[Xgtowner]

"2. Given that you're climbing into the car to unlock doors, if you had read the manual (or some sense of intuitive logic) you'd know that holding the handle once opens your door, but releasing and holding it again opens all doors. Why anyone wants one door as the default is beyond me, but perhaps security is a stronger concern for some people."

Thanks- this is helpful. That wasn't in in my manual, and my local BMW "genius" didn't suggest this when I asked- but I will give it a try tomorrow when the temperature crosses into the teens.

Btw, though I live in an affluent burb, we had a fatal carjacking at a local upscale mall last Xmas. Very scary indeed.

I don't agree that the BMW UI represents progress, but agree as you say "to each their own". I will point out that my 2012 Nissan Rogue has almost all the same technology as the 2015 BMW, but is very intuitive, and they don't need a 'genius ' on call to help folks figure out the basics.

FYI- I had a BMW 1 series 4 door hatchback with manual,transmission in a rental car for a week in Europe last year. It had no Idrive system, but I loved driving the car. I had no issues with any of the controls. Wonder if I could I import one of those...lol

On paper, on specs, and from the outside, I loved the GT:
AWD, great mileage, great acceleration and handling, great interior space.
But for me, it's beauty is only skin deep.
Call me crazy, but I just want to drive the car, not decode its mysteries.

Thanks again for the door handle suggestion- hopefully that will work.

.

[Aapparition90]

maybe they moved to the gran coupe.

[ipilcher]

For anyone with DHP who feels that the suspension is a bit soft in comfort mode, I highly recommend Dinan Shockware. For a few hundred USD it has transformed the feel of my 335i (xDrive) GT.

I used to feel like I was driving a Crown Victoria or similar land yacht; now I feel like I'm driving a BMW (not an F30/F32, but a legitimate BMW).

[Xgtowner]

Originally Posted by jdjaye

"2. Given that you're climbing into the car to unlock doors, if you had read the manual (or some sense of intuitive logic) you'd know that holding the handle once opens your door, but releasing and holding it again opens all doors. Why anyone wants one door as the default is beyond me, but perhaps security is a stronger concern for some people."

Thanks- this is helpful. That wasn't in in my manual, and my local BMW "genius" didn't suggest this when I asked- but I will give it a try tomorrow when the temperature crosses into the teens?

.

2/25- no luck with grabbing the handle twice and doing first one door then all the doors. Is there a YouTube video you can point me at?

[juleswheel]

I would also be interested in figuring out how to open the remaining three doors by releasing the the door handle once and then grabbing it again. I realize I can set the car to always open the 4 doors, but for security reasons, I don't want all four doors to always open when I am alone. It is a little bit of a pain to have to enter the car first and then press the button in the middle of the dash to open the rest of the doors when I do have passengers. Being able to grab the handle once then release and grab again would be so helpful. I have tried it numerous times and it does not work for me. If somebody could tell me what I am doing wrong I would be eternally grateful. I am beginning to think maybe this is another situation where it is not available in the States but is available elsewhere like the remote unlock feature.

[granCLop]

Only regrets are not getting the 335, & hk. Though the kiddo probably wishes we got the X3, his head's been bumped a few times setting him into the car seat. Would have loved the 4GC, but needed the extra rear leg room & cargo space.

Any luck on unlocking the remaining three doors by grabbing the handle again? It's always a pain when the wrong key fob activates and I have to reach in with the baby to unlock the doors...

[scubawookie]

They were probablely service loaners. I love my gt to death! Mine was a "demo" @6K miles but it was the best decision ive made. I was able to lease it and my payments are crazy cheap considering that they didn't make anything on it.

Originally Posted by KneeDragr

Do any of you have buyers remorse? The reason I ask, there are quite a few used 2014 328i GT's in my area. In fact, the used stock rivals the new inventory. Most have very low miles ( < 5000 ). One actually is a 2015 and has 25 miles, so somebody must have hated it or it was a lemon.

Im just curious as to why so many people would dump it relatively soon after purchasing.

Maybe its just the 328i being not powerful enough? There is only one used 335i GT.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by juleswheel

I would also be interested in figuring out how to open the remaining three doors by releasing the the door handle once and then grabbing it again.

From the manual:
Unlocking
The setting is stored for the remote control
currently in use.
1. "Settings"
2. "Doors/key"
3. Select symbol or "Unlock button:"
4. Select the desired function:
▷ "Driver's door only"
Only the driver's door and the fuel filler
flap are unlocked. Pressing again unlocks
the entire vehicle.

