This hopefully will help ...

Stupid design.. if you have navigation you are not able to set the volume of the warning chimes....I'm sure there is a logical reason that somwone in BMW got a university degree in to explain this !!! It's probably because the Nav Voice uses the volume circuit that is otherwise available for the chimes....

I just found the chime under the dashboard of my 740iL and unplugged it completely. It's down there somewhere.

You could also just put a bit of duct tape over the gong speaker grill. This will muffle it a bit.

Yes indeed! Thanks again.

Now all I need to know is how to make sure that if I do order an X5 35d it is "equipped with a single drive" what ever that means :)

BTW I was at the dealer today and they could not find even one X5 on their lot that didn't have NAV. And of course, the one we were using to test out the "20 way seats" was missing the iDrive settings described in your post(s). :(

Funf Dreisig

Yup. Figured you would have issues finding a no nav car. The biggest problem with no navigation vehicles is that the screen is rather small, and doesn't look right in the enclosure ... imo.

I know you can adjust the volume of the sat nav voice, so maybe the PDC and warning gongs adjust the same way? (turning the volume knob while the gong is activated)

Nope.