Man... I'm flipping through the latest Car & Driver mag, and I notice a "High-Tech Bugagboos" section on page 16.

[QUOTE]
I thought it only fair to warn your readers about the dangers of buying a technologically advanced car.

 

Steve I got to pass that along to a few neighbos of mine. There are quite a bit of the new 7 series floating around my neighborhood. To tell you the truth I like the car but if they bring this sort of silliness into the 5 series they are really going to get hit hard.

 

I have driven the new 7 series. It was a short test drive because my friend works for a BMW dealership, let's just say it was a curiosity drive.

I'm sorry, the car is too complex for me. I don't like looking at the monitor in the middle of the dash for nearly everything that needs adjusting.

I like a manual shift with a lever on the floor. The iDrive round joy stick/knob just seems out of place to me. I drive a '95 Nissan truck and that is just like my S2000; at night I can drive them and change all the controls in the cabin without taking my eyes off the road. With the iDrive system I felt like I had my eyes off the road almost all the time so I could get simple things like the radio and heat selected.

I can understand how it would take the dealer weeks to solve a problem.

 

One of my friends in Milpitas bought one, had problem after problem with iDrive and BMW actually bought the car back from him.

He loved the ride but it just had horrible problems..I'll see if I can get a list

 

BMW knows the exterior styling, mainly the trunk isn't for everyone, so the new 5 series is supposedly a much better design evolution of the current look rather than a drastic change. As for iDrive, I haven't heard much, maybe an updated version.. we'll have to wait and see I guess.

 

my 745i had a problem with it. BMW is getting me a new one. I should be getting it in the next 2-4 weeks.

 

Oh damn, and when you thought the forum was safe again... IWishIHadaFerrariMan strikes again!!!

Sorry to hear about your old 745. A trip with daddy to Toys r Us and buying a new Hot Wheels 745 in the next 2 to 4 weeks should fix you up.

 

haha mav. good one !

 

wow, looks like they are regressing to to German cars of the 80s, incorrigible machines that are too expensive to fix...

 

I met an owner of the local dealership several months and he told me that they have lost a number of long term, loyal customers due to the complexity of the car. They are intimidated and just don't want to go up the learning curve.

Such a shame. I guess the iDrive is like the proverbial spot on the lace table cloth.