[yash27]

I see a lot of guides for ID7 but none for the ID8/8.5 M's. I was wondering if anyone has pictures or a video of all the different functionality of the M heads up display?

[rons e92]

There really isn't much to it, which is why I didn't order it on my new G87.

In comfort mode, it just displays your speed, gear, and you can activate a compass if you want.

In sport mode it changes, the speed is much smaller, you get a bar with shift lights and RPM is a lot more prominent.

In racing my car on track, I never even saw the HUD. Looked straight through it.

There isn't enough functionality or customization to justify the $1,100 price tag. It's a cool novelty, but you won't miss anything not having it... other than maybe the compass. No one can seem to find a compass anywhere other than in the HUD on comfort mode when you activate it in the settings.

If you want to see this in action, go check out my YouTube video. I have hours and hours of POV driving footage. My channel is RonJohnCo.

[JABCAT]

I disagree with the lack of functionality. In addition to showing speed & rpms, it displays speed limit signs, your cruise control settings, and turn by turn navigation using either the BMW nav or Carplay. It'll also display a radar/speed camera ahead warning if you have that feature. It's alerted me to many a state trooper up ahead on the interstate

Re: the compass (not sure why anyone would need this), without the HUD in comfort mode, it appears when you select preview route.

[two_three_two]

Originally Posted by JABCAT

Re: the compass (not sure why anyone would need this), without the HUD in comfort mode, it appears when you select preview route.

i dont have a dog in the HUD fight but i used to use my compass all the time. scenario was usually god awful traffic on the merritt and 95, and i need to keep heading west in an area i am less familiar with. it was a nice tool

[rons e92]

Originally Posted by JABCAT

I disagree with the lack of functionality. In addition to showing speed & rpms, it displays speed limit signs, your cruise control settings, and turn by turn navigation using either the BMW nav or Carplay. It'll also display a radar/speed camera ahead warning if you have that feature. It's alerted me to many a state trooper up ahead on the interstate

Re: the compass (not sure why anyone would need this), without the HUD in comfort mode, it appears when you select preview route.

Everything you just mentioned is visible on the dash and it's a lot clearer. When my car is spinning or I'm trying to cut a 1.5 60', I'm never looking at the HUD. It's the shift lights on the dash that catch my eye.

Waze, which hopefully with iD8.5 will display the same info in the center screen of the driver display, but on my last car it worked just fine on the main display. Thanks to another member here I got a smoking deal on a Uniden R7, so I'll add that to my police protection package haha.

Maybe you're different, but this was my experience with my last car driving and racing it for almost 16,000 miles.

Prior to the G chassis cars, BMW always had a compass in the mirror. Maybe some us are able to navigate with a compass without using GPS? I live on an island, so if you know what direction you're going, you'll run into a main highway eventually.

[JABCAT]

Originally Posted by rons e92

Everything you just mentioned is visible on the dash and it's a lot clearer. When my car is spinning or I'm trying to cut a 1.5 60', I'm never looking at the HUD. It's the shift lights on the dash that catch my eye.

Waze, which hopefully with iD8.5 will display the same info in the center screen of the driver display, but on my last car it worked just fine on the main display. Thanks to another member here I got a smoking deal on a Uniden R7, so I'll add that to my police protection package haha.

Maybe you're different, but this was my experience with my last car driving and racing it for almost 16,000 miles.

Prior to the G chassis cars, BMW always had a compass in the mirror. Maybe some us are able to navigate with a compass without using GPS? I live on an island, so if you know what direction you're going, you'll run into a main highway eventually.

Sounds like you're specifically discussing your preference while on track. It's my opinion, and my preference that it's much better to not have to look down or over for that information. I've become accustomed to being able to keep my eyes on the road that I really dislike vehicles that don't have HUD. I also find the HUD our BMWs very clear compared to my '11 Z06 that basically equivalent to Atari graphics at this point.


Re: the compass, I just can't remember the last time I didn't know what direction I was going. My kids are also astounded that I can go somewhere once then know how to get around the next time I'm there. It must have been all those road trips as a kid with my grandparents where the only you had to do in the backseat was stare out the window & pay attention to where you were going.

[603BlueM2]

My single complaint of my M2 is the digital gages on the dash are useless. I almost always look to my HUD for speed in comfort mode. I agree that in track mode at autocross events I never see it

[bluekitty]

I find the HUD useful. I also find the feature to turn it off useful at night.

[BroDoze]

I had my doubts on the HUD when I optioned the car with it.. I love it now. Can’t imagine the car without it.

[Blacktemplar]

HUD in ID8 is ok, but nowhere near as functional as ID7, and the graphics aren’t as crisp. I don’t like the pale blue background in comfort, which doesn’t help at night in particular .

For example, in ID7 you could scroll through telephone contacts in HUD, or change radio stations - in ID8 both of those features appear in the instrument cluster so you have to take your eyes off the road.

As an aside, WTF is the issue with the BC button on the left hand stalk? On my last car it allowed me to easily change the central display content, now it just puts on journey data and nothing else. I have to go to the wheel menu to change it back.

First world problems, but as they say - if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…

[yash27]

Originally Posted by Blacktemplar

HUD in ID8 is ok, but nowhere near as functional as ID7, and the graphics aren’t as crisp. I don’t like the pale blue background in comfort, which doesn’t help at night in particular .

For example, in ID7 you could scroll through telephone contacts in HUD, or change radio stations - in ID8 both of those features appear in the instrument cluster so you have to take your eyes off the road.

As an aside, WTF is the issue with the BC button on the left hand stalk? On my last car it allowed me to easily change the central display content, now it just puts on journey data and nothing else. I have to go to the wheel menu to change it back.

First world problems, but as they say - if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…

So ID8 there's less HUD functionality? I wonder why they did that.

[two_three_two]

Originally Posted by JABCAT

Re: the compass, I just can't remember the last time I didn't know what direction I was going. My kids are also astounded that I can go somewhere once then know how to get around the next time I'm there. It must have been all those road trips as a kid with my grandparents where the only you had to do in the backseat was stare out the window & pay attention to where you were going.

we got an every day magellen over here. its a little more difficult to navigate in the northeast when you can't see the horizon in every direction

[ajchoi]

Polarized sunglasses make the brightest HUD setting super dim FWIW

[wjones14]

I personally love the HUD. Never had one until my 2018 Camaro 2SS 1LE. Found it indispensable on track because it had the converging shift lights, but also useful on the road to keep from having to look down at the gauges.

No available HUD was the one thing I really missed on my 2021 M2C. I didn't hesitate when I saw it available on the 2025 G87. It is true that it is dim at maximum brightness with polarized sunglasses, but I can still see it perfectly fine.

[Blacktemplar]

Originally Posted by yash27

So ID8 there's less HUD functionality? I wonder why they did that.

I stand corrected - buried in the displays menu is the HUD menu which controls appearance, position etc. as part of that, you can decide whether scroll lists for radio stations and telephone contacts appear in the instrument cluster or on the HUD. It was enabled from the start on ID7 in my last car, so I just presumed (incorrectly) that it wasn’t available.

[BroDoze]

Originally Posted by ajchoi

Polarized sunglasses make the brightest HUD setting super dim FWIW

Not really. It dims it yes, but it's far less than I was worried about it being. As I was optioning my '25, I made a big thread on here asking specifically about polarized sunglasses and the HUD. Lot of folks said it wasn't that big of an issue - they were right. I wear polarized Ray-Bans 100% of the time and the HUD looks great still.

Very glad I optioned the car with the HUD.