Kaz
02-25-2002, 06:10 PM
Hmm, nobody's mentioned this yet, at least on this board. Got my AutoWeek late this week, and reading through it now, there's a short review of the E65.
Although they praise its "technologies BMW drivers appreciate" (engine/tranny/suspension) and acknowledge certain areas where iDrive is useful (they use the individual vent control as an example) and the fact that the interface itself isn't tough to learn, the article reiterates what others have said; that it doesn't really simplify features, primarily by "convoluting simple tasks."
Worse, they find the changes they made in the more traditional controls (wiper, turn signal, shifter, cruise control) to be "different for difference's sake."
I didn't know that the turn signal, for example, self-returns... not after you make the turn; right after you activate it. Huh? Cruise control requires scrolling through a menu with one of the columns. Why? Knowing now that even the 'normal' controls don't work normally bugs me even more.
Although they praise its "technologies BMW drivers appreciate" (engine/tranny/suspension) and acknowledge certain areas where iDrive is useful (they use the individual vent control as an example) and the fact that the interface itself isn't tough to learn, the article reiterates what others have said; that it doesn't really simplify features, primarily by "convoluting simple tasks."
Worse, they find the changes they made in the more traditional controls (wiper, turn signal, shifter, cruise control) to be "different for difference's sake."
I didn't know that the turn signal, for example, self-returns... not after you make the turn; right after you activate it. Huh? Cruise control requires scrolling through a menu with one of the columns. Why? Knowing now that even the 'normal' controls don't work normally bugs me even more.
