Tech w/o prem pkg?

[teamc]

My dealer says that premium pkg is required to get tech pkg on 2010 diesel? I only want leather & bmw assist/bluetooth from the prem. pkg, but was going to order them as separate options. Does anyone have any info?

[Penguin]

Unless something has changed for 2010, it doesn't appear that is true... using the BMWUSA.COM "build your own" it does not reject the combination you want. The 2010 ordering guide doesn't seem to require the Premium package to get the tech package either.

That said, the Premium package does give quite a bit of "nice to have" stuff, e.g., without the electric steering wheel, the wheel will not be adjusted with the seat memory positions (I think with the electric wheel, it stores the position along with other seat parameters).

The autodimming mirrors are also much nicer than I though, since with the manual ones it seems you have two settings at night -- too dark or too light.

You also miss out on some little stuff, like the rear tiedown rails, etc.

If it is true, it might have to do with the autodimming outside mirrors -- I think the new top view might require cameras in the mirrors, and they may only have "plain mirrors" and autodimming/camera mirrors. But that;s just speculation on my part. Years and years ago I was in product planning at an auto manufacturer, and often you would limit the number of different part variations in the plant to ease manufacturing. Since the combo of no premium package with a tech package is probablt low volume, they might have decided to no longer offer the combo.

[AzNMpower32]

I doubt that ZPP and Tech have to be ordered together. I agree that you can just order Premium and Bluetooth; I personally don't care for the other items in Premium and I don't like auto-dimming mirrors. And trust me, the electric steering wheel memory is just one more variable that will inevitably not work as intended.

[anatolych]

I placed an order for my oil burner on August 29th, not wanting to risk the subsidy. Tech was a must for me because my wife is addicted to NAV in our current acura RDX, but most importantly because we wanted a rear view camera. We did not care for premium except for Bluetooth and leather. My SA called me back in 2 hours apologizing that we the system would not accept the order for tech without premium and it used to for 2009 orders. This must be a new thing for 2010. What pisses me off is that there is no info on BMWUSA about the new model year and build section still works off the 2009 data set. Dealers know very little about exact changes for 2010. I wish I could get by knowing as little about the product I sell... But this is noise, can't wait to get my new truck as the acura is wearing old on me and with the second kid coming we do need a bigger car!