iDrive to be replaced with a touchpad????????

[Chesty Bonds]

Chesty... did we just agree on something!?!? I think this should be an official world-wide holidy

Indeed we did! Now that's something to write home about hey

Seriously, i do find this thread incredibly depressing for two reasons. Firstly, I find it quite confronting that so many BMW enthusiasts are complaining about the marque (myself included, of course) for it's apparent shift away from driving enjoyment to navigating a bloody computer. Secondly, and this completely escapes my understanding, I cannot understand why BMW continue with this absolutely ridiculous design and packaging direction which we have witnessed since the introduction of the new 7-Series.

I did a BMW driver-training course yesterday (now THAT was awesome) and I spent nearly a whole day pounding an M3 around Phillip Island (where the Aussie motoGP round is - great track). Now the M3 is a truly magnificent car. Naturally, I took a fully manual gearbox to fully enjoy my day's driving. Everything about the E46 M3 (and just about any BMW before that is just so right. The car has the classic angled-towards-the-driver-dash which I just love, a manual tranny for total control, direct and unfettered steering feel and response, and powerful direct brakes. It does without the ludicrous computer stuff because it's a drivers car, not a rolling FU#KING office. I can honestly say that driving this thing until it was squirming and writhing underneath me was by far the best thing I have ever done. The engine was superb and the gearbox was a real man's device: nice and heavy and uncompromising.

It was totally without compromise, I believe, because it was a car first and foremost. It didn't tell you what you should do. It did what I told it to do and I think there has been a marked shift away from this at BMW of late. Computers, gizmo's, and SMG gearboxes might be faster and safer but that's not really the point is it? If you want to change the radio station then give me a bloody stereo face that allows me to do that in one movement, not twenty.

For me, the current trend is all about shifting the driver's attention away from the joy - and it really is a joy - of driving a great car. BMWs were so communicative and, in some cases, so raw insomuch that they involved you as a driver. The new ones seem to wrap us up in cotton wool to prevent us from finding these virtues by forcing us to hurdle over an obscene amount of computerised shit. I really don't think people will want a car that has software problems (even my mum's E46 325i has continual problems with the fly-by-wire accelerator software) constantly plaguing the driver's ownership of their BMW.

I just can't really express my disappointment at BMW with words and I resent the fact that they're increasingly making the driver a redundant entity.

 

[Section_8]

Ok, now its total shit, I can handle iDrive...I even go to the lenghts of defending BMW for it, but this touchpad shit has gone far enough, I'm probably gonna switch over to being a Porsche fan or something, this is becoming incredibly stupid and I'm so mad!

Ok everyone, take 2 steps/rolls away from your computer screen, and take a few deep breaths! They didn't 'SAY' it was BMW, they said 2 german companies.

HOPEfully, they are talking about MB and Audi - BMW already has it's own system (idrive) where Audi and MB do not as yet have everything centered on one dial (lucky them?).

Wow that would be a twist.. Everyone praising the idrive for at least still having a knob, and bitching about Audi and MB for requiring hand shakes and palm prints and finger painting..

3-5 years, and I'd bet some serious money that most if not all car makers will have their own version of 'idrive' be it fingertip, knob spinning, or what have you.. Consolidation of all those moving parts, buttons, relays, wiring, down to one simple knob and one nav screen?? You've got to be kidding me, they're seeing green from this(BMW), for sure..

 

[deutsch100]

We don't need Idrive, and we especially do not need a touch pad....I don't care if it is BMW, Mercedes, Audi.... The old 7 series and 5 series had Navi, dual A/C, On board computers etc....and there was no need for Idrive or a touch pad. The current S, E, CL, SL....have tons of functions, and the cars do not need Idrive or a frickin touch pad.

We left Mercedes and came to BMW to get back the joy of driving a car. I like the tactile feels of HVAC, radio, seat control buttons. I am driving, and want to feel in control...not rely on some tempermental central control knob.

The funny thing is that Idrive is used to control 1000's of functions, options and features and make everything easier... but I do not know one driver that needs 1/8 of the offered functions. Damn, I miss the engineering and philosophy of the old 5 Series, and especially the 1986-1995 W124 Mercedes E320, E420 and E500. Those cars are still among the best and most reliable cars on the road...full of comfort, safety and entertainment features without the overuse of computers, touch pads and Idrives.

Please leave our buttons and knobs alone!!!! Please!!!!

 

[Chesty Bonds]

Deutsch you're right. My dad has an E38 740il and even then we don't use half of the available functions. People just don't need or want this computer stuff (and if they do then they're not drivers).

Early to mid-nineties does it for me in terms of the level of technology in the cars. Anyone want to sell me a low mileage E34 M5?

 

[theBMWenthusiast]

Deutsch you're right. My dad has an E38 740il and even then we don't use half of the available functions. People just don't need or want this computer stuff (and if they do then they're not drivers).

hehe...so true...the only screen i use on the 740iL is always keeping the one on that shows the radio station, how much range you have left and just the simple stuff...my parents dont like to use hte GPS since it always inturrupts the radio...hehe

 

[deutsch100]

Deutsch you're right. My dad has an E38 740il and even then we don't use half of the available functions. People just don't need or want this computer stuff (and if they do then they're not drivers).

Early to mid-nineties does it for me in terms of the level of technology in the cars. Anyone want to sell me a low mileage E34 M5?

Yep...mid-nineties does it for me too Mr. Chesty . I am all for new safety features, especailly since BMW's HPC saved my life....but besides from safety...most new "technology" and oh how I use that term loosely really sucks. Let our cars stay cars- NOT mindless, souless, ultimate computer machines!!!

 

[Chesty Bonds]

Yep...mid-nineties does it for me too Mr. Chesty . I am all for new safety features, especailly since BMW's HPC saved my life....but besides from safety...most new "technology" and oh how I use that term loosely really sucks. Let our cars stay cars- NOT mindless, souless, ultimate computer machines!!!

Yeah bloody oath. I have no problem with extended safety features but all the gizmo's... Words just can't express the disappointment. I mean, I have a computer on my desk so I don't want one in the car!

I guess there's nothing we can do though hey. BMW would just come out with some kind of rebuttal against what everyone is saying here like "SMG is best because it never misses a gearchange" or "i-Drive proves BMWs technical advantage". Yeah, just feeding the chickens (you have to visualise the movement ) is what I say.