[spuntyb]

I might never move on from the F90 platform lol. The idrive dial and the macro buttons are a huge part of why I enjoy piloting these cars. They make other cabins feel clunky and slow to me.

As for gesture control, good riddance!

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a6...e-idrive-knob/

[ppointer]

I'm fine with iDrive. However, gesture control can kiss my butt.

[tturedraider]

More and more reasons to leave the brand.

[MaxVO2]

****I really like the knob. It's good to have options. The voice control does work really well in the M8 though. Probably not something I have to worry about for a few years. I just got my M8 and plan on keeping it for awhile.

The gesture thing is tough for me. It is not intuitive at least for me and I'm always messing with positioning my hand right. Good riddance to that.

[BlkGS]

Gestur controls are stupid. iDrive is not. It's a selling feature, that I can intuitively control so many things using a rotary knob. Mine even has a touch screen so I can draw letters for searches.

Not having the iDrive knob just puts BMW back at a direct comparison level with mass market cars.

[NickyC]

You will use the shitty iPad and you will like it.

[bmwstephen]

shame- BMW basically the innovative leader of interface and UI design for all their vehicles including that idrive knob; so many OEMs followed suit because it worked. Now BMWs chasing and has gone the way of capacitive touch and buried menus .

[thebmw]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

More and more reasons to leave the brand.

And go where? Other brands are even more atrocious from a digital integration and ergonomic standpoint (cough Tesla cough), not to mention the driving dynamics. To me, that last great cars were the F generation. I have had 7 F06/F13 and still have 5. They are the last hydraulic steering car BMW will ever make (and it comes with a proper iDrive wheel) and they are still the best looking BMWs made, inside and out, in the modern era.

[Hi]

The knob was more intuitive back in the 2000s (E60) when the menu was divided into a left and right, and sometimes up and down. Press right and I'm there.

In more recent iterations (iDrive7 in my situation) it's almost useless. Especially with Android Auto. Why must I scroll down past 10 icons, just to be able to get to the right??? Pressing right on the knob would be more intuitive. Currently, it's way more efficient to press the screen for what I want. At least my eyes are off the road for only a split second instead of multiple wheel turns trying to remember was it 9 or 10 turns.

I will miss the physical 1-8 programmable buttons. I use those daily.

[spuntyb]

Originally Posted by Hi

The knob was more intuitive back in the 2000s (E60) when the menu was divided into a left and right, and sometimes up and down. Press right and I'm there.

In more recent iterations (iDrive7 in my situation) it's almost useless. Especially with Android Auto. Why must I scroll down past 10 icons, just to be able to get to the right??? Pressing right on the knob would be more intuitive. Currently, it's way more efficient to press the screen for what I want. At least my eyes are off the road for only a split second instead of multiple wheel turns trying to remember was it 9 or 10 turns.

I will miss the physical 1-8 programmable buttons. I use those daily.

lol my 6yo was tickled recently when he realized it’s a touchscreen, and he asked me if I knew. I said, “yup, but I’ve never had to touch it!”

[tracer bullet]

Originally Posted by Hi

At least my eyes are off the road for only a split second instead of multiple wheel turns trying to remember was it 9 or 10 turns.

I'm not doubting or disregarding you, but what are you doing while driving that's this complicated?

I much prefer the knob to touch screen but I rarely use it outside of choosing a new album to listen to off of my plug-in USB drive. I do get into various settings but in the garage before I leave and rarely at that. I tend to be a "set it and forget it" kind of person so outside of things like stereo volume or climate temperature I don't really have much to adjust. So I'm genuinely curious what folks to 10 turns deep while driving?

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by thebmw

And go where? Other brands are even more atrocious from a digital integration and ergonomic standpoint (cough Tesla cough), not to mention the driving dynamics. To me, that last great cars were the F generation. I have had 7 F06/F13 and still have 5. They are the last hydraulic steering car BMW will ever make (and it comes with a proper iDrive wheel) and they are still the best looking BMWs made, inside and out, in the modern era.

I’ll be keeping my LCI F30 340i M Sport until I die. You are correct, there is basically nowhere to go. If I have to I might go to Porsche, but it would be very hard, because I’m not willing to give up my inline six.

Originally Posted by bmwstephen

shame- BMW basically the innovative leader of interface and UI design for all their vehicles including that idrive knob; so many OEMs followed suit because it worked. Now BMWs chasing and has gone the way of capacitive touch and buried menus .

