[Nathan]

Need it, want it, love it. Nuff said.

[silverado]

collinp,

I am a Treo 650 user myself and I read decent success stories when pairing with other modern BMW's. Take a look at this thread for example. I should be picking up my e90 in the next couple of days and you know this is one of the first things I'd try.

I AM getting iDrive. I used navigation with my Treo and can't live without it. I can't wait to use it with a dedicated, larger screen.

CaptJack: Thanks for your comments. However, do you think it's fair to use studies done for NASA for jet aircraft navigation and spacecraft control to judge a system that's only to be used in a car? I'm sure MANY things used in cars would cause aircrafts to crash if you install it in them

I am yet to use the system, but I will reserve final judgement until I do. However, I'll say that I find the reduction of number of buttons on the BMW dash to be a VERY welcome advancement!

[06&03Owner]

Have it in my E60 (530i) and I agree with CaptJack, it s**ks! The iDrive has some very poorly designed features. Don't know how it is on the 3 but on the 5 you don't have anymore the good ol' seek and scan buttons, so ket's say you drive out of your local area, and your presets don't work anymore, you have to go into the iDrive system and go thru I don't even know how many options just to set your system to "manual" and then again go thru the iDrive to seek or scan. Then when you come back into your area go into the iDrive and switch everything back to presets, and be very careful because you might erase the presets by mistake, which is another pain to set back...

[deutschmann59]

Here's an older post that may be helpful. There are some lengthy reviews of the iDrive here.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=707

[e90fanatic]

Despite all the negative feedbacks on the idrive, Im still getting it. It's a nice technology to play with and it comes as an integration device for the car. Perhaps we should start asking the age of some members because age groups definitely play a role in the view since with the generation X people like me (i'm 23), all of us were born with the gadgets and computers. Others may have more difficulty coping with it. Just depends how comfortable are you with techs. I think the 7 series idrive setup is complicated but not impossible to use. It took me about 5 minutes to learn but I heard that some people took 90minutes or more. But the idrive in the 3er will be a more simplified system.

[Athos]

Originally Posted by e90fanatic

Despite all the negative feedbacks on the idrive, Im still getting it. It's a nice technology to play with and it comes as an integration device for the car. Perhaps we should start asking the age of some members because age groups definitely play a role in the view since with the generation X people like me (i'm 23), all of us were born with the gadgets and computers. Others may have more difficulty coping with it. Just depends how comfortable are you with techs. I think the 7 series idrive setup is complicated but not impossible to use. It took me about 5 minutes to learn but I heard that some people took 90minutes or more. But the idrive in the 3er will be a more simplified system.

Hmmm...nice try on the age theory but I don't think so. Presumably, most of the geezers on this board are familiar enough with computers, etc. to be using this forum. I'm in my late 40s and I'm very comfortable with electronics technology, having worked in the high tech industry for my entire adult life. In this respect, I think I'm pretty representative for people my age and older on this board (judging from the comments I've seen so far.) Information technology and consumer electronics have been around for a long time now. iDrive and nav are very easy for me to figure out. I just don't think they're particularly well-executed technologies, and, for me anyway, they are simply not worth the money. Besides, I'm buying a BMW for its driving dynamics and overall refinement--not to diddle with the electronics.

[eshamas21]

thats funny u say that because my dad has 04 745Li with iDrive and i really dislike the system i feel it should be made more user friendly... for example its not that easy to navigate through the menus with that damn knob that for some reason never gets u to where u want to go. all im trying to say is when were paying some much for our cars i think we should get the best navigation system is there is.

[Armen52]

I'm a CS grad from UC Berkeley, I use computers and software every day for a living. iDrive definitely has LOTS of room for improvement. Not only do I not agree with the interface they are pushing (one knob does EVERYTHING) but I also think that as a value proposition it doesn't fly. $2000 for maps? I'm gonna need to get lost a helluva lot of times before that becomes worthwhile to me. For real estate people or others always on the go to new places its worth it but not for me.

I would like to be able to change some of the options on my car myself though in a car without iDrive. What they should do is provide a consumer-level interface similar but dumbed down from the one the service department at the dealer has. I could hook my laptop up to my E90 and change those settings along with get some more detailed trip computer info or something along those lines.

[pharding]

I have the I-Drive on my 545 which I have driven for a year. I like Nav/ I-Drive a lot. People that have it on an e60 in general are quite happy with it. Go to e60.net. The I-Drive on the 7 er is more complicated and was updated on the 06 750. Generally the critics do not use it on a daily basis. My son ordered the I-Drive / Nav on his e90.

[06&03Owner]

It is not age. It is not lack of computer saavy...

It is bad design and implementation from BMW on the iDrive...

[JBOO]

For me it does seem that most people that actually have iDrive ... like it.
The version in the first 7 series was more difficult, so I could see some complaints from their owners. I agree there's room for improvement, but considering it was the first of it's kind, I wouldn't say it was a bad design. I personally haven't seen anything better yet. If I had higher expectations, maybe I would complain that it doesn't things that seem common in the computer world, but again, it's the first of it's kind and it will take time to improve. I also don't see it as $2K for some maps. Most manufactures charge at least $1K for navigation alone, so for $1K more you're getting a completely diffferent dash and the integrated controls of iDrive, plus more depending on your options (Visual PDC, Bluetooth, BMW assist, etc). I'm not sure what the complaints were about the radio interface, but I love how it visually shows me all the local stations. All I have to do is dial through to station I want. Fairly simple in my opinion. Again, I have used it for 6 months and would never buy a BMW without it (given the choice)

[matrix]

Funny how most owners of Idrive/Nav equipped cars said they would "never buy another BMW without it." Mayble they know something the Idrive/Nav bashers don't know, given that most of the bashers don't have it in their cars.

[RedStripe]

(Sorry to the hardcore forum followers for seeing this post for the sixteenth thousandth time now, and to e90fleet who has given me such great feedback, but I was hoping to get some posts by others in the know)

Ok, I want to finalize my order soon, and I've come to realize I would really value the iDrive mainly for the Navigation utility. However, I refuse to compromise the mp3 play ability of the in-dash CD player after paying $2000 more for this option.

I'm really hopeful that, as discussed in other threads here, it would be viable to upgrade the Professional radio included in US spec iDrive/Nav systems through a software update which would give it mp3 play capability.

However, I want to make as sure as possible before ordering. Does anyone have a definitive answer on whether lack of mp3 play capability for the in-dash CD player in US e90's with iDrive is due to lack of software or is a hardware issue (like the lack of a chip or chipset) and this mp3 playback deficiency was simply inherent in the physical equipment of the iDrive in-dash CD & Nav. DVD unit?

Is there anyway to contact an official at BMW directly to see if this will be the case? I would rather hear from someone with direct contact to a BMW engineer/designer/developer on this instead of a salesperson at a local dealership. Does anyone have any contact info for something like this? Thanks.