[Fox530]

I absolutely love my Nav. Not for the nav, but because of the way it integrates into the car and provides such an awesome way of organising music, fiddling with settings, etc etc.

If I wanted to control everything in my car from a two line orange monochrome display then I'd rather save money and buy an E46.

IDrive just makes everything feel so modern.

[dxb335d]

Agree entirely!

[Nick999]

Originally Posted by Fox530

I absolutely love my Nav. Not for the nav, but because of the way it integrates into the car and provides such an awesome way of organising music, fiddling with settings, etc etc.

If I wanted to control everything in my car from a two line orange monochrome display then I'd rather save money and buy an E46.

IDrive just makes everything feel so modern.

I can understand that, if you are really into music!!. I am happy with my usb / ipod incorporated into my professional hifi. I simply have about 20 albums loaded to a usb memory stick.

Couldnt be bothered with the controller knob thingy on the centre consol.

Is the nav as important to you as you heated seats, 19" alloys and sunroof,etc?

[F31-340i]

Originally Posted by Nick999

I can understand that, if you are really into music!!. I am happy with my usb / ipod incorporated into my professional hifi. I simply have about 20 albums loaded to a usb memory stick.

Couldnt be bothered with the controller knob thingy on the centre consol.

Is the nav as important to you as you heated seats, 19" alloys and sunroof,etc?

Are you related to anyone on here from the south west?

[Nick999]

Originally Posted by ///ajd

Are you related to anyone on here from the south west?

Dont think I'm related to any one else on this site, although there are 'I think' 5 BMW's in my family.. Plenty of relatives through out the South West tho'

Any one you have in mind?

[Fox530]

Originally Posted by Nick999

Is the nav as important to you as you heated seats, 19" alloys and sunroof,etc?

More so - as my car has neither heated seats, 19 inch wheels nor a sunroof (Though I'd have liked a sunroof). I specifically avoided 19's, though.

[chris_s1]

Originally Posted by Fox530

I absolutely love my Nav. Not for the nav, but because of the way it integrates into the car and provides such an awesome way of organising music, fiddling with settings, etc etc.

If I wanted to control everything in my car from a two line orange monochrome display then I'd rather save money and buy an E46.

IDrive just makes everything feel so modern.

This comment is spot on. Anyone who thinks that idrive is just sat-nav has completely missed the point.

I was a commited TomTom enthusiast for many years and wasn't interested in SatNav in my BMW when I was buying, but a demo model came up that I couldn't resist and it included the new HD based idrive.
Now I am a complete convert. It completely makes the car for me, it transforms the cabin and experience of being in the car.
I still use my TomTom regularly as I travel a lot and use a lot of hire cars but I certainly don't miss it when using the idrive satnav, I wouldn't say its better at all. Any little features TomTom may have are easily outweighed by the idrive's bigger screen, send from google maps, better traffic updates, not having cables cluttering up the place, integration with other systems etc etc.

Next time I come to buy, I would sooner drop an engine level than loose idrive if funds were tight. (But then I do 25k/yr and have an M3 for when I'm feeling naughty, so its an easier call for me than most).

And I still don't get people's obsession with leather, cloth seats all the way for me. Only think I dislike about my M3 is the leather seats.

[Nick999]

Originally Posted by Fox530

More so - as my car has neither heated seats, 19 inch wheels nor a sunroof (Though I'd have liked a sunroof). I specifically avoided 19's, though.

Just goes to show we all like different spec, colour etc on our cars. For me all those options were a must. Nav I can take or leave. I dont use my car for work, so very rare I need nav.

It would be a boring world if we all liked the same cars. I really fancied a 3.8 Porsche 997 Carrera S, but the missus said she wouldnt be seen dead in one, so it was another Beemer, although she wanted me to get a TTS. But I had to draw the line some where.

[Sir_Pigley]

Originally Posted by Nick999

Any chance you could have a deal on the white 335? Looks like a nice car

No chance: the car belongs to the hire company. Their business specialise in supplying cars to people like me - who need an equivalent car when theirs has been incapacitated by an at fault 3rd party.

Even if it were available it would be too expensive for me.

It has given me a hankering after an e92 though. This one looks quite nice but a little expensive in asking price. Blue e92

Look what this idiot has done to this one: Doh!!!

It's no wonder it has been for sale for the entire 4 weeks I have been looking, even after dropping his price considerably.

[Nick999]

Originally Posted by jdcampbell

No chance: the car belongs to the hire company. Their business specialise in supplying cars to people like me - who need an equivalent car when theirs has been incapacitated by an at fault 3rd party.

Even if it were available it would be too expensive for me.

It has given me a hankering after an e92 though. This one looks quite nice but a little expensive in asking price. Blue e92

Look what this idiot has done to this one: Doh!!!

It's no wonder it has been for sale for the entire 4 weeks I have been looking, even after dropping his price considerably.

Lol. You would have to sort that out!!!

Both lovely cars tho. and manual gearbox

Seems like good prices too.

I would go for the blue one, slightly lower mileage, and not been fucked with! Although I prefer the colour of the other one

[225_AB]

Entirely agree with comments about it being more than just Nav which some keep referring to the I drive as. It is so much more.
Hdd Nav
Music interface
Google
Radio control
Vehicle information
BMW services
No trailing wires
If I had another BMW would have to have idrive with connected drive.

[toxicnerve]

Originally Posted by Fox530

I absolutely love my Nav. Not for the nav, but because of the way it integrates into the car and provides such an awesome way of organising music, fiddling with settings, etc etc.

