tells me that whomever you end up talking to will give you the "I don't know" routine. Hopefully, I'm wrong about this!

Once you're finished getting the lowdown on Bluetooth, if you can, see what you can learn about the problem with NavPro and Sirius satellite radio here in the US. Will satellite prepped cars have a retrofit available in the fall? (That's the current line we're getting over here.)

Good luck and thanks!

The BT kit from BMW isn't going to change... meaning what you need on the phone is:

- BT Handsfree Profile
- Voice/Mic Transmit ONLY during call (as a setting), or voice transfer forced back on during a call (without this phones like the 6600 and 3650 will initiate pair, work for reciieving calls, but won't get audio)
- Emulates Nokia Series 40 (non Symbian) address book Sync over handsfree profile.

It must be a very rewarding experience that you could make a visit to the birth place of E60s. I am very interested to find out the quality control the plant imposes on the new BMWs. Given the many negative feedback on software glitches and problems, it will be good that you can share with us what are their comments on the reliability issues.

It's not likely your guide will be able to answer any of these questions.


-paasan

The thing is, that the plant in Dingolfing manufactures the structural chassis, body panels, and maybe some interior components and suspension bits, and then assembles all the parts into the final car. Stuff like the iDrive gear and software comes from a totally separate company (Bosch, I think) and the plant just installs it in the appropriate location. Even the active steering system is made by ZF (same as the manual transmission), and the SMG system is made by someone else.

The E60 build quality is first rate, and in the DVD that came with my owner's manual, it mentions that the E60 assembly line was the first to incorporate laser dimension-checking on the line, and not in a separate QA section.

BMW has to rely on its suppliers to provide the outsourced subsystems in correct, working order. Now, I think that BMW is responsible for doing the final integration testing, but it's also the suppliers' responsibility to make sure that their bits work correctly.

Having said all that, I would still like to go to Dingolfing and see how they make our cars.

-MrB

MrBelk,

You are correct that the issues we have with are cars is clearly not related to anything happening at the factory. Software problems and other incompatibilities are a result of earlier design snafus and not the build/assembly process.

If you haven't already done it, cruise on over to Spartanburg, SC and take a tour of the plant there. They make Z4's and X5's there but I understand that the process is pretty close to what they're doing in Dingolfing. (CCA members get a discount on admission.)

Also, I think paasan is correct that the guide is not going to give information, even in the unlikely event that they're privvy to such info!

dvw,

Do you have to make a reservation for the tour or do you just show up there? Is there a number you call to make a reservation? My car is scheduled for week 30 production and would like to go for a tour that week just to pretend I can see my car on the line. That would be a hoot!

You have to make reservations. You can go to BMW Group, then select production and below that select production tours, and you can get the number to call and set up the appointment. If you have children then you may have to leave them at a hotel with the wife unless they are over the age of 14.