I have noticed that some features that were dealer programmable on the E53 are now accessible via the iDrive on the E70.

I think I have found my first delivery fault. I put my iphone 3g in the snap in holder and it makes the signal WORSE !

Full strength with the phone out of the holder stays full with it in but half drops to a quarter and one or two bars out of the holder goes to 'no service' with it in !!

Hopefully its just a duff snap in holder.

I believe in the E70 there are no longer a keyfob options that are only programmable by the dealer -- you now can set them yourself using the idfrive.

That would be great - e53 is certainly not so. I asked my dealer if I could disable the auto all down & roof open feature and was told yes. What would be great would be to change all down to all down 1/2" and open roof vent. THAT I would use every day. But have no use for the all down. Here in AZ, whenever I park (minus rain) I open all windows 1/2" and open roof vent to allow air to circulate - this with a good quality sunshield always keeps car at reasonable temp for return, even in 100+ temps. Being able to do that with a keyfob press would be AWESOME!!!!!!!

There is another feature I read about in that e53 thread for using the REST/MAX to blow the climate control air for about 20 minutes. Seems like a nice feature to maint temp in the vehicle during short errands.

Apparently, all windows up/roof-close is disabled on USA models due to some liability issue. Don't understand that when all windows and roof have obstruction (safety) sensors.

Read your manual London Lad. The system does not work as described. There is solid state flash memory in each key, and there is most certainly memory in the key.

The key records a variety of things, including when your car is due for maintenance, trouble codes, etc.

It's in your manual, but also well published throughout X5 forums that use modern smart keys.

Enjoy your new ride.

This is correct.

Including disable the all-down/roof-open? Or, must this be dealer programmed?

I don't dispute that but its not what we are talking about here.

Back on topic, I'll report back when I find out the truth re the backup via the USB socket thing.

I believe your CA is mistaken (there's a surprise); he's confusing the feature with one that is available on the new 7 series (and maybe the new 5?). On our 750, there is a screen in the iDrive that lists the various Profiles, and has an option to export the Profile info via USB drive. The X5 doesn't support this.