[martianpc]

I ordered a 2013 July Production 335i. I am very bothered by the lack of the new iDrive until November builds.

I bought the car at flat invoice for car and options, plus incentives.

I have a different dealer than who I bought from offering to do the exact same price I paid for my July build for a November build, they will cover the Team USA incentive I would lose by waiting until November.

My car is literally crossing the Atlantic right now for delivery. I can get my deposit back.

Is it worth waiting for a November build to get the new iDrive, or is the next 4 months with my car better. I am having the worlds hardest time deciding.

My biggest fear is that Android support is only going to be on the new iDrive and that BMW will not support Android for the old one.

[adelphi_sky]

There is some good advice in other threads about this same issue. It is an interesting phenomenon that an onboard computer with apps that has nothing to do with driving has people canceling orders and such. lol Look, you're not buying the car for the apps. That would be silly. You're buying the car to drive it and to look good while doing it. Unless your income depends on whether or not you can facebook or twitter from your car (come on. Really?) Then stick with what you got. I have had nav in every one of my BMWs and the idrive was always about 25% of my driving experience. Drive the ultimate driving machine and leave the apps up to your phone.

[SoFlo_Nick]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

There is some good advice in other threads about this same issue. It is an interesting phenomenon that an onboard computer with apps that has nothing to do with driving has people canceling orders and such. lol Look, you're not buying the car for the apps. That would be silly. You're buying the car to drive it and to look good while doing it. Unless your income depends on whether or not you can facebook or twitter from your car (come on. Really?) Then stick with what you got. I have had nav in every one of my BMWs and the idrive was always about 25% of my driving experience. Drive the ultimate driving machine and leave the apps up to your phone.

I agree at this moment in time i dont see the Huge Deal about the new multi touch! honestly i think its impractical driving i.e grease hands, slippage etc... Canceling your order will cause hassle for you and your dealer You might have to put a higher deposit down and wait longer maybe January, February,March of next year. BMW said its coming out in November then they have to intergate it into the new models once they do that its going to ship your are 95% chance looking for next year delivery and dont listen to your dealer their fucking crooks (they wont honor team usa pass the due date) that a FACT!! they did the same thing to me on last year promo

[SoFlo_Nick]

P.S i cant find the exact article but BMW promised that they will implement Android integration even in the old E92 cars.

[martianpc]

Originally Posted by NGuyadeen

I agree at this moment in time i dont see the Huge Deal about the new multi touch! honestly i think its impractical driving i.e grease hands, slippage etc... Canceling your order will cause hassle for you and your dealer You might have to put a higher deposit down and wait longer maybe January, February,March of next year. BMW said its coming out in November then they have to intergate it into the new models once they do that its going to ship your are 95% chance looking for next year delivery and dont listen to your dealer their fucking crooks (they wont honor team usa pass the due date) that a FACT!! they did the same thing to me on last year promo

The Multi Touch isnt even going to be on the new car. My interest lies in not knowing what new app advancements will be available in the future now that the SDK is out. Look at what apps did for the iPhone.. Whos to say they will not do the same for iDrive. Also, I could care less about Twitter or Facebook, I like the better dictation of SMS and menu navigation with voice. Being able to press the button and say navigate to 100 main st anytown PA is a pretty sweet feature. Connecting two cell phones at the same time is great for when my wife and I are both in the car for a longer drive. the 200gb hard drive will hold a lot more music.

There are some nice improvements and I am buying the car for the way it drives, but when you spend a good amount of time on the highway, comfort and extra features almost become more important at certain times.

[jwickers]

Originally Posted by NGuyadeen

P.S i cant find the exact article but BMW promised that they will implement Android integration even in the old E92 cars.

IMHO this should not require new hardware, just a usb connector and software.
So it should be easy to backport to older models.

We also got screwed in China, the touch input is especially useful for inputing Chinese yet it is not in the first release. That's the only reason I would wait for the update.

[bringonthenite]

martianpc, If you are having doubts and your vehicle is on a boat then I would cancel. Better to wait a few months and be happy with your purchase.
BMW has upgraded the processor, RAM , graphics, the HD and the flash memory. It's not about facebook etc. or the nuance subscription. For me it is the apps , better phone integration and a faster iDrive. I'm sure in a couple of years BMW will upgrade the nab system again leaving the current version further behind.
For those that are not interested in the apps etc. keep their order.

