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      09-04-2012, 10:41 PM   #1
Kiernan
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Drives: X3M Competition/911 GTS
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Yorkshire, England

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Revised iDrive controls?

As I've mentioned in the 'UK orders' thread, I've recently placed an order for an X3 and so I'm waiting patiently until my new car arrives.

I'm currently on holiday in Florida and just happened to be passing the local BMW dealer today, so took a quick look at the cars on the forecourt (unlike the UK, dealers leave their new car stock on display ready to sell) and noticed that the iDrive was slightly different. On cars with professional navigation, it was almost the same, but the CD button has now been replaced with a MEDIA button (makes sense in these days of USB sticks and Bluetooth audio).

On cars without navigation (they don't do business nav so it's easy to tell) the iDrive controller was the new simpler unit that I've seen in the new 1 and 3 series cars. I took a few pictures which I'll upload when I get home, but the controller now has 3 buttons at the front of the wheel, for MEDIA, MENU and TEL - the NAV and RADIO buttons have been deleted. The BACK and OPTION Buttons are the same as before. It also looks as though the wheel can only be clicked to the left or right, but not forwards or backwards (can obviously still be rotated).

I checked the build dates of the cars using the vin numbers and they were all built on or after 15th August. My car was built 23/08 so I guess I'll be getting the simpler controller (no navigation for me), but wondering if anyone knows any more. Is this exclusive to the US spec cars, or will Euro spec X3's, including mine, have the new controller. I'm sure I read about changes to the 5 series iDrive controls, but I don't remember anything about the X3.

Not sure which I prefer, as the NAV button would always remind where I've saved money, but the new controller looked a bit cheap, and doesn't look as though it lights up a nicely as the 'full fat' version.
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2017 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS and 2019 BMW X3M Competition
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