[jammy8911]

I have spent ages browsing various forums, news sites, blogs etc and I cannot find a proper answer about this.

Does anyone know whether the G42 2-Series will get the update to iDrive 8.5 or 9 to get the new Climate menu options etc?
From what I have read models need the newer HU or Chipset for it and anything produced after July/August should have the new hardware. I have a G42 which was produced in October 2023 so I would figure it would be capable of iDrive 8.5? But then I have also read that the 1,2,3 & 4 series wont be getting 8.5 at all?

Also from what I have read 8.5 was already rolling out, my car is on 07/2023.53 which I don't even know if this is the latest version?

[ILikeBimmers]

I recall from talking to my dealer on delivery of my '23 G42, that we won't be getting iDrive 9 due to hardware limitations (something about chip speed), but they told me we'd receive the (then) summer update to iDrive 8 (which I think is the 7/2023 you have), which I think was "8.1" or something. I'm not sure about 8.5, and this is the first time I've really heard about it.

[jammy8911]

Originally Posted by ILikeBimmers

I recall from talking to my dealer on delivery of my '23 G42, that we won't be getting iDrive 9 due to hardware limitations (something about chip speed), but they told me we'd receive the (then) summer update to iDrive 8 (which I think is the 7/2023 you have), which I think was "8.1" or something. I'm not sure about 8.5, and this is the first time I've really heard about it.

8.5 Seems to be a mostly UI update. It makes accessing menu's faster by giving popups instead of having to go into complete sub-menus. The most useful thing looks to be having popups for Climate options like Fan speed, Heated seats/wheel etc. From what I've read and tried to understand 8.5 is essentially the UI of 9 but without some features that require the new hardware.
Would be nice to know if cars are going to get it or not.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a4...ftware-update/

[Invisiblename]

Originally Posted by jammy8911

I have spent ages browsing various forums, news sites, blogs etc and I cannot find a proper answer about this.

Does anyone know whether the G42 2-Series will get the update to iDrive 8.5 or 9 to get the new Climate menu options etc?
From what I have read models need the newer HU or Chipset for it and anything produced after July/August should have the new hardware. I have a G42 which was produced in October 2023 so I would figure it would be capable of iDrive 8.5? But then I have also read that the 1,2,3 & 4 series wont be getting 8.5 at all?

Also from what I have read 8.5 was already rolling out, my car is on 07/2023.53 which I don't even know if this is the latest version?

11/2023 is the latest version - mine had an OTA update in December

[Fronzdan]

I just took delivery a couple weeks ago and it came with the July version.

[jammy8911]

Originally Posted by Invisiblename

11/2023 is the latest version - mine had an OTA update in December

Not sure what that includes then because according to the BMW website 07/2023 is the latest version

https://www.bmw.co.uk/en/topics/owne...e-upgrade.html

[Invisiblename]

Originally Posted by jammy8911

Not sure what that includes then because according to the BMW website 07/2023 is the latest version

https://www.bmw.co.uk/en/topics/owne...e-upgrade.html

Here’s MyBMW APP STATUS

[jammy8911]

Had it confirmed by a BMW rep that the G42 won't be getting iDrive 8.5 like some other cars. Notably the new X1 & X2 are shipping with.

I did however get a notification for upgrade iDrive 11/2023 today via the My BMW App... Only 3 months late.

[Rdurty2]

Originally Posted by jammy8911

Had it confirmed by a BMW rep that the G42 won't be getting iDrive 8.5 like some other cars. Notably the new X1 & X2 are shipping with.

I did however get a notification for upgrade iDrive 11/2023 today via the My BMW App... Only 3 months late.

OTA updates generally start to be pushed out 3-4 months after the date in the update itself.

[jammy8911]

Originally Posted by Rdurty2

OTA updates generally start to be pushed out 3-4 months after the date in the update itself.

Generally yes but I had seen a lot of others get the update in Dec via OTA as well as my partners car so not sure why it took so long for mine.

[Rdurty2]

Originally Posted by jammy8911

Generally yes but I had seen a lot of others get the update in Dec via OTA as well as my partners car so not sure why it took so long for mine.

Just the luck of the draw. They probably roll out to a smaller set of random people and then wait to see if any complaints in.

If there aren’t any issues reported then they roll out to more.

[KevinC]

iDrive 9 will require new hardware and is an entirely new software platform, based on Android Automotive...

https://source.android.com/docs/auto...hat_automotive

So now BMW will have to support at least 3 recent platforms - iDrive 7, 8+, and 9+. As bad as they've been on the current platform, this wouldn't seem to bode well to stretch their software development/maintenance resources even further.