BMW and M Power Owners

Man of Honour
Joined
21 Feb 2006
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29,326
My 530D going back into the dealer in 2 weeks for a full alignment at their expense, which to be fair they were happy to do and efficient in sorting. The steering wheel is off centre, which in itself is annoying but I also feel it needs a geo as it is a touch unsettled, though most would probably just put up with it. I will be interested to see how far out it is when it goes in, but good service from the sales person, service team and dealer in general so far.
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Jan 2010
Posts
22,248
My 530D going back into the dealer in 2 weeks for a full alignment at their expense, which to be fair they were happy to do and efficient in sorting. The steering wheel is off centre, which in itself is annoying but I also feel it needs a geo as it is a touch unsettled, though most would probably just put up with it. I will be interested to see how far out it is when it goes in, but good service from the sales person, service team and dealer in general so far.
Sounds a lot for a newish car...worrying. accident damage?
 
Soldato
Joined
26 Jul 2004
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3,268
Location
Thunderdome
Ive looked all around and the paint is all original so unlikely but who knows. As said 99% of people would put up with it.

So much for approved used cars. All this should be caught and fixed before the car ever sees a customer.

I had similar when I bought my RS6, turns out it had buckled wheels, which I found out the first time I drove it over 70mph. Under 70 it was fine, but the vibration above 70 was ridiculous. Audi were very happy to replace the wheels after I pointed this out, but it should have been picked up through their checks. I would later find out the 21" alloys were known to be made of chocolate.

Luckily I’ve had no such issues with my M5 (touch wood), but this time I made sure I checked for this during the test drive. Err and perhaps a few times since, just to be sure ;)
 
Caporegime
Joined
20 Jan 2005
Posts
45,695
Location
Co Durham
If you have idrive 7 with a central console controller you just select reverse and then tilt the controller to the right.
If you've then vin number you can also download the bmw's driver guide from Google Play, or Apple's alternative, enter the vin and you'll have the car's manual..

thanks
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Aug 2004
Posts
6,325
Location
New Jersey, USA
I'm clearly in the minority but I consider any version of BMW Navigation with a valid RTTI subscription to be just as good as Google Maps. In some respects it is better, in others it is not as good.

I still use the BMW navigation because it's integrated with the HUD/digital dashboard but the routing decisions that it makes are questionable at best. On a longer trip I always sanity check it against Google Maps and often have to force it to recalculate to match the Google suggested route which knocks hours off the journey.

It absolutely loves sending you via the center of big cities which is never going to be a good idea - look at this ridiculous route right through Boston! The second route is equally weird. That's never going to be the fastest route and Google/Apple Maps keep you a long way away from Boston.

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Man of Honour
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17 Oct 2002
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159,621
That's a very strange route but I don't get suggestions like that. If I plot a route from here to Newcastle it'll send me up the motorway not through Sheffield city centre.
 

mjt

mjt

Soldato
Joined
31 Aug 2007
Posts
20,021
i3 sat nav sends me through the centre of Brussels even though it's clearly quicker to round around on the motorway.
I followed it once to make sure and yes, it was significantly slower :o
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Nov 2006
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22,979
Location
London
My BMW satnav also frequently send me via slower routes compared to Google maps. I have to double check against Google every time!

It's live traffic is not even close to being as good.

If you are driving a route or at a time which you know will have little traffic then you can trust the BMW satnav.

Something wierd has happened in the last week though. Clear roads are coming up as yellow now in London. Talking way more roads.

They must be testing a new traffic system for me, my guess is they are merging live and historic data now.
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Mar 2007
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9,743
Location
SW London
It's live traffic is not even close to being as good.

If you are driving a route or at a time which you know will have little traffic then you can trust the BMW satnav.

Something wierd has happened in the last week though. Clear roads are coming up as yellow now in London. Talking way more roads.

They must be testing a new traffic system for me, my guess is they are merging live and historic data now.
Yeah the traffic data is really hit or miss. I quite often come across roads that are red on the satnav but totally clear, and roads that are green on the satnav but solid traffic in reality!
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Jan 2010
Posts
22,248
Under no circumstances can the BMW system be better than Wave/Google Maps. One company manufacturers cars, the other makes routing algorithms and has an order of magnitude more sensor data.

