X3 - Technology questions

We're about to close the deal on an X3 28i on Monday but I'd like some feedback on some of the technology.

Silly as it is, one of the reasons we're upgrading our ride (beyond having a fun car to drive) is that we want something more technically advanced.

Real-time traffic is important - can anyone share their feedback on how accurate and updated the information is? We were at the dealer Saturday night and we were unable to receive any traffic info. My expectation was that we would see color coded highways Green for clear, yellow for slow and so forth. We had all the buttons checked to receive traffic and we were in the gray screen mode but nada! Dealer is going to check it out and we're going back during rush hour to see it again.

iPhone 5 - Any feedback on how it performs with Mobile Office? Pairing multiple devices?

Any other general comments and feedback for someone looking for the ultimate driving and technology machine?

We have driven the Q5 and I think their technology is a bit better but not as fun.

Appreciate the insights.

Nick

The realtime traffic info is ok in my opinion. I don't really have much to compare against besides the iPhone Maps. There's grey arrows on the highways where there's backup. I live in the San Fran bay area so this is fairly accurate. That's pretty good when I'm stuck in traffic, I have a good idea of where it ends.
There's also markers that you can click on and it'll say what's the issue. Sometimes it says accident other times it says slow traffic. Personally, I don't find that part too helpful. Honestly what I do I see the traffic, look on the iDrive and then switch to the news radio for what's happening.

I can't comment on the iPhone 5. I still have an iPhone 4 and I don't want to update the OS to iOS 6 yet.

Real Time traffic works well but mostly depends on your area. If whoever manages it in your area is good about updating the system then it will work well. If your area doesn't send out frequent updates it won't work well.

I have the iPhone 5 and everything works as it should. No complaints. Text messages show up on the nav screen, music will play through bluetooth and the USB cable and the phone charges if I plug it in. No weird adapters necessary.

Here in Seattle, the traffic info is pretty good, but beware the system is only as good as the data feeding it. It tends to only highlight major incidences and closures--not minor slowdowns.

The NAV system..., set your expectations really low. The main 3D view is actually pretty impressive showing a great deal of detail and relief information. The database for the NAV system is awful. About 30% of the addresses we've added in do not exist and it does not have a way to guess at that. It will just refuse such entries. Points of interest list is almost useless and very hard to navigate through. One way around this is to use the BMW remote app, use Google maps section to find your location, then have that send to iDrive. This method has worked out pretty well so far. Oh, yeah, it won't speak street names either.

HUD is nice. When the NAV system is working for you, the integration is sweet.

Thanks for all the responses. We decided to pull the trigger and took delivery of our X3 this evening. On the route home it showed some traffic conditions but both had actually cleared by the time we reached it. I guess we'll just need to accept that RTTI hasn't quite advanced yet but it is better than not knowing anything at all. It does look like the INRIX RTTI will be pretty sweet once it's fully rolled out to all models - we just couldn't wait until the 2014 model :-)

Originally Posted by Vortec4800

I have the iPhone 5 and everything works..., Text messages show up on the nav screen...

Does that only work for the iPhone 5? Wish I could get that for my iPhone 4. Some other mod?

Originally Posted by nbali04

Thanks for all the responses. We decided to pull the trigger and took delivery of our X3 this evening. On the route home it showed some traffic conditions but both had actually cleared by the time we reached it. I guess we'll just need to accept that RTTI hasn't quite advanced yet but it is better than not knowing anything at all. It does look like the INRIX RTTI will be pretty sweet once it's fully rolled out to all models - we just couldn't wait until the 2014 model :-)

From my experience, the realtime traffic is useful for three things.

1. When you actually get stuck in traffic, you can see how far it is backed up and decide if you want to change your route.

2. When there is construction, it will show the slow area with arrows.

3. Marveling at the fact that your vehicle displays traffic info.

I've found it to be fairly useful, especially in the sense of providing alternate routes that aren't ridiculous.

The traffic on my Droid works better than most of the systems out there.

Question about RTTI: When I select the traffic info icon on the left vertical edge in Navigation, I see the traffic text that I can scroll through. This lists info out to 99 mi from what I could recall. However, when on the "map" I don't see any green colored roads where there is no traffic (or very few cars). Not sure if geography matters (I'm just North of Boston). Does anyone know why I'm not seeing that? Do I not have the full RTTI capability? I have all the traffic items checked in settings.

