Intro

[freshwhite335]

Hey guys thought I would introduce myself, my name is Spencer. I'm really active on E90post as I have an E90 335 but my parents [im 17, save the flames please] have BMWs as well. The dad has an E39 M5 w/ 40k [Carbon Black/Caramel, supposedly this is rare] and my mom had an E65 750i with pretty much everything except night vision and active cruise that we just sold and have an F01 on order to arrive soon. The trade offer was too good to pass up and the warranty was almost up on the E65 so we would have lost a ton of money if we didn't trade it in then. We have a spare car so my moms been driving that and I give her my 3 whenever she wants a BMW fix, although its been a week and she hasn't asked.

The F01 is as follows:
750i
Jet Black/Black Nappa/Ash Grain
Premium Sound Pack
Convience Pack
Sport Pack with style 252s
Camera package
Luxury Seating Pack
Head-up Display
Nappa leather dashboard
Sat Radio
Ceramic Controls


We were very close on pulling the trigger on the above car but that also had driver assist pack and rear entertainment located in TX so we would have had it in 5-6 days but at the last second we found out it didnt have the ash grain wood so we backed out and did the custom order. now we have about 45 days to wait until it comes in. In the end I didn't even want driver assist because the blind spot monitor interferes with my radar detector so I'm glad we didn't end up with that car for that reason. Also, having had rear entertainment in our E65 it would be weird to go to the F01 system which has no iDrive controller. I know this has been discussed at length on this forum and I agree its ridiculous for it not to be on the US model.

We tried to find a car that resembled what we wanted for a good hour and couldnt find one that was either produced or about to be produced, so we had to do a custom order. What we found either didn't have the right wood color or it didn't have the wheels we wanted [style 252].

Seems like there are more 7 owners on Bimmerfest then on Bimmerpost so I look forward to speaking to you all.

-Spencer

[briansbimmer]

Welcome to the board. I have a 750li I received on May 14th. I have the drivers assist. I was pricing radar detectors yesterday and reading the radar detector threads on Bimmerfest. I never considered that. I drove my 545i Sport Package for almost 5 years without a radar detector...guess I'll survive. I do not know how I get away with it. I guess it's because I never lead a pack and only really really speed with others, I'm talking speeds 80+. I'll go the speed limit + 10 or 12 alone. On the DC beltway alone. On the DC beltway police have no place to pull you over and not risk their life, and besides less than 80 in the two left lanes and everything gets backed up.

So the E65 caused the radar detector to be totally useless or so many false alarms that it ruined the drive? Heard of any models that work with a cars blind spot detector?

[freshwhite335]

The radar detector was fine in the E65. But at one point I had a 9500i which is GPS enabled. However, because the windscreen is laminated I could never obtain a GPS signal. The radar part still worked perfectly, but not the GPS.

On a car like the 7 I would recommend the 9500ci. It's pricy, but the best. It has a radar detector and 3 laser jammers. Its also GPS enabled but since its a built in system your installer would probably be able to find a spot where the moveable GPS receiver could find a signal.

If you have Driver Assist the only way to avoid interference would be to shut the system[s] off. A company called Mid City Engineering has figured out a way to make Mercedes' Distronic cruise control work with various radar detectors but when I checked with them a while ago if they did anything BMW related they said they didn't. You should get in contact with them and see if anything has changed.

[briansbimmer]

Yeah..the 9500ci is supposedly undetectable to radar detector detectors. That was a mouth full. Radar detectors and laser jammers not legal in Virginia. But I do a lot of driving out of VA. Years ago (mid 90's) I had a radar detector (figured I'd try it) and after getting pulled over 3 times in 4 months it was taken away. First guy I knew, second one made me put it in trunk, and the third one took it. I would need to be able to power it down, unless it was invisible, in VA. Those guys amazed me at how good they were at figuring out who had it in a group. I'd take it out of dash at first sign of a cop.

I guess I would need to (if it is invisible) turn off the laser jammer and keep radar detector on. I would think that cop shoots laser, gets no reading, shoots again, shoots again, that's it: driver has a jammer.

I do not have the assisted cruise control. I do have the blind spot detection and lane departure

[bimmerguy288]

briansbimmer, isn't radar detector illegal in Va?