Originally Posted by Dave

Thought I'll add my opinion too. Yes - the drive-ability of the car is important, but it's the value-add of the electronics that makes it a great car. And the electronics in the X5 is not that great.

It's certainly more of a "cheapish" extra then a feature. There is no reason why the the "user" electronics can be driven by CPU similar to a smartphone. We could have functions like :
- instant on
- high-res touch screen (wake up BMW .... look at the trend with phones). Keep to idrive controller for people to use as an option, but is like trying to drive MS windows with only a keyboard.
- Good voice recognisation (and ability for user to train recongition)
- Programmable Nav system. That way, when better features are available, it can be upgraded by software, e.g. ability to speak the street names. And yes - the NAV DVD is so old. Time to upgrade to a simple 4GB USB pen dirve (it's significantly faster on startup)
- Back-up, front and side cameras
- Time lapse camera recording when parked, and continous recording when driving. Such a simple "black box", and customers can replay to see who ran the shopping trolley into the car and scratched the paint. Storage - a separate USB drive. So when the EEPROM fails, it will only cost customers $10 dollars to replace. My 9 year old video door bell even has this technology, and can virtually to done in software only.
- Please please please fix the battery drain issue. What electricial devices are using so much power when the car is switched off? Fuel heater???
- A front distance sensor could be used to apply the brake if an object is too close, .e.g. if the car in front brakes and you don't. So simple to implement a distance sensor (user configurable of course).

- Better remote key. The induction charging is great .... no exposed contacts allowing for a water-proof key. SO WHY ISN'T IT?? arhhhhhhh. Also, build in luxen LED powered from a high efficiency capacitor. Even if it only gives 60sec of intense light, it's want customers want. It's practical, it's handy, and it so simple to implement. Still water proof of course. There is no requirement for external connections. The door switch can be presure sensitive.

Can someone in BMW consider this for the next X5 version? It would be such a great selling point. The cheap cars are starting to have better features than a BMW now.