BMW iDrive 6.0: A detailed look at the 4 Series' tech
Cars
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Today, we're taking a look at the technology and the 2018 BMW 4 series convertible though, pretty much everything were gonna talk about today.
It also apply to the 4 series coupe and gran coupe.
Specifically, we're talking about the newest generation of BMW's iDrive version 6.0.
Now, we've seen this system before in the 2018 5 Series and X5.
But here, it's a little bit different for the 4 Series.
Specifically the screen is a bit smaller for the 4 series' smaller cabin and it's no longer touch sensitive.
That's fine because I personally believe that the physical controller is the best way to interact with the iDrive system.
It's almost as though BMW designed them for each other.
Now the main screen is a six tile system here.
Give you short cuts to the various functions that you can perform things like media navigation.
Communications going to be where you find your hand free calling and such.
Now those are going to correspond to shortcuts on the visible controller.
So you don't even have to come back to the home screen, for example, to quickly jump between your media source And your map.
Actually, you don't really need to jump between anything because like all versions of iDrive, of this generation, you can set this thing up with a split screen.
So you can show multiple bits of information at the same time.
Now, you'll notice as I move around the menu it's actually really responsive.
There's almost no lag between tapping a button or hitting an icon and being brought to that part of the menu.
And I do really like how well organized this system is but I will find that occasionally I'll end up sort of like diving through menu after menu looking for a more obscure function.
BMW could use a little bit of sort of tidying up there.
But for the most part I really like what we got going on here.
Especially [UNKNOWN] controller can be used for more than just nudging the cursor around on the screen, you can also use its touch sensitive top surface to write in letters when you want to put in an address so.
M C.
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It's really easy to use that, and I especially like that BMW doesn't lock you out of any of this stuff while driving.
So you can put in an address without having to pull over and stop.
Finger input is nice, but voice command is actually pretty good.
Though it gets a whole lot better if you have an iPhone and you connect it for Siri iFree, or if you have the optional Apple Car Play upgrade.
If like me, you carry an Android phone, don't hold your breath for Android Auto.
BMW stated repeatedly that it has no plans to support that technology.
So you're kind of stuck using BlueTooth.
Still, I'm gonna have to say that this is the best that BMW's iDrive has ever been.
The organization's great, and I don't really mind the lack of a touchscreen because I don't really use that in European cars.
So, that's when you're look at BMW iDrive and the 4 series convertible vision, check out our full review for even more details about what it's like to drive this thing.
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