Cool Hidden Features of the E70 many dont know about

[Kloogy]

Originally Posted by jeremym

Just skip nav in your next X5 and buy a $200 Navigon GPS device...or most likely, any other small portable GPS. My Navigon did it and it was pretty cool.

No. I am not driving a $65k vehicle with an aftermarket screen plastered on my windshield, or mounted on my dash.

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by deutsch100

Kind of lame, that you have to manually do night and day mode for the E70. I guess though, there has to be some reasons for buying a $100k BMW 7 Sedan

Thanks again!

The BMW Nav system is truly bad and not very well thought-out. I would have expected a $1,900 system to give three options for the view, (1) daytime, (2) night time, and (3) automatic.

It's pretty lame that a $100 Garmin is more accurate, more functional, and more feature-rich than BMW's.

That said, I personally don't care for the night views in GPS -- I prefer to leave it on daytime mode and turn-down the brightness at night.

[deutsch100]

Originally Posted by Penguin

The BMW Nav system is truly bad and not very well thought-out. I would have expected a $1,900 system to give three options for the view, (1) daytime, (2) night time, and (3) automatic.

It's pretty lame that a $100 Garmin is more accurate, more functional, and more feature-rich than BMW's.

That said, I personally don't care for the night views in GPS -- I prefer to leave it on daytime mode and turn-down the brightness at night.

The 5 and 7 Series do come standard with Automatic mode, and works flawlessly!

I think the 'USA' made models (X5, X6 and now X3) kind of get shafted in terms of options and features!!

[alexmish]

BTW, I've assigned the toggling of day/night modes to one of the shortcut keys, so switching back-n-forth is very quick and just 1 click.

[SJCFlyer]

Hey, I vote this becomes a sticky. Yes, some or all of these things are in the manual...but isn't it nice to have a quick "abridged" version we can all enjoy?

[deutsch100]

Originally Posted by SJCFlyer

Hey, I vote this becomes a sticky. Yes, some or all of these things are in the manual...but isn't it nice to have a quick "abridged" version we can all enjoy?

[sarends]

+1
I use the manual as a reference, and it is great for that. This thread is nice because it is a collection of handy features that:
a) One doesn't necessarily have to find to be able to operate the car
b) Are not activated via their own special button or menu

I think it would be nice if an admin cleaned up this thread leaving only posts describing a handy feature, and making it a sticky.

Originally Posted by SJCFlyer

Hey, I vote this becomes a sticky. Yes, some or all of these things are in the manual...but isn't it nice to have a quick "abridged" version we can all enjoy?

[AzNMpower32]

Just like every past BMW in the last........15 years or so, there's a hidden diagnostic menu. Displays a bunch of things like coolant temp, current displayed speed (speedometer intentionally optimistic), current actual speed, voltage, super-precise instant fuel consumption, fuel consumption per hour, the instrument panel test.........lots of things.

Example from our 3er (coolant temp)

[jeremym]

Originally Posted by AzNMpower32

Just like every past BMW in the last........15 years or so, there's a hidden diagnostic menu. Displays a bunch of things like coolant temp, current displayed speed (speedometer intentionally optimistic), current actual speed, voltage, super-precise instant fuel consumption, fuel consumption per hour, the instrument panel test.........lots of things.

Example from our 3er (coolant temp)

This is what I'm talking about. Not that you can hold your unlock button and the windows roll down. I want some good hidden stuff. I remember doing this in my old 318 - so useless but also so cool once I got it to work.

For the record: I'm referring to the speedo. Coolant temperature is very useful.

[lordshin808]

Originally Posted by AzNMpower32

Just like every past BMW in the last........15 years or so, there's a hidden diagnostic menu. Displays a bunch of things like coolant temp, current displayed speed (speedometer intentionally optimistic), current actual speed, voltage, super-precise instant fuel consumption, fuel consumption per hour, the instrument panel test.........lots of things.

Example from our 3er (coolant temp)

how do you get to this hidden diagnostic menu? Do you mean just pressing in the button on the left lever?