The downfall of electronics is that when they break, you feel it. The even more annoying thing here is that you don't really have a choice of whether or not you get iDrive, I understand that some people love it for the array of options that it brings up, and personally, I love gadgets and would have a field day with it, the major problem is that iDrive isn't intuitive enough.
I'm basing my judgment on my Dad's 530 and taking it only for a day while my car was in for a service. I had used it (iDrive) previously, but not while driving, and it annoyed me that it wasn't simple to change from radio to cd without having to divert attention away from the road for a sufficiently longer period of time than if I were in my car and had to only select "Mode". There are most likely times when it comes in handy, I like the options in regards to viewing service status and things like that, and the navigation system is quite thorough as well, but it shouldn't be that difficult for everyday things.
I understand that there is a more revised and simplified system of iDrive now available with shortcuts. It seems however, that every model comes out with a more simplified version of iDrive. I believe the 7 series, the first to debut the feature had 12 (if I'm not mistaken) initial menu options, which was reduced to the 4 that is on my Dad's version. Why does each version have to become more simplified if the technology isn't flawed? BMW are admitting slowly, annoyingly slowly that there is a problem with iDrive. For cars with such a high price, I can't understand why it's taken now four or even more years to start getting it right. It feels like people have to pay a lot of money to be market researchers, and in effect, a guinea pig.
I'm basing my judgment on my Dad's 530 and taking it only for a day while my car was in for a service. I had used it (iDrive) previously, but not while driving, and it annoyed me that it wasn't simple to change from radio to cd without having to divert attention away from the road for a sufficiently longer period of time than if I were in my car and had to only select "Mode". There are most likely times when it comes in handy, I like the options in regards to viewing service status and things like that, and the navigation system is quite thorough as well, but it shouldn't be that difficult for everyday things.
I understand that there is a more revised and simplified system of iDrive now available with shortcuts. It seems however, that every model comes out with a more simplified version of iDrive. I believe the 7 series, the first to debut the feature had 12 (if I'm not mistaken) initial menu options, which was reduced to the 4 that is on my Dad's version. Why does each version have to become more simplified if the technology isn't flawed? BMW are admitting slowly, annoyingly slowly that there is a problem with iDrive. For cars with such a high price, I can't understand why it's taken now four or even more years to start getting it right. It feels like people have to pay a lot of money to be market researchers, and in effect, a guinea pig.