Waze sometimes goes OTT on time saving, like making you jump off the motorway to jump immediately back on, sometimes getting you about about 20 cars ahead of where you were :cry:
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,621
Under no circumstances can the BMW system be better than Wave/Google Maps. One company manufacturers cars, the other makes routing algorithms and has an order of magnitude more sensor data.

Nobody has claimed it's better - it's just different. I've explained from my own experience the pros and cons I've found from each.

You don't think BMW themselves produce their own traffic data though, do you? I suppose you must do as you've pointed out BMW traffic will be worse because they make cars. They purchase it from elsewhere, currently:

The traffic information data of the BMW ConnectedDrive Service Real Time Traffic Information (RTTI) comes from anonymised movement profiles, GPS data of commercial vehicle fleets or traffic infrastructure. Currently, the service receives this data from TomTom.

Like I said, I think the main difference is the fact they do things differently. Google is a predictive service, BMW RTTI is not. There are benefits and disadvantages to each of these approaches.

If I want to know the best route through city traffic, Google is far better than RTTI. If I want sensible traffic information on a long distance journey, I find RTTI more useful than Google for the reasons I've outlined above.

As with most things, a combination of tools is better than just one. I tend to check Google Maps before setting off and when having a break to get a good idea of overall expectations and then use RTTI when en-route to respond to things like road closures or get information about upcoming queues etc.
 
Soldato
Joined
2 Aug 2004
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7,906
Location
Buckinghamshire
The proof of the pudding I'd ultimately the experience you have when navigating your journey. Whilst I appreciate that iDrive is held in high regard when it comes to car infotainment, I've also found the navigation experience to be frustrating, and other systems from other manufacturers to be better.

I was pleasantly surprised by Audi which seemed to be far quicker to find real time savings. I had such a poor experience with BMWs (with Pro Nav and live connection) that I initially disregarded any re-routes the A4 gave me, because I felt all in-built systems would be poor, only to find myself hitting severe traffic.

Still, could be worse, could have the god awful system in JLR cars.
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Dec 2003
Posts
5,683
One of the differences people may be finding is that RTTI is only with a connected drive subscription. Without the sub you get much worse TMC data and that is 100% definitely worse than GMaps/Waze.

And for a lot of older vehicles people let the subscription lapse and don’t have the RTTI on the in car nav
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Jan 2010
Posts
22,248
Nobody has claimed it's better - it's just different. I've explained from my own experience the pros and cons I've found from each.

In some respects it is better, in others it is not as good.



You don't think BMW themselves produce their own traffic data though, do you? I suppose you must do as you've pointed out BMW traffic will be worse because they make cars. They purchase it from elsewhere, currently:
Please don't project onto me. There is a difference between having data and how that data is used in a process. BMW subscribe to RTTI data, much like how SatNavs used to do decades ago. It is then up to BMW to implement that data, determine poll rates, and whether they share that data back.

Waze/Google Maps literally use the sensor in your phone to tell others drivers on similar routes what is happening in real time. You are the sensor as well as the receiver, and there are orders of magnitude more of them. An alternative route gets 'scouted' by an another driver before it delivers consensus that the shortcut is indeed quicker.



Like I said, I think the main difference is the fact they do things differently. Google is a predictive service, BMW RTTI is not. There are benefits and disadvantages to each of these approaches.

If I want to know the best route through city traffic, Google is far better than RTTI. If I want sensible traffic information on a long distance journey, I find RTTI more useful than Google for the reasons I've outlined above.

Pretty illogical - how can real time traffic help you on a long-journey, when you won't be anywhere near the end of that journey for real time to be of any use?
As with most things, a combination of tools is better than just one.
Agreed, however generally car Sat Navs are utter garbage. Waze/Google Maps or even TomTom on Android Auto is the default solution for me.

n.b. some clever manufacturers like Honda and Mercedes have just given up and now license Garmin/Becker/TomTom.
 
Caporegime
Joined
20 Jan 2005
Posts
45,695
Location
Co Durham
My BMW satnav also frequently send me via slower routes compared to Google maps. I have to double check against Google every time!

Hate to hear this. I have been spoilt by VW. My last two cars has google maps with satellite view with roads and routes superimposed on it and its being brilliant.

Never expected moving to BMW would be a massive step down :(

I only really wanted the HUD so it showed the route but thats gone if I use google maps.

Hmmmm

Should have researched more rather than assumed an £80k vehicle would have a decent satnav
 
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