[granCLop]

Those are the instructions for the key fob. Unfortunately it doesn't transfer over to comfort access. Just checked the settings, and tried again. Accessing from the passenger door however, unlocks all doors even with it set to driver's door only. Comfort access in the manual doesn't mention it either. Is it possible to code?

[Mike_L]

The fob stuff should transfer to Comfort Access. They did on my car.

[granCLop]

So while others are making impressive headway retrofitting comfort access, I can't get it to work correctly...and I have it.

[sushkr]

This is my first BMW. I did not realize I could not 'sync' the dual zone temperatures. That's about the only remorse I have so far.

[OfficeHeadphones]

Originally Posted by sushkr

This is my first BMW. I did not realize I could not 'sync' the dual zone temperatures. That's about the only remorse I have so far.

Completely Agree. That and my iPhone starts playing music the moment I start her up. And the navigation, an entire generation behind. So slow...

I still love the car though.

[sushkr]

Originally Posted by OfficeHeadphones

Completely Agree. That and my iPhone starts playing music the moment I start her up. And the navigation, an entire generation behind. So slow...

I still love the car though.

I found the navigation snappy. Snappier than that of Audi A3 or a Lexus. The multimedia will do what it was doing the last time you drove the car. There might be a way to override that setting.

I have another "remorse". That is about the panoramic roof. I can't figure out a way to open or close it with "one touch" operation. I have to hold it the entire while it is opening or closing. Is there a way to do this?

[granCLop]

Originally Posted by sushkr

I have another "remorse". That is about the panoramic roof. I can't figure out a way to open or close it with "one touch" operation. I have to hold it the entire while it is opening or closing. Is there a way to do this?

Press it forward (or backwards) until you feel two clicks, and it will fully open/close.

[OfficeHeadphones]

Originally Posted by sushkr

I found the navigation snappy. Snappier than that of Audi A3 or a Lexus. The multimedia will do what it was doing the last time you drove the car. There might be a way to override that setting.

My use case is as follows: Listening to audiobook on audible connected app, unlpug phone. Bluetooth takes over and starts playing music from my play list, WTF? Or, get into car. Was listening to audible before I turned off the car. Turn on car. phone connects to bluetooth, starts playing music. Mother F. Not everything has a connected app, so I need to play somethings through bluetooth, but turning that on or off, etc, is just annoying. So I guess I am annoyed because if the connected app is unavailable, it defaults to my phone's playlist. I don't like that, especially since it plays the same song, every time.

I can enter an address or point of contact into my phone, click it into a car mount and drive much much faster than iDrive. I installed a cellphone mount immediately after purchase. Waze rocks, and iDrive can't tell me where police are.

Whether I am using the click wheel or the touch pad. It takes too long to find an address. I like the touch pad, but again, it takes too long to recognize the the letter and allow me to enter the next. Too slow. The default is to enter a place by address. I rarely ever do that. Google or Wze the place I want to go, see it on the map, confirm that's the one I want, usually by city and go. This method takes more navigating in iDrive to make happen.

I have played with looking up a point of interest online, this takes a while, there are info screens I have to get past, etc. It's been somewhat helpful, however if I am out and my lady says, "We need to get some prescription food for the cat," I just want to type Petsmart, see a list of the ones nearby, pick one, and go. BMW's Nav is far too clunky. Waze and Google are just faster.

I think it is an engineering issue. BMW Engineers started down a path where their use cases eliminated made it hard to innovated when the world started using their phones for everything.

They set the method of input as the scroll wheel. Multi-touch screens have blown past this concept, yes, the idea was that it is safer to use a scroll wheel, and prevent smudges on the screen, but we have surpassed that method.

They wanted everything to be self contained. There is jsut too much information to make this feasible anymore. A salesman told me it was not hard drive based and not DVD. Really? That's kind of pathetic.

Each year they add something new to keep their initial design premises alive. But the more they add, the more kludgey it becomes. Connected Drive? BMW Apps? These are ridiculous add-ons that do not exactly fit. BMW Remote? Actually handy. Unsecure SMS based implementation, not so much. Now we added touch to the scroll wheel, ok. Next year a touch screen, better.

I think they need to jump out of the rut. The way forward? Let go and give users the flexibility that comes with the fast pace of new devices. Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Go ahead and keep iDrive, it's interface, but the future is with the creativity of mobile phone app developers. BMW would not have to invest as much into these kludgey ideas. Let's mirror a phone on the big screen, let's flex the data plans of people's phone instead of a second data plan for the car.

For $1000+ dollars, where getting jack in the way of innovation.

