[sfax]

I tried to get the software updated on my iDrive today at the dealership. I took it in for them to look at the shark fin mobile phone signal not doing anything.

My experience is as follows. I was told there was no update available (despite my car being manufactured in Jan 2011). They didn't want to give me the version number (called the Integration Level) but I got it in the end and it's a month before the manufacture date so F025-10-12-503 where 10 and 12 are 2010 and December respectively.

The output from scanning the key shows that "no update available" but I know this isn't the case (there was one in July). Anyway, what "no update available" actually means is we don't have to give you an update for free and don't want every Tom, Dick and Harry coming in for an update under warranty (which is fair enough but I wish they'd just say that up front).

Net result is that you'll probably have to pay for a software update unless you have something wrong with your iDrive or something wrong that will be fixed by the latest version of the iDrive software.

I've negotiated and managed to get mine updated in any case in about 2 weeks time (I have to wait longer as it's all day job and I'll need a loaner and that's the first available date)