[Bimmerforlife]

Yes this photo has been posted before of the interior of the new 3 series conv that will also finds it's way into the coupe and sedan starting with March 2007 production.

But something I noticed, look at the Nav screen, it says Nov 8 2006. That means BMW already had the design worked out and tested back then. It makes you wonder what they are planning now for future updates. I wonder how long it takes for them to test upgrades like this before it makes it way into production.

Yeah I know this is not new stuff but seems BMW could have incorporated this into the Sept 2006 ordering instead of waiting till March 2007, mid year seems like a weird time to add a major function like this to the dash design. I still don't really know how it's gonna make life easier other than pre-set shortcuts, Since I have never had a Nav before but plan to get one in my next BMW how will this save you time and make the Nav easier to use? If your lost you can press 1 button (designated as home) and it will guide you to your home destination? How else will it help?

Any thoughts?

[solex]

To me those preset buttons seem pretty useless. Why would I want to preset the route to a particular place? If I been to that particular place once using the navi, I know I won't need it again. Unless those buttons are for something else also.

[Zoeb@WheelDude.com]

Originally Posted by solex

To me those preset buttons seem pretty useless. Why would I want to preset the route to a particular place? If I been to that particular place once using the navi, I know I won't need it again. Unless those buttons are for something else also.

if its set to your home address it makes sense...if you are somewhere away from home and you arent familiar with the are and you need to get home it would come in handy

Those buttons look like they'd be for an indash CD changer though

[jmonier]

Originally Posted by solex

To me those preset buttons seem pretty useless. Why would I want to preset the route to a particular place? If I been to that particular place once using the navi, I know I won't need it again. Unless those buttons are for something else also.

They will also work to set a particular radio station or to select an entry from the address book among other things. At the very least you get back the radio presets that are on non-iDrive models.

[dhmilosr]

Originally Posted by Zoeb2s

if its set to your home address it makes sense...if you are somewhere away from home and you arent familiar with the are and you need to get home it would come in handy

Those buttons look like they'd be for an indash CD changer though

While I'm not a coupe fan, that is one beautiful coupe. Are those 19" wheels?

[bmerboy]

Originally Posted by Bimmerforlife

Yes this photo has been posted before of the interior of the new 3 series conv that will also finds it's way into the coupe and sedan starting with March 2007 production.

But something I noticed, look at the Nav screen, it says Nov 8 2006. That means BMW already had the design worked out and tested back then. It makes you wonder what they are planning now for future updates. I wonder how long it takes for them to test upgrades like this before it makes it way into production.

Yeah I know this is not new stuff but seems BMW could have incorporated this into the Sept 2006 ordering instead of waiting till March 2007, mid year seems like a weird time to add a major function like this to the dash design. I still don't really know how it's gonna make life easier other than pre-set shortcuts, Since I have never had a Nav before but plan to get one in my next BMW how will this save you time and make the Nav easier to use? If your lost you can press 1 button (designated as home) and it will guide you to your home destination? How else will it help?

Any thoughts?

Yes, just one observation. The E93 convertible brochure that I have shows a different button arrangement.....buttons 1 through 6 are just like the photo in your post but the last two buttons are labeled "FM/AM"(button #7 in your photo) and "Mode"(button #8 in your photo). The brochure refers to, "6 programmable buttons...." for "radio station" presets, navigation "addresses" and "phone numbers" if you have the "Bluetooth" option. It doesn't say whether or not you have complete flexibility to program each button for any of these three items or if you will be limited to certain numbered buttons for certain things but I would guess we will be able to program each as we please with a nav address or phone number or radio station....I hope.

[BK]

Originally Posted by Bimmerforlife

But something I noticed, look at the Nav screen, it says Nov 8 2006. That means BMW already had the design worked out and tested back then.

Actually, I think it's even worse than you thought -- August 11, 2006.

[lkevinl]

Originally Posted by BK

Actually, I think it's even worse than you thought -- August 11, 2006.

Haha! Nice catch!

[SteveMD]

Originally Posted by solex

To me those preset buttons seem pretty useless. Why would I want to preset the route to a particular place? If I been to that particular place once using the navi, I know I won't need it again. Unless those buttons are for something else also.

That's not what they are for. The buttons are to recall any given display. For example, pull up the Logic 7 settings with a preset or the sat radio screen with a preset or the balance/fade screen with a preset or 'map-direction of travel' with a preset etc.

[Bimmerforlife]

Originally Posted by bmerboy

Yes, just one observation. The E93 convertible brochure that I have shows a different button arrangement.

Can you post up a pic of the different buttons you are referring to in the catalog, you seem to be right because I remember them saying it was 6 preset buttons not 8 like the photo above from Worldcarfans.com

I also read that if you forget what you preset the buttons for you can lightly touch them and it provides you with a message on the Nav screen about what the preset is in case you forget.

I'm still confused if you get 6 preset with the radio/sat and nav combined or 6 radio, 6 sat and 6 nav. Now that you say in the brochure that button 7 is FM/AM than maybe you get 6 preset with FM and 6 with Nav too by pressing FM first then the preset # button.

[Bimmerforlife]

Originally Posted by BK

Actually, I think it's even worse than you thought -- August 11, 2006.

Ha, you may be right could be Day Month Yr on that Nav. BMW knew they were going to implement this eventually in the 3 series way back in Aug 2006. So what is BMW doing now that they will implement for Aug 2007? Makes you wonder.

[yester]

I think it's a nice enhancement. Does anyone know if it is replaceble by the 'old' navi and knobs?

[Brett]

Originally Posted by Bimmerforlife

But something I noticed, look at the Nav screen, it says Nov 8 2006. That means BMW already had the design worked out and tested back then. It makes you wonder what they are planning now for future updates. I wonder how long it takes for them to test upgrades like this before it makes it way into production.

Keep in mind the software was already developed for the X5 at this point. And yes it was August 11th, not November 8th.

-Brett

[bmerboy]

Originally Posted by Bimmerforlife

Can you post up a pic of the different buttons you are referring to in the catalog, you seem to be right because I remember them saying it was 6 preset buttons not 8 like the photo above from Worldcarfans.com

I also read that if you forget what you preset the buttons for you can lightly touch them and it provides you with a message on the Nav screen about what the preset is in case you forget.

I'm still confused if you get 6 preset with the radio/sat and nav combined or 6 radio, 6 sat and 6 nav. Now that you say in the brochure that button 7 is FM/AM than maybe you get 6 preset with FM and 6 with Nav too by pressing FM first then the preset # button.

I've scanned the page from the E93 brochure and will attempt to attach it here as a .pdf type file. If this doesn't work then you can see a picture of these buttons in the X5's pdf brochure on the BMWUSA site, page 17, upper right quadrant of that page.

Hey, hot dang, it worked.

[LEDZEP]

Nice job on the scan! Thanks.

[Bimmerforlife]

Thanks for the pdf file, I couldn't save it as a picture but it looks pretty similar to the Nav update on the E93 picture below that someone took at a auto show recently. My local BMW dealer said this will be on the E92 and E90 starting with March.
Does anyone know what mode stands for?

[jmonier]

Mode switches between AM/FM, CD, AUX, etc.

[Bimmerforlife]

Ok, so if you have a CD changer in the trunk then you would hit the mode button to accesss that, likewise if you had an ipod aux, right?

[LEDZEP]

Yeah, mode should shuffle you between audio sources.

[Ryan 330i]

one more thing to slow i-drive down.