24 hours after pickup, lots of questions

[Boosh]

I picked up my new 2010 X5 diesel yesterday. I returned my leased 530Xi sedan which was, in many ways, the most fun car I've ever owned. I opted not to get another 5 series for various reasons. I'm not sure I made the right choice.

The early positives....The X5 is a beautiful vehicle. Both the exterior and interior is of high quality and design. The gas mileage is better than the sedan and I'm pleased with the handling and power.

The early negatives....I could not activate satellite radio due to the "acquiring" bug which my dealer has no clue about but I was able to learn about from the web. Spent about an hour on the phone with Sirius.

I had premium sound in both vehicles and am extremely disappointed in the sound of the X5. I was expecting some degree of sound degredation beacause of the cabin size but not to this degree. I at first wondered whether they forgot to order the upgrade. I've fiddled around with the equalizer and settings without much help. It sounds as if there is not only minimal bass, but lack of sound fullness and connection between the front and rear speakers.

The navigation screen...Does anyone know if there is a way to view both the total distance to destination (which is present with the expected time of arrival) as well as the distance to the next turn. Without that the driver is forced to rely on the map way too much especially given the fact that the arrow display which shows the turn appears with only 0.2 miles left on the highway.

Telephone reception.....When a call is received using bluetooth the volume of the call is so low that it requires me to up the volume either using the steering wheel or radio dial...

Thanks for any help

[mbarrett635]

I can't help you with the radio issues, but if you turn up the volume during a call while someone is speaking using the radio knob, it will increase the default volume level for all phone calls. This should solve that problem.

For the nav, you should be able to go into split screen, and get what you want by having the trip computer on the right, and the nav screen on the left showing turn by turn settings, I think. (I may be wrong, however; I've not done this on mine, as the HUD on my X5 shows the distance to the next turn as the standard setting, but I assume you don't have the HUD).

HTH

[Year1of1]

i just picked up a 2010 3.0 X5 and I have the same complaint about the phone call volume, its awful.

Otherwise, I didn't get Sat. radio as I use my ipod and flash drive for music.

[Boosh]

Thanks HTH
I appreciate your input. I'll try it again, but the phone call volume issue has happened several times, even after I turned up the volume. I can't remember, however, whether I turned down the volume on the radio between phone calls.

Yes, it is possible to split screen the nav system to show map on one side and arrow on the other. My preference would be to see the Sirius station, artist, song name as well. This is a minor detail since on the X5, unlike on my 530, I have the hard button control to quickly flip from Nav to radio.

As for the sound issue, I don't know if its a problem with my hardware or just the way it is. If it isn't a defect, I will seriously consider doing an aftermarket upgrade. Has anyone upgraded the "premium sound" system on their X5?


Boosh

[mdernst]

On the phone - I'm not sure what phone you're using - but while you're in a call and connected to the car via bluetooth try hitting the volume UP on the PHONE. I know this turns the bluetooth volume up on the iPhone and may turn it up on other phones as well.

Mike

[Year1of1]

this is my 3rd bmw so i'm pretty familiar with the tech. My iphone connects fine but i think its the new idrive system that causes this. my 1 series would ring thru the speaks when the phone rang. in my x5 i don't hear anything until the person picks up or the voice mail greeting starts.

I've increased the volume via the phone and car to max and it resets every time. I couldn't find a setting in the idrive menu to help. This i my first time using idrive

Originally Posted by mdernst

On the phone - I'm not sure what phone you're using - but while you're in a call and connected to the car via bluetooth try hitting the volume UP on the PHONE. I know this turns the bluetooth volume up on the iPhone and may turn it up on other phones as well.

Mike

[Boosh]

The i-drive on the 530Xi worked fine. The iphone would ring thru the car sound system and the volume of the call was audible without adjustments.

[Phantom5]

Originally Posted by Boosh

I picked up my new 2010 X5 diesel yesterday. I returned my leased 530Xi sedan which was, in many ways, the most fun car I've ever owned. I opted not to get another 5 series for various reasons. I'm not sure I made the right choice.

The early positives....The X5 is a beautiful vehicle. Both the exterior and interior is of high quality and design. The gas mileage is better than the sedan and I'm pleased with the handling and power.

The early negatives....I could not activate satellite radio due to the "acquiring" bug which my dealer has no clue about but I was able to learn about from the web. Spent about an hour on the phone with Sirius.

I had premium sound in both vehicles and am extremely disappointed in the sound of the X5. I was expecting some degree of sound degredation beacause of the cabin size but not to this degree. I at first wondered whether they forgot to order the upgrade. I've fiddled around with the equalizer and settings without much help. It sounds as if there is not only minimal bass, but lack of sound fullness and connection between the front and rear speakers.

The navigation screen...Does anyone know if there is a way to view both the total distance to destination (which is present with the expected time of arrival) as well as the distance to the next turn. Without that the driver is forced to rely on the map way too much especially given the fact that the arrow display which shows the turn appears with only 0.2 miles left on the highway.

Telephone reception.....When a call is received using bluetooth the volume of the call is so low that it requires me to up the volume either using the steering wheel or radio dial...

Thanks for any help

RE: Nav--have you tried the split screen function?

[RedRockin]

Haven't yet received my X5, due complete Wednesday, but this thread raises my eyebrow about the phone. In my Infiniti, it works as mbarett635 says. Even though same volume knob (on stereo or steering wheel) volume settings for phone are independent of stereo volume. So I set the phone volume high and leave it which does not affect the stereo volume. I hope the X5 will work the same way.