Navigation or no Nav?

[theBigD23]

Thanks for all of the help with the premium/no premium post. (I'm going with it

Now I'm stuck between getting the nav or not. I don't like the iDrive, but the car without a built-in system may look pretty ugly. Also, having the radio and climate controls in one place may be nice. I also don't want to get to 45K for this car. It's already high at 43.

Thoughts?

[1ToBeOn2Wheels]

I'm really not trying to sound like a douche bag here, but: these threads you are creating are only going to yield opinions and personal preferences of others. Why don't you try doing research (i.e. check out these options IRL at your dealer) and make your own decisions rather than relying on the $0.02 of others. You know that whatever you decide in the end will end up being right because your decisions will have been made with a foundation of reasearch.

EDIT: I just realized you are planning on leasing, so having said all that, I'd say go with the NAV; I doubt you'd be disappointed with it.

[professor]

My two-cents on this is that i love idrive and really don't know why reviews say its confusing. Perhaps it is confusing on a 7-series but on a 1 its scaled down and makes it rather good. The controller though under direct sunlight has burned (literally) my fingers on occasion. I guess after market alternatives that compare would probably be an AVIC or maybe an AVN.

[MVF4Rrider]

sounds like you want it but are concerned about overall price. The difference financed over time is very little per month. Having it will help resale (market appeal).

[theBigD23]

Originally Posted by 1ToBeOn2Wheels

I'm really not trying to sound like a douche bag here, but: these threads you are creating are only going to yield opinions and personal preferences of others. Why don't you try doing research (i.e. check out these options IRL at your dealer) and make your own decisions rather than relying on the $0.02 of others. You know that whatever you decide in the end will end up being right because your decisions will have been made with a foundation of reasearch.

EDIT: I just realized you are planning on leasing, so having said all that, I'd say go with the NAV; I doubt you'd be disappointed with it.

Spending 5 minutes to hear the opinions of others that may have the car, have used the iDrive before, is not such a terrible thing. I have looked at it in person and wouldn't mind hearing what others have to say, from personal experience. The entire disscussion section of the forum is based on hearing other people's opinion and personal preferences.

[theBigD23]

Originally Posted by Balls

sounds like you want it but are concerned about overall price. The difference financed over time is very little per month. Having it will help resale (market appeal).

So true, but I've done that from 40K to 43K now. Another 2K and that's approx. $80 or so extra/month.

[1ToBeOn2Wheels]

Originally Posted by theBigD23

The entire disscussion section of the forum is based on hearing other people's opinion and personal preferences.

Actually, you're right. That is the point of the forums. Sorry if I was being a snob. :drinking:

[Mystiqueskillz]

From what I've read regarding the nav, it's not worth it. The screen is small, positioned weirdly, and its not bright and very dim.

[TP 135i]

I absolutely love the NAV system and the I-Drive as well. Very easy to use and tons of information available at your fingertips. I also noticed the other day that the screen is still clear and readable when drenched in direct sunlight. And with the premium pkg (I believe) you get the voice command where you don't even have to use the I-Drive knob controller to move to the screen you want.

[MVF4Rrider]

^^ not to mention the graphical display for the PDC, set up menus, entertainment (radio, CD, iPod(?)), etc.

Without the display, how do you know you have enough engine oil? I'm assuming none of the car/engine configurations gives you a dipstick these days? I know on my '07 530i the only way you knew it had oil was via the nav display.

[essexcounty]

I've got NAV and agree with TP135i & Balls.

It's easy to use, packed with functionality, and I haven't had any trouble in terms of visibility.

If you can use a computer mouse, iDrive shouldn't be a problem. Pretty intuitive.

[riguy]

Agree. I haven't used the 1 series I-Drive, but the system is pretty slick in our 530i. I've never understood the complaints about it. The shortcut using the controller is especially useful. Push the knob for 2-3 seconds to whichever side you're interested in and it goes to whatever screen you were just on (in that section). Useful when you go between Nav and Music, for example.