If I wanted to control everything in my car from a two line orange monochrome display then I'd rather save money and buy an E46.

IDrive just makes everything feel so modern.

+1. That's exactly it. The nav function is pretty good on the latest CIC hard-drive based iDrive but the fact that it integrates a lot of other aspects of the car is what makes the package feel "complete".

Originally Posted by Nick999

I can understand that, if you are really into music!!. I am happy with my usb / ipod incorporated into my professional hifi. I simply have about 20 albums loaded to a usb memory stick.

Couldnt be bothered with the controller knob thingy on the centre consol.

Is the nav as important to you as you heated seats, 19" alloys and sunroof,etc?

Pretty much yes. Though I don't have a sunroof, would be nice but no essential IMO as you have climate control.

Originally Posted by ///ajd

Are you related to anyone on here from the south west?

Who might that be then

Originally Posted by Nick999

Dont think I'm related to any one else on this site, although there are 'I think' 5 BMW's in my family.. Plenty of relatives through out the South West tho'

Any one you have in mind?

He's taking the piss. There's another member (who's been awfully quiet as of late, banned?) how also doesn't like nav etc.

[gIzzE]

I love the iDrive too.

See, now for me there are certain options that I would rather avoid, one of which is a sunroof, hate the things when they start rattling or vibrating, and would have 18's over 19's, plus I prefer the alcantara interior over leather.

I would think that 90% of the BMWs out there under 3 years old are financed, and when you finance adding options adds serious amounts each month.
You also have to remember just how many cars BMW put onto the road each year, and these always seem to be leather and.....yep that's about it. So buy a 6 month old pre regged car and it probably won't have nav.

I have been looking at X1's and don't care about leather or nav, as I want a manual sDrive car as cheap as possible, as long as it has a prof radio I am happy. It is a second car that does 6000 miles a year, I wouldn't bother with iDrive on that, and I am sure many are the same. However in my main car that does 20-40k miles a year it is a must.

[kaishang]

I've said this before: readers of the E9X UK branch are largely a self selecting group who like iDrive.

If you go on the US branch, iDrive is a lot less popular. If you actually eyeball E90s on UK roads, iDrive/Nav is nowhere near as common as this UK forum branch may make you think. There are plenty of late model BMWs which would have been £40k on the road with no nav.

[F31-340i]

It is very engine dependant as mentioned above.

Do a bmw.co.uk search on all Touring 330/335 models - there are 61 for sale nationally - 48 have Navigation - or 80%.

Do the same for some Touring 318i/ds (ignoring the business/edition models) and a trawl picks up 91 for sale - of which 3 have Nav - or 3%.

[kaishang]

Originally Posted by Fox530

I absolutely love my Nav. Not for the nav, but because of the way it integrates into the car and provides such an awesome way of organising music, fiddling with settings, etc etc.

If I wanted to control everything in my car from a two line orange monochrome display then I'd rather save money and buy an E46.

IDrive just makes everything feel so modern.

This is one view, and it's a valid view. However what are these "so much more than nav" benefits? If you check the oil level, it gives you a pretty pic of the engine coloured green instead of an orange bar graph on no-iDrive cars. The whole system is like that, it gives you a menu system and pretty pics when a single dedicated button is sufficient.

iDrive reminds me of "multimedia computers" from the mid-90s. They could sort of do stuff, but they had limited functions in comparison to their complexity and when it came down to it, it was easier to use a dedicated device instead.

Maybe in a few more years it will be more useful.

And it's only about the last year there has been a full postcode database, or in car Google search and there are still no speed camera warnings.

[Fox530]

Originally Posted by kaishang

This is one view, and it's a valid view. However what are these "so much more than nav" benefits? If you check the oil level, it gives you a pretty pic of the engine coloured green instead of an orange bar graph on no-iDrive cars. The whole system is like that, it gives you a menu system and pretty pics when a single dedicated button is sufficient.

I love menu systems and pretty pics.

[toxicnerve]

One feature that I love is the ability to send a destination directly from Google Maps (on my PC) straight to the car.

Totally worth it!

[p1tse]

Originally Posted by toxicnerve

One feature that I love is the ability to send a destination directly from Google Maps (on my PC) straight to the car.

Totally worth it!

really, how does that work?

[Nick999]

Originally Posted by toxicnerve

Who might that be then



He's taking the piss. There's another member (who's been awfully quiet as of late, banned?) how also doesn't like nav etc.

That went straight over my head.. I'm not him.. Dont know who he is.

Must be wierd French humor

As for the whole nav /idrive thing.. Looks like my theory is panning out.. Most nav cars seem to be ordered with a lower options spec than non nav cars. Seems like the whole £2k budget was wasted on this single option.. So only standard 18" wheels fitted, no heated seats or sunroof, and in many cases even NO leather!!

A £130 TomTom has google maps and speed camera sites, plus ofcourse 7 digit post code. If owners had opted for this they could be enjoying their NON-RATTLING sunroof. It's a BMW not a 1979 Ford Capri!!!

Although all this technology makes me hanker back to my Sierra Cosworth's in the 1990's. NO technology, just a pure drivers car!!

[chris_s1]

Are you Clarkson in disguise? He doesn't understand iDrive either

[jquan1]

I looked for 18 months to find a Graphite grey, E92 330D in manual with Sat-Nav and black leather. I wasn't willing to comprimise being its the most I've ever spent on a car.
Now I've got it I wish I'd waited for one with USB and the loud speaker system - but you can't have it all I guess.

Nav was a deal breaker for me, the interior looks and feels so much better with nav IMO.