Adding CarPlay to a 5 series

[TW]Fox said:
I can't see how this is worth it. If the system is very old and or has no navigation with traffic information then it really brings it up to date, I'm trying to work out how to put it in the Mini for this reason.

But yours isn't. I have both Carplay and Android Auto on mine and I never use either of them, what's the point? On iDrive 6 probably the biggest benefit of Carplay would be to use Spotify properly but even that I don't think is worth the effort and complications if the car is missing the components required for the official update.

You'll lose most of the useful functionally of your head up display as well.
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Boomers be boomers ;)


Personally I like CarPlay because of the Spotify integration. Makes streaming music a little easier.
 
MrRockliffe said:
Personally I like CarPlay because of the Spotify integration. Makes streaming music a little easier.
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With carplay you have a guaranteed cd quality streaming from spotify/tidal (through android mixer);
the spotify stream, Idrive+their sim permits, seems to be unspecified, look like you have to supply your own spotify account to idrive now, maybe thats a good sign.
 
ok - I'm wrong - I'd thought at connected drive inception, you could use the free spotify without needing a spotify account,
(so might be less critical if it was not their highest bitrate)
 
BMW navigation with live traffic is pretty poor in my experience. The amount of times I've had some very weird routing or incorrect traffic data makes carplay worthwhile.

I'm also not paying annually for the privilege of the connected drive services, map updates etc when Google Maps or Waze are far superior.
 
The problem I find with Google Maps traffic is that it tries to be too clever and guess what the traffic might be like when I get to it. My navigation usage is for long journeys so this is particularly unhelpful in the event of an accident that closes a Motorway for a long time - Google happily sends me towards it because 'I'm sure it'll be fine in 2 hours time' even though you know it won't be. Meanwhile, the BMW system just says 'It's shut, go this way instead' which I find more helpful.

Google is, however, much better for shorter trips in city areas. But that isn't really what I use navigation for and therefore I've found the BMW system well worth it for me and good value at about £50 a year. It's also just so well integrated with the rest of the car. I do get Google Maps information on my Head Up Display with iDrive 7 but it's much more basic the the detailed junction layouts you get with the BMW system.

One criticism I have of the BMW system on iDrive 7 versus the older system I had in my 2015 5 Series is that previously I'd get a total delay duration for a journey, at the bottom of the screen, at all times. This was really useful at drawing your attention to an issue - for reasons I can't understand, iDrive 7 won't do this :(
 
[TW]Fox said:
The problem I find with Google Maps traffic is that it tries to be too clever and guess what the traffic might be like when I get to it. My navigation usage is for long journeys so this is particularly unhelpful in the event of an accident that closes a Motorway for a long time - Google happily sends me towards it because 'I'm sure it'll be fine in 2 hours time' even though you know it won't be. Meanwhile, the BMW system just says 'It's shut, go this way instead' which I find more helpful.

Google is, however, much better for shorter trips in city areas. But that isn't really what I use navigation for and therefore I've found the BMW system well worth it for me and good value at about £50 a year. It's also just so well integrated with the rest of the car. I do get Google Maps information on my Head Up Display with iDrive 7 but it's much more basic the the detailed junction layouts you get with the BMW system.

One criticism I have of the BMW system on iDrive 7 versus the older system I had in my 2015 5 Series is that previously I'd get a total delay duration for a journey, at the bottom of the screen, at all times. This was really useful at drawing your attention to an issue - for reasons I can't understand, iDrive 7 won't do this :(
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Yes you're right on Google Maps, I often cancel the navigation and restart it on those rare occasions. When I used the BMW nav around Devon, it was taking some very odd navigation decisions down tiny lanes and it was definitely not the fastest way.

But in terms of cost, where are you getting £50 a year... Black Friday sale?

Connected drive at the moment is £89 and then map updates are £79. Seems a lot on an annual basis to me vs carplay.
 
Amos91 said:
But in terms of cost, where are you getting £50 a year... Black Friday sale?

Connected drive at the moment is £89 and then map updates are £79. Seems a lot on an annual basis to me vs carplay.
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My M340i still has the included Connected Drive package from new so I've not had to renew it yet, but last year I paid the following on my 2015 530d:

Map Updates: £39 (Discounted from £49, Black Friday)
Connected Pack (Traffic etc): £70
 
[TW]Fox said:
My M340i still has the included Connected Drive package from new so I've not had to renew it yet, but last year I paid the following on my 2015 530d:

Map Updates: £39 (Discounted from £49, Black Friday)
Connected Pack (Traffic etc): £70
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Is the map really a paid thing?

I found the 2023 euro pack and just put on a USB and plugged it in. Then it updated.. no cost to me at all.
 
Previous owner might have got a lifetime FSC code. Once that's applied to the HU you can install as many map updates as you like. It's not official though and normally you buy a one-time use FSC code for a map update.
 
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