Also, a separate question: I don't see any satellite view (with option checked), even when I zoom out to > 1mi by any amount. I thought that was supposed to work also. Any clue?

Originally Posted by noka

However, when on the "map" I don't see any green colored roads where there is no traffic (or very few cars).

Are we supposed to see colored roads? From what I understand, it shows gray arrows next to the road in the direction of travel that is slow.

Originally Posted by noka

Also, a separate question: I don't see any satellite view (with option checked), even when I zoom out to > 1mi by any amount. I thought that was supposed to work also. Any clue?

I have to zoom out pretty far before satellite images are overlaid. I assume it's because they don't have really high detail images for the closer zoom levels so it's just limited to lower detailed zoom levels.

Originally Posted by SpaceManGray

Are we supposed to see colored roads? From what I understand, it shows gray arrows next to the road in the direction of travel that is slow.



I have to zoom out pretty far before satellite images are overlaid. I assume it's because they don't have really high detail images for the closer zoom levels so it's just limited to lower detailed zoom levels.

I don't know what I should see. When I login to MyBMW it says that RTTI is not available for the X3 in the FAQ. Totally confused now. I zoom out as far as I can go (500 mi I think it was) and no satellite view.

From MyBMW:

Which BMW vehicles receive RTTI?
RTTI is standard on 2007 and later 6 Series, M5 and M6 produced 9/06 and later, 2009 and later 7 Series and included with the optional BMW Navigation system on 2009 and later Z4, 2008 and later X6 and 1 Series, 2007 and later 3 Series, X5 SAV, and 5 Series models produced September 2006 or later. Vehicles produced prior to 3/2007 with both the BMW Navigation system and HD Radio do not receive RTTI.

Why is RTTI not available for the X3?
This vehicle's BMW Navigation systems are based on hardware and software that doesn't support RTTI. Retrofitting RTTI is not possible. When this model is replaced with a new design, RTTI may be made available.

Another part of the FAQ said you needed to have route guidance on but when I did that the green roads with little or no traffic did not show green either.

Originally Posted by noka

I don't know what I should see. When I login to MyBMW it says that RTTI is not available for the X3 in the FAQ. Totally confused now. I zoom out as far as I can go (500 mi I think it was) and no satellite view.

I can't explain why you're not seeing satellite imagery on your maps if that feature is enabled.

Sounds like outdated data for RTTI. Here's a video about it, specifically for the X3. Notice the gray arrows I was talking about on the map in the video at 0:51... the road color itself does not change:

Originally Posted by SpaceManGray

I can't explain why you're not seeing satellite imagery on your maps if that feature is enabled.

Sounds like outdated data for RTTI. Here's a video about it, specifically for the X3. Notice the gray arrows I was talking about on the map in the video at 0:51... the road color itself does not change:

Thanks. I just saw that video on the web site (and another one). I do have the gray triangles/arrows, just no color (e.g. like green). I do see some roads with a kind of red outline, not sure what that is because there wasn't much traffic. Funny thing is, I couldn't see that video when logged into MyBMW, only a small subset of videos (about 12). But when I logged out and went to the site without logging in, I could look at about 3 pages of X3 videos, including the one you posted above. Well, maybe it's working OK,... just not sure yet. As far as satellite image, I don't think it's a satellite image. I need to check again. I zoomed way out and could see the Great Lakes and a lot of the US if I went further. Just not sure if it's really a satellite image or not. I thought it was supposed to be available above 1 mi scale. I'm definitely not seeing that.

bmw navigation sucks

iphone, ipad or any of the portable navigations are all better.

Originally Posted by edbiology

bmw navigation sucks

iphone, ipad or any of the portable navigations are all better.

I've had BMW Navigation before and I don't hate it. Sure there are things to be improved but for the most part it gets the basic job done (IMO) and I like the bigger display for other things. So I got it.

Originally Posted by noka

I've had BMW Navigation before and I don't hate it. Sure there are things to be improved but for the most part it gets the basic job done (IMO) and I like the bigger display for other things. So I got it.

BMW navigation does ok providing basic directions. But it does not even read street names, and it has very few points of interest( gas station, restaurants...) The quality and price of BMW navigation is not justified today when $500 can get you a bigger, higher resolution screen internet tablet that does way way more than providing basic directions.

Originally Posted by edbiology

BMW navigation does ok providing basic directions. But it does not even read street names, and it has very few points of interest( gas station, restaurants...) The quality and price of BMW navigation is not justified today when $500 can get you a bigger, higher resolution screen internet tablet that does way way more than providing basic directions.

