I Drive FAILED!

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zackrv8

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Hey guys....

I have a 335I with 500 miles on it. After 2 weeks the I Drive failed completely. The navigation screen has the BMW logo that switches to a blank screen and then starts the whole sequence all over again. No radio. No bluetooth. No satellite radio. No steering wheel controls.

Not too impressed with I Drive right now. Car has to go in for service after a couple of weeks and 500 miles.

Anyone else have this problem and what did they do to fix it?

Joe
 
CrimsonTurbo

CrimsonTurbo

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I havent had a problem with it at all. I did notice that I have t wait til the navigation finds my location (latitude and longitude) before I "Map direction of travel". That sucks though. Sorry to hear
 
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deutsch100

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Sorry about that. Our new 750Li with i-Drive has surprisingly had no issues, but my new X5 with i-Drive has had some snafus (sadly). Most times it is resolved by turning the car off, letting the system re-start and then it's ok. When mine has frozen, I have no access to any i-Drive settings/features (if you're aware of i-Drive, then you know...that's every setting). It's disgusting, that on a $60,000 car, you have to turn it off, to make the radio work [?|]

Sorry! I've heard that there is some new "software upgrade" for 2007 i-Drive equipped vehicles. Hopefully, that'll help you.

Keep us posted! I really think BMW is very stubborn, and German thick-headed to insist on keeping i-Drive. The vast majority, hate it. Yes, the "idea" of placing many functions in one location looks good on paper, but in the end, it's more work finding menus and sub menus, when it would have been easier, faster and safer to just push a button on the dashboard or steering wheel. Dickköpfige deutsche Schweine!!! :)
 
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dinan5i

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hi guys, thanks for the info.

for now, i'm sticking with KEYS instead of FOBS. I cannot believe that iDrive will be included in the next-gen BMWs. i think the techno should be fairly invisible. further, in the only few test drives i taken, i cannot imagine attempting to manipulate the iDrive controls while driving in my usual "spirited" fashion ... and i'm a FAA licensed pilot.

Crazy!
 
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deutsch100

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dinan5i said:
hi guys, thanks for the info.

for now, i'm sticking with KEYS instead of FOBS. I cannot believe that iDrive will be included in the next-gen BMWs. i think the techno should be fairly invisible. further, in the only few test drives i taken, i cannot imagine attempting to manipulate the iDrive controls while driving in my usual "spirited" fashion ... and i'm a FAA licensed pilot.

Crazy!
Click to expand...
I think i-Drive is actually dangerous. For example, you're driving and want to change stations, or turn on the SAT radio, CD, ipod, etc.. First you have to hit the Menu button on the center dash/armrest area, then you have to push the i-Drive mouse to Entertainment and click it. You have to select what you want, then click. If you select one of your presets, it then asks you to Tone, Play or Store (even though it's already stored as one of your presets). This ALL has to be done, while driving and just to listen to the radio!!!. Crazy for sure!!
 
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nadroj

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deutsch100 said:
I think i-Drive is actually dangerous. For example, you're driving and want to change stations, or turn on the SAT radio, CD, ipod, etc.. First you have to hit the Menu button on the center dash/armrest area, then you have to push the i-Drive mouse to Entertainment and click it. You have to select what you want, then click. If you select one of your presets, it then asks you to Tone, Play or Store (even though it's already stored as one of your presets). This ALL has to be done, while driving and just to listen to the radio!!!. Crazy for sure!!
Click to expand...
I disagree, The idrive is very easy to get used to and it allows you use is with ease when driving. It is better than having to touch a screen..
 
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deutsch100

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nadroj said:
I disagree, The idrive is very easy to get used to and it allows you use is with ease when driving. It is better than having to touch a screen..
Click to expand...
Hey nadroj! I see you have a 1998 and 1991 BMW, that for sure don't have anything even near i-Drive. Do you use i-Drive on a daily basis, with a screaming 7 month old, and navigating Los Angeles traffic?? If so, then you're awesome! If you tried it on a fun, 7 minute test drive, or in some uncle, fiends or cousins car....you have not really lived, or used i-Drive. Not being a dick, but it seems the only people praising i-Drive, are the ones that DO NOT have i-Drive.
 
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nadroj

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Yeah I have driven a car with an I drive on a daily basis, in dfw traffic , my father's 06m5 I borrow it when I am in town from college. I believe the idrive is wounderful(my dad loves it too). Have you ever tryed to use a car when a regular touch screen nav system, it is very annoying to have to lean forward to tap the screen while taking your eyes fully off the road. With the I drive it is set back in the dash so you can use your periferial(sp) vision to see the screen and the rest of your vision to drive. There are other ways to control the radio, the voice command or the pshyical buttons on the dash. I drive is also very easy to get used to unless you are computer illiterate. Obiously bmw is doing somthing right with the Idive because MB is copying their design, check out there new models. My mother has an 07landrover lr3 and it has the touch screen nav and it drives me nuts to try and enter anything into the system because i always have to pull over or do it at a stop light.

oh yeah and the m5 hasnt had to go to the shop once other than mantaince (it has 16k) and the Lr3 is pretty good at offroading heh
 
jrt67ss350

jrt67ss350

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I just drove the 6 convertible on the Ultimate Drive, and while it was one of those "fun" test-drives, I didn't find the Idrive to be horrible. Granted, it is much quicker/easier to press a single button on the dash to switch from, say, FM to AUX input on the stereo, but I didn't find using Idrive to be difficult. Using it to navigate the radio settings didn't really distract me from driving, and I've never used Idrive before today.

