BMW and M Power Owners

Soldato
Joined
8 Nov 2005
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4,437
I can live without album art, but talk me through the y-cable... does that mean there’s a USB socket and a 3.5mm jack somewhere that I’d have to plug said cable in to? And does that mean no spare USB for charging phone?

What else do I lose without the Combox? Can I still stream audio over Bluetooth?

In terms of audio, I tend to play most stuff directly from my iPod Classic and then stream the rest from my iPhone. And audio from phone is either over Bluetooth or 3.5mm jack, depending on the car I’m using at the time.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,676
I can live without album art, but talk me through the y-cable... does that mean there’s a USB socket and a 3.5mm jack somewhere that I’d have to plug said cable in to? And does that mean no spare USB for charging phone?

You need a BMW cable to connect the ipod or it won't work. This restriction isn't the case if the car has a Combox.

What else do I lose without the Combox? Can I still stream audio over Bluetooth?

No, the Combox is required for Bluetooth streaming.
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Nov 2005
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Okay, so humour me a little here - clearly I’m nowhere near as clued up on this as I should be.

Without the Combox, what phone functionality does Bluetooth get me? Can I still make and receive calls via the cars’s audio interface? And regardless of Combox being present, does the car still only have one USB socket and audio input in the armrest compartment?

Just trying to work out how important the Combox could be to what I’m trying to achieve.

Is DAB an optional extra? Or does that get bundled in with a version of the Nav/Audio setup?
 
Man of Honour
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17 Oct 2002
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159,676
Yes, Bluetooth works fine for telephone functionality, that is its primary purpose.

There are two USB ports - one in the armrest and one in the glovebox (which is only used for transferring data to the car, ie navigation maps).

Combox adds Bluetooth Streaming, Album Art and the ability to have multiple Bluetooth devices connected at once.
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Nov 2005
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4,437
Thank you for clarifying.

Any other intricacies with the available options that I should look out for? For the most part I guess they are what they are, heated seats, parking sensors, etc, but I see that you’ve mentioned headlight technology in some of your posts around here.

Is that something to look for? Adaptive Lighting, or something along those lines?
 
Man of Honour
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Neither of those are standard, but:

a) Adaptive is incredibly rare and simply not good enough to be worth holding out for
b) The early high beam assist is more of a gimmick than a must-have.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Mar 2008
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West sussex
anyone knows if you can order parts directly from bmw? I need interior trim piece and I cannot find anywhere! wonder if there's a phone number/website or something that can order the part in.

or am I being dumb and should just call up my local dealer and ask for it? :D
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,676
anyone knows if you can order parts directly from bmw? I need interior trim piece and I cannot find anywhere! wonder if there's a phone number/website or something that can order the part in.

Any dealer can order any part from BMW. If it's not in stock in the UK it gets ordered from Germany.

or am I being dumb and should just call up my local dealer and ask for it? :D

They are surprisingly helpful even for people with older cars :) Most of the BMW forums have a dealer on there offering discounted parts and price lookups if you want to do it that way.
 
Soldato
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22,946
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Grud, any luck with that steering wheel?

Haven't had the chance, the trim piece I'm looking for is the multi function steering wheel button surrounds.. mine have literally cracked and are falling apart, I've ripped them out today but there's no saving them so my whole wheel looks horrible. Need to order new bits, replace and clean the grease off the leather to return it back to mat :) will post some pics once I get to it.


Fox, thanks, will give my local a ring tomorrow and see if the can get the part in.
 
Associate
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
1,801
Location
Niptons Ridge
Ok, so perhaps me being a bit silly here and completely missing something simple.
I have a 2012 3 series, how can I disable the cruise temporarily without braking?
I haven't got adaptive cruise control and there must be an easier way than knocking it off at the on/off button all the time?
 
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