g8ordoc

All you need to do is spend some time with the vehicle's systems to appreciate the technology. Like anything else, you have to spend a little time to master. Most of the reviewers only spend a few hours with the car...all the writers jump on the bandwagon about Bimmer iDrive, since it was the first. You can also use voice commands, but that would involve spending time with the car too. And then the comparisons are against iDrive...like Audi and now Merc all have...same thing, but different formats. What's the alternative, have dozens of buttons on the dash like Lexus or others...which of course still gets heat from the automotive press. Make up your mind...either learn to live with it or drive something else...or I say, "Do what you're supposed to do in your car...drive and shut your hole".

my530i

I don't bother to read the article. Waste my time for reading other post!

Iceman

There's only one thing I have to say:

WHO CARES?

swajames

Whether you looked at it or not the Jag S type is indeed a direct class competitor to the E60 so the question was appropriate.

On the subject of the article itself, the guy is only posting what pretty much every AUTO journalist has committed to print in their reviews and commentary on the E60 and now the E90. We may not agree with it but this isn't an isolated opinion. In fact, as a middle class professional he's probably right in BMW's target demographic - and where the majority of buyers looking at luxury cars spend their money elsewhere. The Wall St Journal noted that only 400,000 of the 1.9 million buyers that are in BMW's target demographic actually considered a BMW. Much as I personally like iDrive I can understand why others don't (or don't want to) get it.

VIIV

Exactly right. You know what they say about paradigms....shift happens. BMW is leading the way and taking the brunt of the criticism becuase of it, but we all do more in and with our cars than just drive. Sure, it's great to be a purist and pine for pure driving experience, but look at the forum. Most of us want our iPod connection, but also have CD's, DVD, many use and need NAV, we use bluetooth so we can use our cells without fumbling with the phone itself, and so on. If the method of control wouldn't change, we'd be overrun with buttons on stalks, the dash, door panels, etc. And it wouldn't just look ugly, it would be hard to use. Taken individually, like the car mags do ("it's harder to change the radio station than in my old Galaxie") the steps might seem like a step backwards and less user friendly. Seen holistically, it makes a lot more sense.

Humans don't like change. Whatever is familiar is better, even when it isn't. For a simple, pure driving experience like a Lotus, great, no need for iDrive. Throw out the air conditioning and radio too, while you're at it. But for an e60 class car, the new interface really is the only way to go.

g8ordoc

Agreed...by far iDrive is the best solution to dozens of buttons on the dash. Others are following and iDrive WILL be the standard to which all others will be judged.

swajames

iDrive may have been first, but others do it better. Button reduction rather than button elimination is the best compromise. In my view it is the comparative slowness of the BMW interface that is by far its most significant shortcoming. The response speed on what is after all a user interface, most acutely on the navigation menus, is unacceptably slow. This lack of speed rather than the interface design is primarily what damages the user experience and introduces the most frustration. As I said above, I like iDrive but its execution as it stands today is poor.

MaxBuck

Having considered the Audi A6 and the Acura RL, both of which have I-drive hybrid types of control systems, I must say I think pure I-drive better suits MY needs. One of the things about user interfaces is that different people prefer different things. The voice commands in the e60 are awesome!

300TTto545

Totally agree. Little things like waiting for the stereo when I first get in the car is annoying. And - for Nav - the results are so slow that it is distracting. Idrive looks like it was rushed to market and really needs more computing power so that inputs are instantaneous.

Love the concept. Hate the execution.

Wilchwitz

Living on Long Island I've been reading this guy's auto tests for several years, mostly for comic relief. His reports are generally shallow and superficial with none of the substance one would expect from a reporter who actually understands his subject. More often than not he completely misses the point.

His discussion of I-drive is a repeat of what others have said, most of it old news. Unfortunately, in today's media, if you repeat something often enough, it becomes accepted as fact. This is, I believe, the situation with I-Drive. The original which appeared on the re-designed Seven completely confused the automotive press. They didn't understand it, they didn't know how to use it and they didn't try to learn. This impression continues to this day in spite of many other cars now copying the concept. For a writer with limited knowledge, like Incantalupo, it's much easier and safer to follow the crowd.

I think that BMW is paying the penalty of leadership with I-Drive. It was the first and those car companies that followed have all made improvements. So will BMW in future versions, I am sure. As cars become more complicated and buyers (that's you and me) demand more features, a user interface along the I-Drive concept will become commonplace in all cars. Maybe then a writer with limited scope will finally "get it".