A friends has a 2016 5 series and was shopping for a new 2019. She saw the 3’s navigation and thought is was different and actually nicer than the 5. The dealer told her something about the nav in the 3 is not available in the 5.
Does anyone know if this is fact true? Are they different in any way? Appreciate the help and insight.
Yes, it is true. The new 3 series uses iDrive 7.0. The current 5 series uses iDrive 6.0 but is expected to move to iDrive 7.0 for the 2020 model year. I believe the 2020 5 Series should be a LCI model too, so it might be worthwhile to wait until they hit the lots.
The 16 5er might even be using iDrive 5, although I can’t recall for certain.
Shoot you’re right. That’s still the F10 5 series, which used iDrive 5. G30 (2017 - now) has iDrive 6. The LCI G30 (2020? - ?) will use iDrive 7.
2020 5 series has same navigation as 2019+ 3 series as a standard option
Honestly. Who even uses a navigation system? I just use google maps on my phone.
Google Maps/phone was a better solution for me too until I got a vehicle with the navigation integrated with HUD. Seemed gimmicky at first, now Google Maps seems like a silly alternative.
Does BMW navigation get traffic info from somewhere and route accordingly? I almost never have to drive in traffic so I haven’t bothered checking.
Keep in mind that some people use the terms “navigation” and “infotainment” interchangeably, as I suspect is the case here.
OMG, having to fiddle with iDrive takes too long. I just prefer to quickly enter my address on my phone and go from there.
Have you tried voice commands for direction? I was VERY surprised how well it works. Just ask the car to navigate to this address or this shop or this restaurant, and its just amazing how accurately and quickly its able to find it. Faster than typing in the phone.
Push the button on the steering wheel and tell the car where you want to go.
Fingers are so last year.
Yep voice command all the way. Works well in our BMW and pretty descent on TOYOTA. BMW beats it. Google maps on a phone? Haha. Just awkward have to mount the phone etc etc. With iDrive just put your phone away and don’t need it in the car.
Me. I think CarPlay is vastly overrated and unimportant to me.
It has rerouted me, yes. I have iDrive 6, so I would assume 7 has that capability also. It has also thrown warnings up on the dash for upcoming hazards. The only thing it doesn’t tell you is police like Waze. TBH though, I just came back from a trip in my wife’s XT5, and got pulled over using Waze, so that isn’t a sure fire way to avoid getting nailed either.
Fixed that for you.
I put in the address on my phone using the BMW Connected Drive app, so when I get to my car it’s already set in the navigation.
With native navigation if you’re unsure of where you are you quickly open the map and zoom in to see where you are, much easier than grabbing the phone, opening google maps and pinching the map out. I also like how BMW maps zooms in when your changing directions (off ramp for example) and then zooms back out. The road hazard ahead warnings are cool too. Just don’t get me started on the noisy AC and turbo lag on the 4 banger 