[richjamison]

Ok, so I just bought my first bimmer, a 2007 328i. It's got these cool buttons on the steering wheel that look like a phone and a talking head. I have read through the user manual on these features yet the buttons seem to do nothing. The menu structure that the owner manual outlines doesn't seem to exist in my car to utilize these buttons either. There is a phone button located on the left side of my stereo also, which also does nothing.

My question is: would these buttons be present in my car if the respective features weren't included? The specs sheet seems to indicate that these are standard equipment.

This is what my interior looks like.


Much Thanks,

Rich

[tj9]

Does your car have the bluetooth option?

[MrDummy]

I know mine the salesmen said it did have it, but my 2 buttons do nothing as well, so I think he lied, and I dont have the original manual for the vehicle.

So I just left mine alone.

[Nr!qUe]

I have these, they're dummy buttons. I wish i could rewire them to change the track so that its on my left side and i dont have to take my hand away from the shifter when i want to change a song.

[VTECaddict]

They all have them, and they do nothing unless you have Bluetooth or iDrive.

[carve]

If you have blutooth, when you push the head button, it'll prompt you by saying "Please say a command". The button with a phone answers the phone, hangs up, or dials the last number you called. The voice controls without iDrive suck anyway though. It doesn't read your phonebook, so you have to save each phone number to the car manually by saying the numbers. The manual doesn't even tell you how to do it right, either (it says you have to say "Save name" instead of "store name" or vice versa). It takes about 8 attempts to store a phone number because the voice recognition is so bad. The voice recognition on my old Motorola Razr was 10x as good.

I think premium package is required for bluetooth.

[cotmfk]

Sorry brosef!

[richjamison]

so i am assuming that i can add these options at a later date otherwise it's pointless for the car to even have the buttons.

[carve]

You probably could with plenty of effort, but I think the point of the buttons in your car is to fill the hole.

[tim818]

Unless you have BMW Assist option (standard with ZPP, optional a la carte), you do not have Bluetooth built-in. Those buttons will do nothing other than exercising thumb muscle. That said, you can retrofit the BT and/or BMW Assist, but be prepared to shell out some serious money.

Tim

[dreamingat30fps]

Yeah they just use the same wheel for many cars some with some without. My 335 has them working however the 128 has the same exact steering wheel, but those buttons don't do anything. BMW is not alone in this I've had several VWs with phone buttons on the wheel when they didnt even offer a bluetooth option on the car.

[ShopVac]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

Yeah they just use the same wheel for many cars some with some without. My 335 has them working however the 128 has the same exact steering wheel, but those buttons don't do anything. BMW is not alone in this I've had several VWs with phone buttons on the wheel when they didnt even offer a bluetooth option on the car.

Yep...they are dead buttons in my MINI too. Sh!t a brick when I heard the cost of adding it. Figured it was best just not to take my phone in the car.

Thing is...it sounds really nice in the BMW.

[richjamison]

ok, well... i'm not too disappointed. i was just looking for as many gadgets to play with as i could. i love the car anyway. thanks everyone.

[Oulixes]

Originally Posted by richjamison

Ok, so I just bought my first bimmer, a 2007 328i. It's got these cool buttons on the steering wheel that look like a phone and a talking head. I have read through the user manual on these features yet the buttons seem to do nothing. The menu structure that the owner manual outlines doesn't seem to exist in my car to utilize these buttons either. There is a phone button located on the left side of my stereo also, which also does nothing.

My question is: would these buttons be present in my car if the respective features weren't included? The specs sheet seems to indicate that these are standard equipment.

Much Thanks,

Rich

I am not sure of MY2007 cars, but MY2006 330(x)i without Bluetooth had the same steering wheel as the cars that had Bluetooth - the pushbuttons in these Bluetooth-less cars did not function.