[KEVIN88GT]

so far I like the whole I-drive interface and after about a month long learning curve coming from an 06 A4 to the bmw.... HOWEVER the Navi stinks... it wont let you pick your own route.... I constantly have to look to the route list to see which way it's going to take me.... and for exaple if I know it's much better to take Highway X instead of Highway Y to get to a certain destination (but dont know how to get to highway X from where I am...hence I'm using the navi) I cant change the route to make it take highway X..

With the Audi I was able to flip the dial and watch the routes change on the map....

Am I doing something wrong???

Also cant find Points of interests in the navi.... where the heck are they?

[KEVIN88GT]

37 views and no one agrees? or knows about Points of Interest?

[saosinned]

I'm just waiting to see a response. My car isn't quite here yet.

[Steage]

If you know how to get there why are you using navigation?

Points of interest are on the left, when you're in the map screen move the knob left and scroll down to the "i" (which stands for info) and choose either Info on Location/Destination/etc. and choose what you want to find.

[KEVIN88GT]

I don't know HOW to get there.. I know which highway I'd rather take... please read my post carefully...thanks for the info on POI....

[Steage]

The best solution is probably to sell your BMW and get another Audi.

[saosinned]

Originally Posted by JeremyDS

The best solution is probably to sell your BMW and get another Audi.

I can think of many situations where i'd like to choose a specific highway to get somewhere I've never been before. It may be different in cincinatti, but in bigger cities you have to pick the right highway (when multiple highways could get you to the same place) or else you'll get stuck in terrible traffic or go out of your way when you don't need to.

I don't have my car yet (should be here this week) and I've never had a nav system in a car, but I assumed it would be possible to modify a route when you know something about the trip that the computer doesn't.

[ibimmer954]

I was using my Nav last weekend. While you are in a route and the big map is being displayed, there are icons on the left side of the screen. One of the icons, when selected, gives you a whole bunch of different route options. Stuff like "avoid highways, blah, blah, blah". I remember more than one page of options. So maybe you can't pick your route directly but you can give it guidance in to what you are looking for.

[AoshichanX]

Just take the route you like...

it will recalculate the route a few times (3-4 times) then it will finally acknowledge your given route.

[rrandyy]

Originally Posted by AoshichanX

Just take the route you like...

He doesnt know how to get to the freeway he wants to take.

OP: There is no good answer for this. Your best bet is to just look at the map and try to head towards the freeway you're looking to take.

[spacedogg]

Originally Posted by rrandyy

He doesnt know how to get to the freeway he wants to take.

OP: There is no good answer for this. Your best bet is to just look at the map and try to head towards the freeway you're looking to take.

Wow...I don't have nav...but that would infuriate me. Even the Lexus nav gives you the option of 3 different routes (quick 1 = quickest route using as much highways as possible quick2 = alternate quickest route using as much highways as possible, quick3 = shortest route in terms of distance).

[hotrod2448]

Well, It has traffic info so, if you live in a big enough area to have to choose one highway over another at a certain time of day it should also be big enough to RTTI.

As far wanting to take one highway over another just because, you should be able to pan out until you see the highway you want then pick it or something near by it as your destination. Once you get there put in your original destination.

It gives you options of, dynamic route (changes you route according to RTTI), quick route, and a few other options.

[BK]

Originally Posted by spacedogg

Wow...I don't have nav...but that would infuriate me. Even the Lexus nav gives you the option of 3 different routes (quick 1 = quickest route using as much highways as possible quick2 = alternate quickest route using as much highways as possible, quick3 = shortest route in terms of distance).

You may misunderstand the question. The BMW nav allows for choosing the usual route preferences like fastest route, maximize highways, avoid highways, avoid toll roads, etc. Same as Lexus.

The OP is saying he wants to take a particular highway as part of his route, but doesn't know where that highway is. I am pretty familiar with nav systems, and don't know of any that do this. Garmins have a "waypoint" concept that I guess would do what the OP wants (choose a waypoint on the map and add it to your route). But you need to know where on the map your waypoint is in order to use this feature. BMW can do essentially the same thing if you just scroll on the map to your "waypoint" and click on it to direct you there, then choose your original destination from the recent destinations list.

Really, I wouldn't even bother with that. I think the best way to use a particular road on your route is just drive there and let the nav recalculate the route as you go. You don't need to get a map since there's one built into your nav already. Just zoom out. Put it in north up if you want. You should be able to see how to get where you want, just like reading any other map. And of course, you can also scroll and click on a point to have the nav direct you there. So if you really want to, just click on the highway you want, get directed there, then choose your original destination.

[ROCKETRON]

How do you click on a point. When you turn i-drive it zooms in and out , i haven't seen a cursor on the screen to pinpoint a spot, and then how do you get a direction to that spot. As you can probably gather i haven't played with my nav that much as i am usually driving and so not able to find all the facilities..

[stingq]

bottom line is that BMW's navigation is a piece of S#*&! After being spoiled with lexus's navigation....i don't even bother with using BMW's navigation unless i'm already driving the car and suddently decide to go somewhere that i don't know the way to.

[BK]

Originally Posted by ROCKETRON

How do you click on a point. When you turn i-drive it zooms in and out , i haven't seen a cursor on the screen to pinpoint a spot, and then how do you get a direction to that spot. As you can probably gather i haven't played with my nav that much as i am usually driving and so not able to find all the facilities..

It's one of the icon choices - it looks like crosshairs. Then you can turn to zoom in or out, push in 8 directions to scroll the map, click to mark a point to go to.

Really, the BMW nav is not that bad, and it will do most things you want from a nav. I have some complaints, but there are worse and overall, I'd definitely get it again. None of the in-car systems are as good as portable systems when it comes to the interface and customization. I'd just love to see a car manufacturer outsource the nav to Garmin sometime (or maybe they do, but Garmin intentionally doesn't make them great to keep selling their portables!).

[Kamando]

Originally Posted by BK

It's one of the icon choices - it looks like crosshairs. Then you can turn to zoom in or out, push in 8 directions to scroll the map, click to mark a point to go to.

Really, the BMW nav is not that bad, and it will do most things you want from a nav. I have some complaints, but there are worse and overall, I'd definitely get it again. None of the in-car systems are as good as portable systems when it comes to the interface and customization. I'd just love to see a car manufacturer outsource the nav to Garmin sometime (or maybe they do, but Garmin intentionally doesn't make them great to keep selling their portables!).

+1 the voice command is "atlas mode on"

[pharding]

Just select the point that you want to go to using the cross-hair selector. It could be a point on an expressway in your case. Let the I-drive take you there. Then using the final destination from your address book, let the I-drive take you there.

[KEVIN88GT]

wow good idea..... thanks

[SteveMD]

Originally Posted by stingq

bottom line is that BMW's navigation is a piece of S#*&! After being spoiled with lexus's navigation....i don't even bother with using BMW's navigation unless i'm already driving the car and suddently decide to go somewhere that i don't know the way to.

Put on your flak jacket. Even though the nav does suck, it is blasphemous to even suggest that that is the case. You will be flamed here and accused of simply not having the IQ to operate the iDrive correctly. Dummy!

Try as you may, you will never get the fanboys to admit that the NAV really really sucks and is out performed by a very basic $200 Garmin Nuvi.

[PiperD]

You can also try the "New route" feature, but you still can't select a specific route - only have the system calculate an alternate route for x kilometers/miles

[KEVIN88GT]

tried that new route for x miles..... didnt work out too well...