But again, I still love my car.

[sushkr]

Originally Posted by granCLop

Press it forward (or backwards) until you feel two clicks, and it will fully open/close.

Thank you, it works. I did not realize it was this easy. The second click comes after a bit of a force, never found it previously. Thanks again.

[sushkr]

Originally Posted by OfficeHeadphones

My use case is as follows: Listening to audiobook on audible connected app, unlpug phone. Bluetooth takes over and starts playing music from my play list, WTF? Or, get into car. Was listening to audible before I turned off the car. Turn on car. phone connects to bluetooth, starts playing music. Mother F. Not everything has a connected app, so I need to play somethings through bluetooth, but turning that on or off, etc, is just annoying. So I guess I am annoyed because if the connected app is unavailable, it defaults to my phone's playlist. I don't like that, especially since it plays the same song, every time.

I can enter an address or point of contact into my phone, click it into a car mount and drive much much faster than iDrive. I installed a cellphone mount immediately after purchase. Waze rocks, and iDrive can't tell me where police are.

Whether I am using the click wheel or the touch pad. It takes too long to find an address. I like the touch pad, but again, it takes too long to recognize the the letter and allow me to enter the next. Too slow. The default is to enter a place by address. I rarely ever do that. Google or Wze the place I want to go, see it on the map, confirm that's the one I want, usually by city and go. This method takes more navigating in iDrive to make happen.

I have played with looking up a point of interest online, this takes a while, there are info screens I have to get past, etc. It's been somewhat helpful, however if I am out and my lady says, "We need to get some prescription food for the cat," I just want to type Petsmart, see a list of the ones nearby, pick one, and go. BMW's Nav is far too clunky. Waze and Google are just faster.

I think it is an engineering issue. BMW Engineers started down a path where their use cases eliminated made it hard to innovated when the world started using their phones for everything.

They set the method of input as the scroll wheel. Multi-touch screens have blown past this concept, yes, the idea was that it is safer to use a scroll wheel, and prevent smudges on the screen, but we have surpassed that method.

They wanted everything to be self contained. There is jsut too much information to make this feasible anymore. A salesman told me it was not hard drive based and not DVD. Really? That's kind of pathetic.

Each year they add something new to keep their initial design premises alive. But the more they add, the more kludgey it becomes. Connected Drive? BMW Apps? These are ridiculous add-ons that do not exactly fit. BMW Remote? Actually handy. Unsecure SMS based implementation, not so much. Now we added touch to the scroll wheel, ok. Next year a touch screen, better.

I think they need to jump out of the rut. The way forward? Let go and give users the flexibility that comes with the fast pace of new devices. Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Go ahead and keep iDrive, it's interface, but the future is with the creativity of mobile phone app developers. BMW would not have to invest as much into these kludgey ideas. Let's mirror a phone on the big screen, let's flex the data plans of people's phone instead of a second data plan for the car.

For $1000+ dollars, where getting jack in the way of innovation.

But again, I still love my car.

I would like to say that "some" of your diatribe is unjustified.

First, let me presume you don't have access to BMW online, and hence 'Google search' from within iDrive. Because if you do, it will solve lot of your problems with Navigation. In this case, most of what you said is true. The best way to look up an address would be through 'Points of Interest' search in Navigation, and there is no other way other than typing out 'Petsmart' using the scroll wheel. I read BMW went against touch screen because (a) you should not really be typing on a touch screen while driving, i.e. more danderous than opeating a scroll wheel while driving and (b) I read somewhere that they actually did not like it because touch screens get dirty with fingerprints. The new iDrive will have touchscreen capability as well and also gesture recognition, to pacify a broader base of users, and IMO, will definitely improve iDrive. Phone mirroring, CarPlay, etc. are also going to make it more and more easy. But those innovations are coming, and I don't think any manufacturer has anything of that sort perfected yet.

Now coming to specifics of your case, do you have BMW online? Mine came with the Tech package, a 3 year subscription I think. Anyhow, I press the 'voice search' on steering wheel, say 'points of interest online search' and it asks for a voice phrase. I say something like 'Thai restaurant near by' or 'Children's museum in Philadelphia' and it waits for a moment, sends the query to Google, and 90% of the time, it gives me what I wanted rightaway. Just scroll the entry, select, and 'start navigation'. It's perfect and very fast. While at home, I look up all addresses on Google maps and use 'send to car' from the laptop and all those addresses come to the car along with the phone number in BMW messages. So just 1 click and you can start navigation. In fact, I have the 'send to car' app on my phone. So I sometimes use voice search on phone to find a location, and 'send to car' that address and it reaches my car, and then with 1 click, I start the navigation. In past 3-4 months, I have never once typed an address, and for me it's been quite good. When I said snappy, I meant, how fast it locates the address when you finally start navigation, and also how fast you can zoom in and zoom out, and how fast you can see 'route information' all on once scree, and then search an alternate route. It is very very quick. I am told they moved to a fast processor and a GPU for the graphics unit. As of 2015, I may not be wrong that it may be the 'snappiest' maps display among all competitors.

