[LarryK1000]

OK, my nephew just got his new 550. I drove it home and programmed the car for him. (My 330 with i-Drive is on order.)

First, the i-Drive is kind of a pain in the a**. It takes a lot of extra work to do things. My best friend got his 325 two weeks ago without i-Drive and I have to say, it's a pleasure. You have all of the radio and telephone choices in front of you all the time. Really easy.

Second, I made an MP3 disk and played it in both cars. In the 325 without i-Drive, the file structure of the disk appeared on the radio. There were folders for each singer and within each folder was all of the songs for that particular singer. In the i-Drive system, only the Song Titles appeared. And, the order was not clear. So, this is a real limitation. I will have to explore further when I get my new car in June.

So, first impressions after 2 hours is that i-Drive is a pain. We'll see if this changes with practice.

Larry

[RustyR]

Do you have to voice command module?

I find using voice commands takes away the pain of using the i-Drive controller which is sluggish.

Try and see how it goes/

--RustyR

[BzsBimmer]

I actually prefer the idrive.
I had the chance to use a loaner car without the idrive and I didn't like how all of the buttons were combined with the radio buttons and made you look down from the car (too far forward).
At least with the idrive the screen is in the next pod over from the instrument cluster.
I think it takes some getting used to but it also adds a cool factor
My .02 but willing to make change with it if you can convince me otherwise.

[CardinalZeus77]

I like the I-Drive and did not find it hard to use. The voice control makes life really easy.

Still its personal choice some people like it ... others don't!

Its a cracking car ... enjoy it!

[noflash]

I'm sick of computers already. No to iDive, instead I'llDrive.