[JulieDriving]

I also had an excellent Garmin nuvi and portable satellite radio and wasn't going to get iDrive.

Well, I couldn't order the car I wanted but there was this beautiful car with everything I wanted..... + Nav/iDrive. Based on what I read about the improvements to the iDrive and particularly because of its superior satellite and dead reckoning capabilities (relevant to me because I drive often enough in areas where the signal getting knocked out is a significant frustration), I decided 'what the heck'...

Then, as I was waiting for my car, I started to doubt myself...

Then, AFTER I got the iDrive, I thought, Wow, this thing *is* really worth $2K. It has a slightly better Nav system as far as I'm concerned (better, earlier warnings), and the other stuff with iDrive (music, bluetooth - EDIT: Not bluetooth, which is a separate option, I meant cell phone contact list integration - etc.) is a bonus. I am really liking the ability to store a bunch of CD material on the hard-drive and its ability to reproduce iPod/MP3 player interfaces. I think the high-resolution screen looks really nice.

That said, is it a must-have? No way. But it doesn't make sense it compare it to a Garmin that costs a few hundred bucks, because it's not the same thing.