After using it today, I'm kind of in the middle of the road about Idrive - I don't hate it, but I don't love it, either. It strikes me as a techy toy more than anything.

I will second Jordan's statements about touchscreen setups, though. I have a Magellan Roadmate navigation unit that I use in my car with all touch screen inputs. It really is kind of a pain and even dangerous to input data while driving. It truly requires ALL of your attention. I didn't find that the Idrive required ALL of my attention - I still felt like I could drive safely while working the Idrive.
 
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dinan5i

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i'm not a big fan of the touch-screen either. i've got a Garmin 330 streetpilot which is real cool. BUT typing in an address while driving is risky regardless. when you think about it, driving is dangerous and requires ones full attention. even though i went totally hands-free with the BMW telephone kit, i sometimes have to figure-out what i missed when i hang-up the phone (sometimes).... scary! focus is one thing, but ...
 
Detrich

Detrich

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[hah] D'OH! so bill gates' story about cars becoming as reliable as computers (someday) finally manifested itself in a bmw?!

M$ keeps me employed, but there is something seriously wrong with bmw if they think they'll get a reliable iDrive system running ANY flavor of windoze...

[:(]
 
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deutsch100

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Well, I think these responses (kind of) prove my point. While nadroj loves i-Drive, and Justin thought it was really easy...they DON"T use it on a daily basis. Yes, nadroj does drive the M5 when he's home from school (and I love the M5, don't get me wrong), and Justin thought it was easy "on the test drive", cough, cough....If you have to deal with it every day, there's a pretty good chance you'll not like it.

YES, it can be learned, and then it's not too bad, but just stop and ask yourself...why should we have to learn how to turn the radio on, or change channels (and setting memorys are a whole different story)?

Yes, i-Drive might be better for Navigation, than say the touch screen, but just be honest...how often do any of us really use the Navi? It's fun to have, but it's just a feature we think we need. I know it's great for some realtors we know, but usually we just watch the pretty, colourful map as we drive along!
 
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nadroj

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deutsch100 said:
Well, I think these responses (kind of) prove my point. While nadroj loves i-Drive, and Justin thought it was really easy...they DON"T use it on a daily basis. Yes, nadroj does drive the M5 when he's home from school (and I love the M5, don't get me wrong), and Justin thought it was easy "on the test drive", cough, cough....If you have to deal with it every day, there's a pretty good chance you'll not like it.

YES, it can be learned, and then it's not too bad, but just stop and ask yourself...why should we have to learn how to turn the radio on, or change channels (and setting memorys are a whole different story)?

Yes, i-Drive might be better for Navigation, than say the touch screen, but just be honest...how often do any of us really use the Navi? It's fun to have, but it's just a feature we think we need. I know it's great for some realtors we know, but usually we just watch the pretty, colourful map as we drive along!
Click to expand...
I agree it can be annoying for changing the radio but there are other ways to change the radio than going into the Idrive system, I guess I don't really listen to the radio when I am driving the m5 [burnout] but this thread has gone way off topic from the OP's problem lol, I happen to like the Idrive, its kinda like your favorite OS some people love mac others love windows its personal prefrence
 
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zackrv8

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Here's the latest on my I Drive failure. Took it into the dealer (Otto's BMW in PA). Said they would probably need the car for 2 days as they have seen this failure before. At the end of the second day, the Service rep calls me and said they needed to keep it over the weekend.

They said they were getting "Faults" in my cars computer. They were systematically dumping software and reloading it....getting Fault codes....calling BMW North America to see what to do next Basically, they intend to dump all of the software that came from the factory and reload the same software (possibly with updates in it). This process (according to the dealer) takes a long time....like 2 days!

So, I'm driving a 530I loaner. Not as cool as my 335I. Bummer. I'll let you guys know the final outcome of this story when I get my car back....hopefully on Monday.

Joe
 
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zackrv8

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OK. Here's the latest on my I Drive problem. I called my dealer today. The car has been at the dealer for 5 days now and they now tell me that it needs a "module." This has to come from Munich...however, they are trying to find one in the states if they can. Soooo....the earliest I can get my 355I back is Thursday if all the stars and planets line up just right.

I just hope the new car smell is still there when I finally get it back!

Joe
 
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