Standard automotive journalist position: iDrive sucks!
Standard BMW response: You just don't get it.
The simple truth here is that iDrive offers a tremendous level of vehicle customization through an incredibly sophisticated and inefficient interface. Okay, maybe that wasn't so simple. Here's another way of saying it: You can do a lot of amazing things with iDrive, but many of them could be done better without it...
In a world with AM, FM and Sirius radio bands, plus MP3 auxiliary inputs, there are more reasons than ever to switch sound sources. In most cars this requires pressing a single button, though it might mean pressing it twice. In iDrive equipped BMWs it requires no less than five actions. That's a lot of work just to switch between Howard Stern (or Martha Stewart) and the local traffic report during a morning commute. After my drive home in a new 550 I can confirm that the rest of the car is, of course, fabulous from a driver's perspective and overall design/quality analysis. Exterior style continues to get mixed reactions, especially from BMW aficionados. And then there's the price, which like the Audi A6 is far too rich for my blood at $65,000. The price likely isn't an issue for most target customers, but I suspect iDrive still is -- even after four years of BMW insisting it's great.
Post-post follow-up: The above comments came after driving the 550 home last night. This morning, on the way in the iDrive did something else I can't stand -- it crashed. Yup, paying homage to the high-tech computer it is, the screen first froze and then went blank. I had to pull over and shut the car off, then re-start it to "reboot" iDrive. This happened to me in a 7 Series test car back in 2002, and I tried to write it off as "first year quirks." Guess I was wrong...
Categories: BMW
By robert4380
on July 25, 2006
04:22 PM
I'm certainly no novice when it comes to computers and such, but during a recent BMW "Drive for the cure" event my sister and I spent over half of our ride just trying to figure out how to turn the radio on in the 5 series I was driving. We sat in the parking lot for 10 minutes playing with it, and then thinking we looked like dorks just sitting there, we went on our way and finally figured it out. After going through a number of menus to manually tune in a station, we then weren't getting any sound and what do you know? The only way to adjust it is with the steering wheel radio controls. My sister did NOT like not being able to reach over from the passenger seat to fiddle with the volume at her whim. Ok, so I didn't mind that so much, haha. But still, once we did have sound it had way too much bass, and the only way I saw to change it was to move the 7 or 8 little sliders on the EQ settings, buried in yet more menus. Who in their right mind would attempt all this while driving? But yes, when I was actually focused on the driving, the car drove like a dream.
By jerrywimer
on July 26, 2006
05:03 AM
I'm not a BMW aficionado, but I agree with most of them about the exterior styling. It just plain stinks, especially compared to their past cars. The new 3xx photos shown recently are just as bad (or worse).
Back to the current post's topic- the iDrive. Specifically, the crash you experienced and the need to "reboot" it. Welcome to the new age of computerized everything in cars.
On the way to work I turned on the Bose headunit in the 2004 Silverado, and got no sound. But everything else appeared normal. For a minute I thought I might be going deaf, since all the controls and display were as expected, just without a whimper from the speakers. After pulling over at a local gas station, turning of the vehicle, opening the door (shutting down GMs Retained Accessory Power circuit to the audio), then restarting the truck, everything was normal. And it never occurred again.
Now the 2007 Avalanche has spooked me in a similar way, despite having a completely different supplier for its Bose headunit (no more Delco). But this time it wasn't the audio- it was the *turn signals*. As I was leaving for work I noticed that the signals weren't 'clicking' as they flashed. But again, everything else was normal. I began to suspect that maybe I'd completely imagined it ever clicking in the first place (didn't stop to restart the truck in this instance). After posting to an enthusiasts' site about the experience I was told that this was one of the things that stopped when another Av owner's stereo did what the Silverado's had done to me, so that the "click" had to somehow be linked to the headunit. (My stereo worked fine on the trip to work, btw). When I started the truck after work for the trip home I noted that everything, including the click, was back to normal.
Guess it just needed a reboot! :-P
By scott65
on July 26, 2006
05:04 PM
BMW vs. BMW customers over iDrive is baffling. Almost everyone hates it, or can think of a ton of ways it could be better but BMW doesn't budge and layes the blame at it's customers IQ. I can't think of any other examples of where a car maker so stubbornly ignores the requests of it's customer base over a multi year period.
By jimbob49
on November 25, 2006
10:26 AM
Why is everyone slamming the I Drive so hard? Are you too busy talking on your cell phone, smokng a cigarette and eating lunch to actually think while you drive? I've had a 530 for 3 years and will be receiving my new 550 next month. I Drive is straightforward, intuitive, and beats the heck out of having buttons all over the car. (Have you looked inside an A6 lately?) As for comments like the one from the reviewer that it "requires no less than five actions" to change modes on the sound system, that's just stupid. I can flip through mine with single touches to one of the control buttons on the steering wheel. To the person who has a problem with finding the volume control on the radio I would say "Look for the knob on the dash."
Maybe it would be useful if some folks actually took the time to find out how the car and its components work before writing "authoritative" reviews and comments.
By tom421
on December 27, 2006
05:00 PM
Like the last poster, I get very annoyed at complaints about the iDrive. I find it to be a very efficient way to control the complexity of the entertainment system. The alternative would be to have a multitude of (possibly multi function) buttons on the dash. I have had my 550 for over a year and after a few days with the iDrive, I have had no problems using it. If you can operate a PC, the iDrive is a piece of cake.