2008 BMW X5 4.8i: iDrive My Wife Crazy

Ha ha great post. All wives are the same; like it's my fault you can't figure out how to make the DVD player work.

haha benson, that's so funny. =)

I refuse to believe iDrive is 'too complicated' for an average driver. How much do we have to lower our standards?

My favorite topic, iDrive rants. ctpax, what proof would you need? 100% of all reviewers (that I've seen) saying so? What standards are being lowered?

Talking on the cell phone, trying to figure out iDrive while listening to the "navigation lady".

No wonder there are so many accidents.

Never understand how people get perplexed by iDrive. It's simple to use. It's junk and slow but incredibly easy to use.

texases, I'm no rocket scientist (I can't even spell right) but I bet you my life savings I can find and do everything in iDrive interface. By lowering our standards I mean if something it too difficult, let's make it very easy. I know it's a gentle topic when talking about cars. When you drive a car you want to do all non-driving tasks as fast as possible. iDrive let's you do that fast enough. I mean lowering our standards in general life. Like the song by Carlos Mencia, you know.

I owned an 08 335i for 10 months. By the 3rd week, iDrive was second nature. Sure, my wife's TL's nav system didn't require more than about 5 minutes to learn, but it doesn't have the intergration nor the amount of functionality iDrive does. And yes, when my wife tried to operate the iDrive, it got her just as honked off... but given 3 or so weeks of driving the car, it's not bad. I find that it's a fairly elegant way of controlling the car, and eliminates a lot of the buttons that the dash has. (the TL Type-S has like 30% more buttons than the 335i does)

The other advantage of iDrive is positioning of the screen. Because it doesn't need to be in reach, the screen can be placed much closer to the driver's point of view.

I know this system has had it's complaints but if you talk to most owners, if they can operate an iPod, the iDrive controller really isn't that hard, given some time. For people not familiar with the car, it can certainly be infuriating, but I think it accomplishes it's mission.

And, further, the 09 7, 5, and 3s (as well as other models) have a newer iDrive, that is GSM based, with all sorts of cool functionality, and a simplified interface. (I like the holding the knob in a direction to select a function, but they've added shortcut keys and a back button)

blame the driver for a crappy interface? no, idrive blows monkey chunks. user interfaces in cars should be intuitive- there are much better designs in other vehicles so it's not the driver's fault, it's BMW's.

I know (by reading the various BMW posts) that lots of BMW drivers get along fine with their iDrives (I must note that the BMW drivers I know do not). I just have no interest in going through what Daniel's described above. And I don't consider it 'lowering our standards', when it is BMW that has artificially raised them. These 'standards' have never previously existed.

I'm with cruiserhead1. I believe that, with enough practice, almost anyone can "get used to" almost anything. The difference between good human factors design and bad is the time it takes. Have you ever used a really nice, intuitive interface?

In my mind I think iDrive is like using a mac if you're used to a PC.

I hate mac's because I've never used one, but the people I know that have them swear by them. I personally think they're counter intuitive, overly expensive, and quite frankly more of a status symbol than a reasonable alternative to a nice cheap PC.

However, I'm sure that if I had one for a couple weeks, I'd get the hang of it, and swear by it's interface for the ease of use and accessability.

I think idrive is the same way. It sucks until you use it a few times, set it up right and get used to the commands, but once you do, it's a very simple and easy system to use. The problem is that most people won't bother to learn how to use it properly and discard it as crap like I do with macs.

(by the way, I'm 24, so it's not like I'm out of the computer generation, I'm fairly cpu competent)

"By the 3rd week, iDrive was second nature."

Obama's new job was second nature to him by the 3rd week.

Sheesh...

If I have an iDrive car for more than a couple of days it becomes second nature. The iDrive in my 335i convertible was pretty easy to master. The oldler version in the B7 WAS a pain, however.

I used to be with some of the posters on here. I had never really spent anytime with iDrive and couldn't imagine that it could really be as bad as reviewers were saying. After all, COMAND II in my car is so simple that even my technophobic father was able to figure it out with one stint behind the wheel.

Then I spent a weekend in my buddy's 545i. I am here to tell you that iDrive really is as bad as people say. The menus don't make sense, it is nearly impossible to go back one step, and it is unacceptably slow to operate. It ruined the experience in an otherwise fantastic car. Thankfully BMW seems to have gotten this beast under control in its second generation.

Wow, 3 weeks and it is second nature. After 3 weeks the cockpit of a 747 is second nature. Alot of people knock Honda/Acura because of the amount of buttons on the dash but that is the thing that makes it easy to use and adjust to. In the blog above you had to go into iDrive go to the entertainment submenu and find the Aux setting to use the iPod. In my Acura you press the button marked "Aux" DONE. If you want more functions and controls a simple press of the button marked "Audio" pulls up the audio settings on the nav screen. So simple its stupid that BMW doesn't design their cockpits this way. Oh wait they did build them like this, for example look at any BMW before iDrive when they really were the Ultimate Driving Machine.

I'll admit up front that I have no seat time with iDrive. However, it is my opinion that a controller far removed and using motions unfamiliar to operating the selected option (Nav, radio, climate) is counter intuitative and a distraction from driving. I much prefer the tactile sense of buttons, switches and dials to that of a digital hockey puck.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned.

It may not be easy to use but iDrive came at a time when luxury cars seemed all about buttons. Buttons and switches for everything. Sure it had its flaws but Audis MMI exists only because of iDrive.

You have to respect BMW for doing it first.

@blueguydotcom and the idea that iDrive is "incredibly easy to use" :

I want to notice that you have "dotcom" in your alias. :-)