I just got my new 2011 yesterday but I spent all day with it, and I just wanted to chime in for a minute.

This is certainly a common statement regarding ANY integrated vehicle NAV system, and it's not without merit.

I am an engineer by trade and I'm having quite a lot of trouble USING it, but when I get it to do what I want, I find this system is really excellent. This is one area where, so far, the documentation is next to useless, but hey..

The Lexus system I just came off of was EXTREMELY easy to use and offered a good implementation of basic features. It was not very pretty (the BMW system is BEAUTIFUL), it was not very fast and it's routing was not the best, but by and by it worked fine.

Garmin is prettier, it's faster and it also works fine. The simple fact that an integrated system is generally much larger and may have better controls is a big advantage over other systems. I think Garmin's real target market are the handheld users and their aircraft avionics (which are excellent) and not so much the auto market. Magellan doesn't ever seem to work well, and every time I see a little tiny Tom Tom unit on someone's dash I just can't help but laugh.

Free map updates are nothing to sneeze at, as our roads here change - sometimes quite dramatically - on a yearly basis, so points to the other makers for that.

What I like about the BMW system..

1. Pretty. VERY pretty. Many reviewers complain about their choice of color scheme and contrast, and while I readily see why they don't like it, it's been working great for me so far. It is (surprise surprise) VERY European in fit / finish / operation and if you don't like it, well.. The perspective view is actually very useful.

2. Fast. It's slow to start up (and that is already starting to make my right eye twitch every time I fire it up) but once it's up, everything is very fast. Most importantly, it recalculates routes instantly, which was actually a big problem with the Lexus.. By the time it had recalculated, I had probably missed the turn. Display update could be faster - I don't understand why in this day and age these systems aren't using at least the last generation in graphics, etc. but what do I know?

3. Accurate. This is the first system I've had that makes more intelligent choices about routing. Most systems use algorithms based on FAST or SHORT - this one adds EFFICIENT and that makes a BIG difference to me.

4. Features. Being integrated is the nicest piece, I suppose, but not just for looks, as of course it's integrated with Bluetooth (for dialing, contacts, etc.) and this has already proven to be a VERY nice addition.. If I could just figure out how in the world to give it a list of destinations, delete, reorder, etc.

It's true: nothing is perfect.

I noticed right away that versus other automakers, they don't charge very much for NAV. Even Toyota wants like $2500 for NAV, which is fairly ridiculous.