[jeremyc74]

I wouldn't mind having the Nav, but it's just way overpriced IMO. The extra functionality would be nice, but I just don't think it's worth the $2k. I use a windsheild mounted Garmin right now that cost about $250 and it works great.

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by Mystiqueskillz

From what I've read regarding the nav, it's not worth it. The screen is small, positioned weirdly, and its not bright and very dim.

I have the Nav/Idrive and I have not experienced any of these issues. The screen size is fine, and it's clear and readable in day or night. It's bright enough, that I turned the brightness down. The position is no problem, you don't have to look down at the center console to see it. :thumbup:

My wife had the same navi screen in her X3 and she loved it.

[TagMan]

My feedback is from first-hand ownership experience.

Get the NAV! It's terrific! No issues whatsoever!

An integrated system that centrally commands so many functions is a bargain at $2K.

I would NEVER buy the car without it.

Hope that helps.

[plien69]

Originally Posted by Mystiqueskillz

From what I've read regarding the nav, it's not worth it. The screen is small, positioned weirdly, and its not bright and very dim.

The screen is way larger than any screen you would get with a portable NAV system. It's positioned just fine at the base of the windshield where it doesn't block any view, yet is still in your peripheral vision. And I've had no problems with brightness in either daylight or nighttime.

NAV comes with iDrive, so if you get NAV, you also get iDrive.

The NAV system itself is OK. Probably its biggest weakness is POI search. You cannot search for POIs generically, you have to make a guess as to which category it's in, and categories are not applied consistently.

The biggest plus, IMO, is that it's a built-in system. You won't have any suction cups on the windshield, power cord routing problems, invitations for theft, etc.

Then there's iDrive. Almost everything in the car is controlled via iDrive. You want to tune the radio? Use iDrive. You want to make a call? iDrive.

However some systems (like HVAC) have dedicated controls. Plus, they give you a few soft buttons that you can program for radio stations, nav destinations, phone book entries. And there are the steering wheel buttons, of course.

My take on it is: you've got to be open to interacting with all your car's systems in a different manner, and you've got to be used to navigating through hierarchical menus.

If you're the type of person who doesn't like to learn new systems (and this includes reading the manual), and just want to have a specific button to tune to 97X ("Bam! The future of rock and roll!"), then iDrive -- and thus NAV -- is probably not for you.

[BMW Dreamer]

NAV is one option I WOULDN'T get even IF I were rich.

SO NO IMO.

[mchaskell]

Take a list at Paul's photos http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...=idrive+photos
to see what it looks like. I ordered it because it puts all functions in one place and I do not need to take my eyes off the road to look at a small display.

[SDDoye01]

No NAV... and actually the navigation might lower the resale value of the car depending on how long you have it. Just think about what navigation will be like in the future, I know I wouldnt want to buy a car with a 4 year old nav system when I can go to walmart and get a Garmin for $200 that works better because of technology changes... The good thing about this decision is that no matter what you will be driving a awesome car regardless of the options.

[randomquickness]

^^ keep in mind updates are released for factory nav systems

[mergen]

Originally Posted by riguy

The shortcut using the controller is especially useful. Push the knob for 2-3 seconds to whichever side you're interested in and it goes to whatever screen you were just on (in that section). Useful when you go between Nav and Music, for example.

Learning this shortcut is the one thing that made iDrive work for me. It was somewhat aggrevating before that.

I now think iDrive is great. Bluetooth works great, much better than my old after market Parrot bluetooth. Voice commands work great. The one benefit for me with the nav package is it works well enough and it is always available for use, but is not an incentive for thieves to tear up my car. Next week, I'm going up to NW Arkansas to ride around some and guess what? I'll be taking my old Garmin 2620 StreetPilot along. It is a much better nav system. I would never leave it in my car for daily use, though.

[mistermojorizin]

what do you need to get the voice commands to work with idrive? bmw assist? someone upthread said its prem package but i doubt you need the entire prem package.