[metrickid]

As I understand it the SDK will work on the old navigation too. Otherwise they sold an option 6NR (Apps) that won't have basically any third party apps for the first generations. So I wouldn't cancel my order just for some cosmetics and a quicker navigation. But that is my opinion and I am a tech geek.

[mocohead]

Personally I would not want the new system until it has been out for a few years. There will be bugs and glitches that won't be obvious until you have to live with them. If you are willing to deal with that, AND willing to wait, AND having the new system is more important than four months of driving the car, then wait. Word to the wise though...please don't be surprised when the car has a bunch of issues.

[TonyS]

Originally Posted by mocohead

Personally I would not want the new system until it has been out for a few years. There will be bugs and glitches that won't be obvious until you have to live with them. If you are willing to deal with that, AND willing to wait, AND having the new system is more important than four months of driving the car, then wait. Word to the wise though...please don't be surprised when the car has a bunch of issues.

Some people just *have* to have the latest version of anything though - just look at the queues of people outside Apple stores when there's a new Apple anything. Logic and common sense just don't come into the equation.

[cavm335i]

And then come November they will be including something else new that you'll want to wait for. Just take your car and be happy for 3-5 years and they will have the bugs worked out of the new system for the next one you buy.

[jwickers]

Some people can't afford a new car every 3 years, but yeah if you are leasing It's bit a big deal.

[Haarschmerzen]

Same problem here! They told me, that my car production is fixed in August and I can't change it. For me, connectivity and multimedia features are sometimes more important than a fast engine. Thats why I ordered an 320i xdrive with all multimedia features activated.

I want total comfort while driving, never worrying about which songs I have with me or how other people can play their songs on my stereo. I want an easy and fast access to all my favourite functions. I am the kind of person who gets annoyed if I have to stumble through menus to get what I want. And I want this new feature that my HUD can display more than just arrows for navigation.

I imagine that Iphone Screen mirroring could be a New iDrive only feature. This would annoy me the most since I am looking forward to use my iphone navis on the iDrive screen in case I don't like the bmw navigation software...

I will keep my car for 6-9 years so It just annoys me to no end...

[Maz335i]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

There is some good advice in other threads about this same issue. It is an interesting phenomenon that an onboard computer with apps that has nothing to do with driving has people canceling orders and such. lol Look, you're not buying the car for the apps. That would be silly. You're buying the car to drive it and to look good while doing it. Unless your income depends on whether or not you can facebook or twitter from your car (come on. Really?) Then stick with what you got. I have had nav in every one of my BMWs and the idrive was always about 25% of my driving experience. Drive the ultimate driving machine and leave the apps up to your phone.

+1

Very well said!

[tony20009]

You want to can your order over some piece of software gizmo? Really???

I take it in the near future you expect to lose your house in a catastrophe and need a new place to set up your office? I'll offer than I'm sorry to hear of your pending loss. I do hope things work out for you.

Seriously though. No you should not cancel your order over the new iDrive's absence. You clearly have survived this long with out them, and the stuff they support has been around for a while. Also, I doubt this'll be the last car you buy, but if will be, sure cancel. Finally, computer-like stuff is always advancing. Are you going to trade in the car after six months when some new gizmo comes about?

Sounds like you got a good deal on the price of the car. Use some of the money you saved to buy some sense.

Best of luck to you.

[JK479]

Also... if you are leasing, the residual and Mf are great now. in november it might drop...

Its hard to think we are all upset over this IDRIVE thing. Is there a way to just upgrade the device in November? is the screen changing?

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by martianpc

The Multi Touch isnt even going to be on the new car. My interest lies in not knowing what new app advancements will be available in the future now that the SDK is out. Look at what apps did for the iPhone.. Whos to say they will not do the same for iDrive. Also, I could care less about Twitter or Facebook, I like the better dictation of SMS and menu navigation with voice. Being able to press the button and say navigate to 100 main st anytown PA is a pretty sweet feature. Connecting two cell phones at the same time is great for when my wife and I are both in the car for a longer drive. the 200gb hard drive will hold a lot more music.

There are some nice improvements and I am buying the car for the way it drives, but when you spend a good amount of time on the highway, comfort and extra features almost become more important at certain times.

