#Bmw idrive 7 how to#
#Bmw idrive 7 software#

#Bmw idrive 7 how to#

It was largely just an evolution of what iDrive had been since around 2010 or so when BMW finally figured out how to make it tolerable. Unlike Zac, I was never particularly enamored of iDrive 7, but at least the thing worked well and was easy enough to figure out (well, once it got its Apple CarPlay connectivity ironed out). Road Test Editor Zac PalmerĪfter about five minutes in the BMW i4, I felt like Charleton Heston at the end of “ Planet of the Apes” staring up at the Statue of Liberty. The new iDrive 8 should be zippier and easier to use than iDrive 7, but it’s far from that now.

#Bmw idrive 7 software#

This could be a result of the software being brand new with some kinks that still need working out, but this is not the direction we expect tech to move. There’s occasional lag when touching the screen, and it’s generally less responsive/not as smooth as iDrive 7 is. The previous structure made good sense, and this one is deeply lacking.įinally, and I know James will concur, the whole system is just slower! Apps and other items take noticeably longer to load on the screen. More time getting accustomed to the new structure could improve matters, and heavy usage of the voice controls to find settings might help, too, but that’s a work around. This new scattershot strategy looks like it was designed to be navigated exclusively via touchscreen – and therefore staring at something other than the road for a longer period of time. The previously-used column style menu for vehicle settings was much more fitting for iDrive knob navigation via scrolling and rocking. Accessible via the home screen of customizable tiles, the new iDrive menu just looks like the app drawer of someone else’s phone you just picked up. Meanwhile, the new settings “menu” is a maze of icons. #BMW #carsoftiktok ♬ original sound - Autoblog There is still a hard button on the center console that you can tap to put it into “Sport Traction” mode (our favorite for enthusiastic motoring), but instead of just tapping the button, now you must tap the button, then tap twice more on the touchscreen to fully activate “Sport Traction.” Why!? BMW’s iDrive 8 infotainment system is a step backwards in many ways Then there’s the BMW’s Dynamic Stability Control settings. Predictably, it’s more time-consuming to operate and far trickier to fiddle with while driving than the nice row of buttons BMW employed previously. The same goes for fan speed, direction of the fan and anything else you can think of re: climate controls. BMW removed all of the hard climate controls from the center stack besides front and rear defrost, then tucked them into a new “climate menu.” Temperature control remains docked at the bottom of the touchscreen, but if you want to activate your heated seats, it requires a trip through the climate menu. Take, for instance, the climate controls. Something that could’ve been done with a single tap in a iDrive 7-equipped BMW now requires upwards of three or more taps. What the vast majority of my grievances boil down to is added complexity to complete tasks. Unfortunately, iDrive 8 takes a lot of iDrive 7’s best qualities, then throws them out the window entirely for a replacement that is worse. Most of us on staff would agree that these are all big pluses for iDrive 7, including my co-writer for this piece, Senior Editor James Riswick.īoth Riswick and I (Road Test Editor Zac Palmer) spent separate weeks in new BMW i4s that feature iDrive 8, and we came away with similar complaints. The software itself is glitch-free, super-quick to respond, and the menu structure makes sense. There’s a perfect blend of hard controls and touchscreen controls for vital vehicle functions, and the iDrive knob ties it all together in a happy harmony. It hurts me to say this, too, for I’m easily the biggest advocate of iDrive 7 on staff here at Autoblog. That’s the way it’s supposed to work, but BMW’s iDrive 8 does not follow this line of thinking. The software is tweaked to be better, and you gain more capabilities than before. Screens become more responsive, brighter and clearer.

Under normal circumstances, one would expect an infotainment system to improve in every way as it transitions from one version to the next.