iDrive

Excuse me for venting but iDrive is s#&t. I enjoy driving my 06 vert every day but from day 1 iDrive has been an issue. And now into my 5th year with the car, iDrive only becomes that much more frustrating. My dealer has tried everything to get the system to work properly and even agreed to extend my warranty. But thats not the point. What I want is iDrive functionality. This morning it look minutes for the screen to respond to my controller movements. It seems the cold weather has a bad influence on the software or computer or both.

At this point I don't even bother to take the car in for service even though the dealer offers to go over the system yet again. The iDrive technology was simply not ready for prime time. I know this because the BMW loaners with the newest version of iDrive respond to inputs without hesitation. I would strongly urge BMW to develop and offer updated software or issue a TSB to help owners with older models of iDrive units to consistently obtain the basic functionality the owner's manual describes.

Try popping out the NAV DVD and see if that helps. Someone mentioned once that the DVD was their source of a slow iDrive boot. If removing the disc makes a difference try a new DVD.

I think the main source of the general overall sluggishness is an underpowered CPU on the CCC versions of iDrive.

The iDrive does suffer in cold weather, often the screen will remain dull until it has warmed up, a real nuisance at times! As far as booting is concerned mine can be slow, especially in connecting to my mobile, but I have got used to it!!!

Originally Posted by Yorgi

Try popping out the NAV DVD and see if that helps. Someone mentioned once that the DVD was their source of a slow iDrive boot. If removing the disc makes a difference try a new DVD.

I think the main source of the general overall sluggishness is an underpowered CPU on the CCC versions of iDrive.

This is correct on all counts, I actually had suggested the DVD removal option. I suffer from slow boots and had the dealer upgrade and work on my system a couple of times with no change. Well, there was a slight change, before the update it took forever to get to the past the splash screen to the initial screen and was unresponsive until then. Now, it boots pretty quick to the initial screen but is unresponsive for the same amount of time. So I have stereo selection screen but cannot use it!

After testing I found that not having the NAV disc in the system booted much quicker. I still keep the disc in however since my Wife can get lost at any time, she is terrible with directions! Since it is her daily driver we just deal with the boot issue. If it was me driving the car everyday I would pull the disc in a heartbeat.

Lets face it, our version of the Idrive was archaic and pretty weak when it was new, so it is certainly weak when compared to other more modern systems. My friend who has a 2005 CL55 AMG seems to have a more robust system.

BMW is ahead of the curve on installing computer operated modules in cars. That is why we love the extra little things that we have! However, BMW is really behind the curve on sound & navigation systems, that even Ford & Chevy offer!

This might not apply to you, but on my 650i sometimes the iDrive does not respond until it connects via Bluetooth to my iPhone. I guess it has to check the contact list. It happens only from time to time, but when it happens I cannot even change the radio volume or shut off the radio until the phone connects to the car (cell phone signal level apears on the iDrive screen). I wonder if your problem is related to this. Try to switch off the Bluetooth and see if your iDrive responds faster.

My 05 645 IDrive takes 2 minutes to be boot. My 07 750 takes 15 sec's. Yorgi is correct again. The on board computer is just slower than the newer models. Your only option is to live with it, or upgrade the CCC & Nav unit.

It can be done for under 1K

Breaking news,

i disconnected my battery for the night and my IDrive hasnt frozen up or anything. Been really reliable to me even with the bluetooth hookup, sat, cd and aux

After upgrade to 2012 DVD, my iDrive becomes slower. Anyone experience the same problem? I've got mine from ebay for $35. It's definitely fake one I think, but it works great except really really slow.

I had an updated disk that I got from a member that made it himself, and it was so slow I had to put back the original disc. I got a later disc from someone else and that one works fine. It all has to do with how they "retrieved the data" and wrote it back.

Originally Posted by reytran

After upgrade to 2012 DVD, my iDrive becomes slower. Anyone experience the same problem? I've got mine from ebay for $35. It's definitely fake one I think, but it works great except really really slow.

Deleting the disclaimer helps as well. Saves several seconds.

I also have the iDrive default into a menu at startup. Mine goes right into the Entertainment menu.

Originally Posted by Mulchman

Deleting the disclaimer helps as well. Saves several seconds.

I also have the iDrive default into a menu at startup. Mine goes right into the Entertainment menu.

How did you get it to do that?

Originally Posted by FredoinSF

How did you get it to do that?

Coding the car with NCSExpert. I also added blinkers to the HUD, M HUD, AE's as DRLs and many other tweeks. You can see the DRL's (before) in the picture below. They are now just the AE's and I changed them to LED's. Check out BMWcoding or BMWforums for in depth information or a quick search here for coding will bring up several threads.

The cable and software setup (available on Ebay) will also be very helpfull for diag and maintainance later.

I assume deleting the disclaimer requires coding?

For those with ebay '12 discs, I would suggest backing up contents to your computer, my disc got wonky but I was able to save the contents and burn a new disc.