Yes, I still can’t wrap my mind around the fact that BMW is no longer a leader, but seems to be perfectly happy to be a follower.


I saw this on Instagram today and posted this:

When I first saw this I literally thought it was a photo of a Honda Accord someone had stuck two kidneys to the grill. I'm not exaggerating!!! I literally thought it was an Accord!! Until the last five years I never thought a BMW looked like some other brand. It really hurts my heart!! (I am aware this is only a render.)

[couchflyer]

Too bad. I-Drive is easy to use and makes sense when you use it.

[M-technik-3]

This is what people want these days? Another sitting in front of a computer screen?

[Efthreeoh]

The 1980's called, it wants its E30 back...

[Westside Guy]

I love using the knob with iDrive 7 in my Z4 and IMHO, BMW is making a huge mistake removing it.

As for gesture control, I have tried using it in several different models and the only gesture that has consistently worked for me was when I gave it my middle finger.

[BMWCCA1]

Don't worry. It will return.
Public opinion of screens, buttons, and interfaces is shifting and BMW, once ahead of the curve, is way behind it now.

At the Frankfurt auto show eons ago when BMW was introducing the first iDrive along with some coupe concept. They had a dozen or so podiums set up with just the single iDrive knob and a trainer for each podium as they demonstrated the function of the iDrive to members of the press. Remember this was the first of the haptic controllers with 8-different directions the knob could be moved to access different points on the screen. After a rather unsuccessful 20-minute tutorial/launch even on a stationary podium, I asked my trainer what the "i" stood for. He told me "intuitive" and we both laughed. This was documented in my article on that show in Roundel probably 25-years ago. I was a hater from the start but gradually became a fan by the time the finest iteration was launched around 2010 with the direct-access buttons surrounding the knob and before the touch-screen. Probably the worst version was the final years of the E60 5-series when they installed the new controller with the direct access buttons but did not upgrade the iDrive itself so most of those buttons had no function. I believe that was the 2009 5-series, fixed by 2010.

The history of iDrive really gives insight into how BMW's read of the market is often faulty. They say we just have to get used to it, or learn it, but even based on turn-signal function, you can see they just give up on the US market ever being able to learn something new and just revert to the simplest. Personally, my BMW experience started with the turn-signal switch on the right stalk in my first 1600. I remember the "single-touch" version with its auto-cancel also came out on the E60 and at launch in Sardinia, even the BMW employees were activating the left turn-signal trying the cancel their right signal. Notice recently BMW has reverted to the "American" turn-signal operation at least on the 5-series. Once we learn something new, they change it back! That's why I'm never giving up my 2013 128i M-sport stick-shift!

[NickyC]

Funny you mention the turn signal deal. It’s still not uncommon for me to use the turn signal, then actively switch it to the other side while attempting to turn it off. I can only imagine the jokes drivers behind me are telling one another. “Finally, a BMW owner who uses his turn signals! Unfortunately too dumb to know he only uses one side at a time”.

[B58 parts]

The ability to write on it to enter text is really good. The passenger seat always comments when first seeing that.

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by NickyC

Funny you mention the turn signal deal. It’s still not uncommon for me to use the turn signal, then actively switch it to the other side while attempting to turn it off. I can only imagine the jokes drivers behind me are telling one another. “Finally, a BMW owner who uses his turn signals! Unfortunately too dumb to know he only uses one side at a time”.

I got to where I really liked the electronic turn signal stalk. I think one of the biggest problems for consumers was that the majority of BMW employees (mainly dealer employees, CAs) didn’t understand (ever bother to learn) how it worked. If you turned on the turn signal and you wanted to cancel it all you had to do was push it down again in the direction it was currently flashing and it would turn off. So, if you inadvertently pushed it down too far while making a lane change and turned on the left turn signal, all you needed to do was push it down again and it would cancel. Hardly anyone understood that.

[xander_g]

Touchscreens cause fingerprints and it bothers me.

Other than that, pretty much what everyone else said - simple and easy to use and, being able to draw characters on it is cool. Gesture control, meh.

[BMthusiast]

Originally Posted by xander_g

Touchscreens cause fingerprints and it bothers me.

Other than that, pretty much what everyone else said - simple and easy to use and, being able to draw characters on it is cool. Gesture control, meh.

Touchscreens don't cause fingerprints, fingers cause fingerprints.