All true but those units (and I have a Garmin I like) don't integrate with the vehicle.
[Update: 1/28] About this comment: "...has very few points of interest( gas station, restaurants...)", I counted 58 POI categories. I get lots of POI info.

Originally Posted by noka

All true but those units (and I have a Garmin I like) don't integrate with the vehicle.

+1

This is the sole reason that I opt for the factory nav.

OK, I convinced myself that the satellite view is working when zoomed to >= 1mi. Maybe I need a new eyeglass prescription .

I still don't see any green-colored roads that are clear of traffic. I have all options enabled/selected related to traffic. Can anyone confirm if that should be visible in the U.S. (in particular, the greater Boston North area)?

Originally Posted by noka

OK, I convinced myself that the satellite view is working when zoomed to >= 1mi. Maybe I need a new eyeglass prescription .

I still don't see any green-colored roads that are clear of traffic. I have all options enabled/selected related to traffic. Can anyone confirm if that should be visible in the U.S. (in particular, the greater Boston North area)?

not sure if good traffic is in green, but i remember for sure bad traffic is in red. you have to switch to the grey traffic map mode.

Originally Posted by noka

I still don't see any green-colored roads that are clear of traffic. I have all options enabled/selected related to traffic. Can anyone confirm if that should be visible in the U.S. (in particular, the greater Boston North area)?

No, the color of the road should NOT be green when it's clear of traffic. I'm not sure where you got that idea from, but the color of the road does not change color to indicate traffic flow in BMW RTTI.

If you read the FAQ, the traffic flow is indicated by the arrows, pointed in the direction of travel that is affected. Read the info in the fourth last bullet point:
http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Conte...I/RTTIFAQ.aspx

Again, the color of the road will not change color to indicate traffic flow... your nav is not broken. Traffic flow is shown with arrows beside the road. The color of the road WILL change color to indicate a route to your destination, and I assume that's why they show traffic flow with arrows beside the road, so there's no confusion between traffic flow and your guided route.

Originally Posted by SpaceManGray

No, the color of the road should NOT be green when it's clear of traffic. I'm not sure where you got that idea from, but the color of the road does not change color to indicate traffic flow in BMW RTTI.

If you read the FAQ, the traffic flow is indicated by the arrows, pointed in the direction of travel that is affected. Read the info in the fourth last bullet point:
http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Conte...I/RTTIFAQ.aspx

Again, the color of the road will not change color to indicate traffic flow... your nav is not broken. Traffic flow is shown with arrows beside the road. The color of the road WILL change color to indicate a route to your destination, and I assume that's why they show traffic flow with arrows beside the road, so there's no confusion between traffic flow and your guided route.

Thanks. I didn't really think the Nav was "broken', just perhaps I had not configured it properly, missed some setting, etc. The green-colored roads,... well, I thought I saw some pics or video with that but cannot remember. If I come across it, I'll edit this post. During guidance, my route changes to white. The Nav certainly could use some improvements. Coming home today, I entered my house and it plotted the course and about a mile away, after exiting the highway, it wanted to take me back on the highway in the opposite direction (i.e. back where I came from) and the route had a few loop-di-loops and figure 8's. I kept driving in the neighborhood the shortest way to my house and it eventually got the idea. If I had not known the area, I would have been screwed by the Nav. My cheap Garmin never had that problem. Oh well...

Update: This doc is from UK but it might be one (of a few) where I read about green-colored (clear of traffic) roads.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...SKQawUqmMfWhpw
- It prompts to open .PDF file.

Originally Posted by noka

The Nav certainly could use some improvements. Coming home today, I entered my house and it plotted the course and about a mile away, after exiting the highway, it wanted to take me back on the highway in the opposite direction (i.e. back where I came from) and the route had a few loop-di-loops and figure 8's. I kept driving in the neighborhood the shortest way to my house and it eventually got the idea. If I had not known the area, I would have been screwed by the Nav. My cheap Garmin never had that problem. Oh well...

Yes, the routing is not the best and the standalone units definitely excel at many of the guidance related tasks. However, the advantages of having it integrated with the vehicle still outweigh the negatives for me.

I was so dissappointed with the BMW Pro NAV that i stuck a Garmin 3590 up by the right side of the BMW display. So much better and easier to use, plus it displays digital speed and speed limit info. Sadly, it somewhat of a hack job and looks tacky but it works.