You must remember... Consumer reports reviews appliances and as such there is a segment of society that views vehicles in the same way "as appliances". Thus anything that requires too much thinking will not get a good review from CR.

It's the nature of the society we live in. Sometime you also find the manifestation of that kind thinking among people who refuse to read the manual that comes with the things they buy. (including X5s) Never mind taking the time to read the instructions. Just dive in. And when it doesn't work as expected complain that the device is faulty, or poorly designed.

Is the iDrive perfect? Nope....... But the failure of people to do their research and become acquainted with what they buy before they buy it is nothing short of amazing. The level of complaining after the sale is in a sence even more perplexing.

For some, perhaps it would have been far better if they had bought a toaster and drove that to work. :rolleyes:

The only 'knock' I've really had with idrive is that it takes time to get use to. Anything is easy once you have learned it, but until that point it can be a real pain.

The touch sceen solutions that have been adopted by most (all maybe) other car companies are imho just a lot more intuitive and don't take any 'let me figure this out' time.

idrive isn't hard to learn/figure out, but it is more difficult than other systems out there. Plus, even once you get to know it, it does take a little longer to enter an address in nav etc. Go to the dealership, play with it a bit and you be the judge as to how good it is.

he said "I have a 2006 X5 4.4i, so I haven't yet played with the iDrive controller."

iDrive is great. I think it is funny that we come up with definitions of what is and isn't 'intuitive'. That seems to be everyone's gripe about iDrive. You want to know what the least intuitive user interface is? How about a stick shift! Ever try to verbally explain how to use one to someone who never has? iDrive is a good interface and well in the pack for what I've seen and used in other cars.

That's what I read too - do 2006 X5s have iDrive?

no.


btw, I think the program buttons are very helpful. I originally wanted to put all my radio presets on there. Don't do it. do the voice command "fm presets" and that screen will pull up, and all you have to do is swivel the control or press a button on the wheel to efficiently scroll thru the presets. I use them as navi shortcuts, dial a certain number, etc.

Originally Posted by X5FX
he said "I have a 2006 X5 4.4i, so I haven't yet played with the iDrive controller."


No they dont, which is what he said. "I drive a 2006, so I dont have idrive"

Jay, let me re-phrase so that there is no confusion. I do have a 2006 X5 and therefore do NOT have iDrive. And therefore have not played with it.

But based on E70 owners' comments here, it sounds like it's actually fun to learn.

Not taking the plunge just yet, but when the 4.4 TT V8 gets into the X5 I am all over that.

Apologies - I totally misunderstood your first thread. :doh:

iDrive requires,