[Admiral]

Two and no display key, in fact I have always had two keys in the six BMW's I have had over the years and never a display key

[spucktacular]

I got a normal key, a smart key, and what they told me was a "valet" key... the little metallic one, but I kinda think it's a backup if the battery runs out on the smart key.

Then I dressed them up

[Wills2]

Two normal keys thankfully, the display key is quite possibly the worst innovation BMW have ever spent money on, it's truly dreadful and serves zero purpose other than to make a key difficult, a car key you have to charge....What were they thinking.

[spucktacular]

Originally Posted by Wills2

Two normal keys thankfully, the display key is quite possibly the worst innovation BMW have ever spent money on, it's truly dreadful and serves zero purpose other than to make a key difficult, a car key you have to charge....What were they thinking.

I agree. Here in Canada they include it standard, and honestly I used it for all of 4 days before switching to the normal key... maybe if it did more, was snappier.

Technically wise, it's cool shit.. it obviously uses some sort RF based data transmission protocol.. they just haven't really done much with it that's practical. For example:

0) ODOMETER reading...
1) allow windows to be opened or closed
2) allow for remote parked view directly on the display key
3) dig deeper into diagnostics data, tire pressures, battery voltage
4) detect when the car is running and switch to "running" view showing running time, trip metrics, etc.

Those are just a few ideas off the top of my head, I'm sure some smart people can come up with quite a few clever ways to use a data channel between the FOB and car up to 500 yards, even if its super high latency and low bandwidth. Seems like a good idea, badly executed... shame.