[OfficeHeadphones]

Originally Posted by sushkr

I would like to say that "some" of your diatribe is unjustified.

First, let me presume you don't have access to BMW online, and hence 'Google search' from within iDrive. Because if you do, it will solve lot of your problems with Navigation. In this case, most of what you said is true. The best way to look up an address would be through 'Points of Interest' search in Navigation, and there is no other way other than typing out 'Petsmart' using the scroll wheel. I read BMW went against touch screen because (a) you should not really be typing on a touch screen while driving, i.e. more danderous than opeating a scroll wheel while driving and (b) I read somewhere that they actually did not like it because touch screens get dirty with fingerprints. The new iDrive will have touchscreen capability as well and also gesture recognition, to pacify a broader base of users, and IMO, will definitely improve iDrive. Phone mirroring, CarPlay, etc. are also going to make it more and more easy. But those innovations are coming, and I don't think any manufacturer has anything of that sort perfected yet.

Now coming to specifics of your case, do you have BMW online? Mine came with the Tech package, a 3 year subscription I think. Anyhow, I press the 'voice search' on steering wheel, say 'points of interest online search' and it asks for a voice phrase. I say something like 'Thai restaurant near by' or 'Children's museum in Philadelphia' and it waits for a moment, sends the query to Google, and 90% of the time, it gives me what I wanted rightaway. Just scroll the entry, select, and 'start navigation'. It's perfect and very fast. While at home, I look up all addresses on Google maps and use 'send to car' from the laptop and all those addresses come to the car along with the phone number in BMW messages. So just 1 click and you can start navigation. In fact, I have the 'send to car' app on my phone. So I sometimes use voice search on phone to find a location, and 'send to car' that address and it reaches my car, and then with 1 click, I start the navigation. In past 3-4 months, I have never once typed an address, and for me it's been quite good. When I said snappy, I meant, how fast it locates the address when you finally start navigation, and also how fast you can zoom in and zoom out, and how fast you can see 'route information' all on once scree, and then search an alternate route. It is very very quick. I am told they moved to a fast processor and a GPU for the graphics unit. As of 2015, I may not be wrong that it may be the 'snappiest' maps display among all competitors.

Thank you for bringing up the send to car bit. I'm going to play with it this weekend on my Sunday drive.

Diatribe? Perhaps. I certainly got fired up. I wrote a bit because I didn't want to look like a whiner. I understand what it is like to be an engineer. When I use the system, I can see how they designed the system, which use cases they focused on, the limitations they imposed on themselves, how they wanted to solve certain problems. It isn't a bad thing just matter of fact.

When iDrive kicked there wasn't a internet connection, so it all had to be self contained. That concept is still being carried through today with the voice recognition, with specific phrases for operation. You can see that because they took a chance, and wanted to be a front runner, it led them down a certain design path. They have taught their users how to use their system, and branching away from that is very risky.

The fact remains, the car can not compete with a fast data connection and distributed cloud computing. I can see how they are trying to get in on it with connected drive, apps, etc. what I really hope for is the option to upgrade what I have. The system they have in place is really flexible. There are opportunities to rework the back end of things, keep the ui, which I do enjoy, etc.

I think we are on a precipice for change in how our cars connect to our lives, our phones, etc. companies are trying lots of different things, some good, some not. I think it is good to be honest with about what we have now, and how we want to be connected through our cars.

Thanks again for the tip!

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by OfficeHeadphones

Thank you for bringing up the send to car bit. I'm going to play with it this weekend on my Sunday drive.

I enter all of my destinations by leisurely looking them up in Google Maps on my computer, then sending them to the car.

[BrasWien]

Originally Posted by granCLop

So while others are making impressive headway retrofitting comfort access, I can't get it to work correctly...and I have it.

Did you try contacting a BMW dealer, support or call center?

[granCLop]

No luck. Spoke to three geniuses who said touching the handle a second time to unlock remaining doors is not a feature of comfort access. Instead, I unlock from the passenger side, that unlocks all doors regardless of what the fob is set to.