Here is one example that I was pleasantly surprised to experience. I was on a date and I wanted to be spontaneous and take her to a restaurant that I had heard about which was about 40 min away. I had never been there before, so I used my navigation system to see if it was listed in the computer. To my delight, it was listed, and after I clicked on the restaurant, I was given the one click option (i-drive wheel) to call the establishment, as they have the phone numbers of all the businesses/restuarants stored. With the press of a button, the call was made through the bluetooth interface, and without lifting a finger I spoke to the host and made a reservation. After I hung up, the i-drive screen gave me a further option to choose it as my active destination. Voila! I'm on my way to the restaurant. All of this was done so effortlessly, as if someone were there to serve me personally.
Yes, a Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellan, etc. has powerful navigation functions, but here is just one example of the powerful integration capabilities that the i-drive has to offer.
Also, I think I impressed my date!
Sounds like a pretty worthwhile option to me....