New iDrive - huh?
 

Unofficial poll of my friends as well as the lady I carpool with indicate I'm not alone on this one -

Why does turning the iDrive knob clockwise zoom out, wouldn't it be more intuitive to zoom in? Even my German wife agrees... :dunno:

I'm overdue for a rant and thought I'd choose some low hanging fruit.

Tim

Turn to the right (clockwise) = 400ft > 800ft > etc. The numbers get bigger. Maybe.
:dunno:

Annoyed me the first time but I got used to it.

Correct. For all the effort BMW claims to put into the design of their controls and i-drive, it is amazing the obvious things they miss. Like, why does pressing the "UP" arrow on the steering wheel moves you to a lower channel number with Sirius, while pressing the "DOWN" arrow moves to a higher channel number?

It's like they are sometimes intentionally trying to frustrate the driver.

I think in this case they are relating the steering wheel button selection with the selection on the screen. You press down on the button, and it moves down from channel 1 to channel 2 on the screen. I prefer it this way, although I'll never get used to it because they are backwards from my 5-series... But I still like the new way.

Could be, but I mostly use the steering wheel buttons with Sirius when I don't have the channels on the screen. When I have the channel screen up, I typically use the idrive control. So at least for the way I use it, it seems a bit odd... although I do see the logic of your explanation.

There is one thing I will give BMW some credit for, although I doubt they did it on purpose... for many things there are 2 or 3 different ways to do the operation, so you can choose the way you prefer.

One thing for sure, IMHO, the new iDrive is vastly superior to the old system, both in design and speed. The resolution of the screen when you get the nav is incredible.

100% in agreement

Yeah it sure is. Would be nice to have some sort of upgrade available for older iDrives.

Honestly, didn't even cross my mind. Played with it and thought - "ok, that's how it works".

annoys me but I got used to it... still annoys me.