Doesn't surprise me one bit. For a company to keep the TT I6 away from the X5 and justify putting it on the 1,3 & 5 series tells alot about their thinking.

There is something fundamentally wrong with the decision makers on when, where and how to introduce and harmonise technology.

Ugh - what a shame - if it really turns out that they are keeping the old Idrive for another year in the X6 I am not buying one - thats for sure.

So far I have skillfully avoided Idrive all together on all my BMW's and I was very happy when I saw the new system thinking it would be ok to replace our old X with a new one for next winter.

This leaves few choices that I could convince my wife would be decent - either domestic for price or maybe with a bit of 'luck' a Q7. Woe is me.

Don't think for a minute Audi standstill either. They have new Infotainment system on the horizon as well, and what they currently offer is rubbish. Whatever you buy today, the infotainment system will be out of date in no time at all ... but what's certainly frustrating though is BMW's reluctance to bring the next generation i-Drive to the X cars in a timely manner now.

I am not really concerned with it being out of date - I just want it to be user friendly. I know the Idrive is a personal thing - you either like it or you dont. I dont - it just seems akward to use to me, but more importantly, my wife hates everything about it and dont want to look at it. Since this car would be for her daily drive, if she doesnt like it we are not getting it.

Tried the system in the Q7 - it seemed more friendly than the Idrive and it has a proper OFF button which my wife likes since she can just ignore it all together.

Audi MMI is quite better than the old iDrive!

I had an Audi for a few days before I placed an order for my current E60 and I thought the MMI was too simple, didn't allow you as much control as idrive (even the original) does and the controller was too small. I don't understand journalists who say idrive is bad and confusing - I can only think it's because perhaps they don't use computers as much as I do ? When I drive my wife's ML I can immediately see the benefits of the 'drive. However, I'm now waiting to place my order for my E71 (or E72) until the new gen idrive is announced.