Quote:
Originally Posted by TwiBlueG35
I agree 335i coupe drives and runs better than G37. However, as far as the automobile electronics go, hehe, I try not to make you 3-series owners mad, the Japanese are the experts. They are more user friendly, looks better, and more reliable. I-drive is not a good system. No matter how you defend it, it is not as user friendly as the Japanese way-one button equals one function. Sure, you could learn it in like 20 minutes and master it in like two hours if you are smart, but no matter how familiar you are with the system, you just can not do what you want to do as fast as the ones in Lexus, Infiniti, or even a Mazda. For example, in a Japanese car I can set an AM radio station into the "1" button by pressing the "1" button for more than a second and hear the beeps and that's it. But how do you set the station into the BMW's I-Drive? Oh my god it took so many steps. Are they necessary? NO. Now the A-Z alphabets screen of the BMW's navigation system is not in the same page, so you need to flip through pages to pick the alphabets you need, what about the Japanese? All 26 alphabets in the same screen so it is easy to find. Don't deny it when I say touch screen is the most direct way to input stuff, much easier than playing with the twist plus press I-Drive button. I have used 5-series's navigation system, it is a lot of hassle to enter addresses, takes much longer time. My previous car was a 2003 Infiniti G35 sedan, yeah the interior materials are like crap, BUT, its buttons on the steering wheel or center console are very user friendly, very logical. You don't need to read the user manual and know what to do. If you want to repeat a song or a CD disc, you just hit the "repeat" button two or three times, respectively. How hard could it be? I say very easy. I-Drive is not a difficult system to learn, it is very easy to understand and just allow you to do the stuff step by step, like a computer. But I say if you could do one thing by pressing one button, you don't need to do the step by step stuff in the first place, especially when you need to concentrate on driving. Actually the I-Drive in E92 is a modified one and some functions have been simplified already, if you have tried the E60 5-series, you know what the heck is going on.
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There are a few things that I agree with but, in the end it's just opinion and preference. All of these cars have some problems with ergonomics and advanced electronics.
I also have an '05 G35 with Nav. The "toggle" control is a PITA and why the hell is it mounted on the RIGHT side of the Nav system where it's harder to reach? (same thing with climate and volume control, all three primary controls are on the right side of the console away from the driver. Entering addresses is basackwards (street then address #). It takes way too long to enter addresses through all its menues (unless it's in the address book). Try toggling the map around to identify streets and sometimes it jumps two miles at a wack then other times a quarter inch. Also, since all cars can now tell if there's a passenger in the right seat, why doesn't the system allow full control when there is a passenger?
I've tried out the new Infiniti Nav also in an '08 G35. The touch screen is a very good feature but it's set an inch or so into the dash so your hand blocks some of the screen and you can't see where your touching...not all the time but particularly when selecting something on the right. All the new icons on the display makes it hard to read in the city. At least they finally moved the radio and climate controls to the left side of the console. The new nav dial control is an improvement over the toggle but if the car is moving then your hand bounces around because there's no place to rest it. You can put a couple of fingers on the surrounding surface to steady your hand but then you end up inadvertantly pushing one of the short cut buttons. Both the dial and screen are far enough away from the driver that you have to lean forward to reach them which can be uncomfortable when entering control sequences. The extra "short cut" buttons on the G35 are nice but they're at an angle and can be hard to see unless you're sitting with the seatback almost straight up.
I'm not condeming or advocating one or the other, they both have their advantages and disadvantages. The bottom line is just that no company that I'm aware of has solved the ergonomic issues of incorporating such a complex control system in a car. I do have a suggestion for the car companies though. Aircraft companies have been wrestling with the same issues of electronic displays, nested menus and control systems since the early 70's and have had the same types of problems. Maybe the car companies should hire some cockpit designers to help them out.