My wife and I are road warriors. We push the button, hit the gas, and press play. Simple. The GPS does what it is supposed to do. My eyes are on the road. Her eyes are on her iPAD reading some novel or surfing. Emails, texting, etc. are not important to me while driving. If I'm stopped, I pick up my phone for that. I recall when we were excited about the new nav we got in the 2009 with the weather, gas stations, stock market, google search. How often did we use them? Maybe 5 times? All for $200/year ~ 17$ month. But why when phones do pretty much the same thing and more for free?

To each his own I guess. And we still won't know if those new features will be active while driving. I can't imagine even voice texting while driving is safe because you'd have to check to see if the computer got your words right.

[Michael Schott]

Originally Posted by ronnyb29

And then come November they will be including something else new that you'll want to wait for. Just take your car and be happy for 3-5 years and they will have the bugs worked out of the new system for the next one you buy.

Exactly right. Over the years BMW (and Apple, Android and all tech companies) have changed software and hardware on a fairly regular basis. We live in a world where technology is constantly changing.

[TonyS]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

And we still won't know if those new features will be active while driving. I can't imagine even voice texting while driving is safe because you'd have to check to see if the computer got your words right.

Agreed. This is one of the fundamental problems I have with all this stuff - it cannot do anything but distract the driver to have Facebook/Twitter/Email/SMS/etc all available while driving.

I don't care if it's voice activated, it's still a distraction because, as you've said, you'll be looking at the screen to check stuff. That's all apart from the fact that you don't *need* this stuff while you're driving. If you have to be that welded to your phone that you just can't do without it while doing something that demands all of your attention (in which case you probably need to seek help) then get a bus/train/taxi and don't drive. Rant over.

[gator15]

Originally Posted by ronnyb29

And then come November they will be including something else new that you'll want to wait for. Just take your car and be happy for 3-5 years and they will have the bugs worked out of the new system for the next one you buy.

Great advice! My spouse convinced me to go ahead with my April ED even though I was hesitant because I knew the MY2013s were right around the corner. Honestly, it was a great decision since two weeks after I returned from Germany, my former daily driver was totaled by an uninsured motorist, so I would have needed a new car anyways. I couldn't be happier with my F30, it makes me smile every time I get in it.

I admit that I am one of those people that love the latest tech, but the current nav system really isn't that bad and meets all of my needs. Granted, I do not believe in texting and even talking on my cell phone while driving, so apps are worthless to me in my car, but I have found the iDrive is more than adequate for nav/music. Like others have said, if you are going to be unhappy with your car with the old nav, then I would cancel and wait because it isn't worth being unhappy. However, I don't think keeping your current order is a bad idea.

[ZMM_OMG]

OK, I'll play devil's advocate...

Many of the responses you've received have expressed opinions about what's important to that responder. However, it's YOUR car and it's about what's important to YOU. From your posts, it seems like the lack of features on the current nav would bother you. Given that you plan to keep the car for awhile and that you have another dealer willing to give you the same pricing, I'd say cancel the order and get what you really want.

[rjc32000]

Yeah, that's a tough call. I actually just cancelled my original order and changed the specs for a feature I decided I didn't want to live without. My original car is now sailing across the Atlantic, and my new car hasn't even received a production date. I expect my decision will delay delivery of my car by at least 6 weeks. And I'm doing a 36 month lease, so its not like I couldn't just wait a few years and get the "right" car the next time around.

Ultimately, I decided it was better to get the car I wanted and not kick myself for the next 3 years. Since you are planning on keeping your car for a considerable length of time, I can certainly understand the desire to have the car you want, rather than feeling like you've settled for something inferior.

For me personally, I wouldn't delay my car over the new iDrive system, even though it looks better, and will probably perform better as well. But I'm on a lease, so I'll get the new system in 3 years regardless. You obviously will have this car for a considerably longer period of time, and it doesn't seem unreasonable to delay delivery in order to get a system that will be more future-proof than the current system.

Many have analogized the upgraded iDrive with upgraded iPhones, and suggest that because a new version is always around the corner, you should just bite the bullet and get the current model. I think this is a bad comparison in some ways. While the iPhone gets a hardware update every year, it will likely be years before the iDrive is bumped again. Stated differently, the iPhone I buy today will be "outdated" next year no matter what. The new iDrive system will likely remain the current standard for the next 3-5 years.

As other posters have expressed, only you can make the call on this. From what you've shared, my guess is that you will kick yourself if you don't wait for the upgraded model. As someone who postponed delivery of their car to get the features I decided I couldn't live without, I sympathize with your plight.