[xDrive50i]

Originally Posted by hayden

Here's my pro and con list...

The Good:

• Matte wood trim. Enough said.
• Head-up display is awesome. It's so good there's no need to look anywhere else.
• iDrive is great. Really really easy to use and full of useful features.
• The main screen is huge and very crisp.
• Forward Alert. One of my favorite features. I have it set to "late warning" and it's perfect. It only chimes when it's supposed to. A big safety plus.
• Dynamic memory buttons. Very cool and full of potential.
• Blind spot warning system. Works very well and is discreet with slight steering wheel vibration.
• The Navigation is far superior to anything else I've seen. For example, it even shows you if only 2 of the 5 lanes enable you to connect on the next freeway, etc. I also prefer the way it looks in the head-up display rather than the main cluster.
• Lots of power when you put the pedal down. (I wish the sound was a little deeper)
• Love the massaging feature on the driver's seat. It's especially appreciated on long drives. Wish it also massaged your back.
• "ALL" button on the climate control. Genius.
• Front center air vents are neat with the ability to provide indirect airflow.
• Integral Active Steering makes the car feel a lot smaller.
• Putting the car in sport mode improves handling and stability greatly... also makes the car feel a lot smaller.
• iPhone integration. Really easy. Keeps me from looking at the phone all the time. (good thing)
• Adaptive High Beam Assistant works perfectly.

The Bad:

• A little jerky to accelerate from a stop.
• Active Cruise Control could be a little smoother. Sometimes the braking and acceleration seem abrupt.
• Sound system is only adequate. (With the "Premium" package!) I can't imagine anyone not having at least that quality sound in a 7. The package should have provided more.
• Seats are nice... but why no active side bolsters?
• You should be able to tap the sunroof button back twice to get the shade and runroof to both retract automatically. Why do I have to wait for the then shade first?
• The digital screen below the speedometer is a little fuzzy... could be sharper.
• iPod glitch. It "forgets" the rest of the playlist after every 5-10 starts. I have to go in and reselect the playlist.
• Lane departure warning... not to be used regularly. It gets annoying. On a late night, however, it could be live saving.
• Why doesn't the passenger seat have a massage function?
• If you pull up the driver's window with one-click and then open the door... the window stops going up. Even with the car on and running. Huh?

I'm sure I'm missing a few things...

We’ve been home over a week now and are missing Europe and the 7. It’s comforting knowing that it’s been loaded on its ride home already.

A testament to how much we enjoyed the trip was the fact we had already begun to talk about our next ED in the middle of it! It truly is a fantastic experience. Besides a few issues early on (lost baggage, “controlled” twice by the police) we had an uneventful trip with no serious issues. I can testify that having navigation on the car (as well as the head-up display) simplified things immensely and allowed us to focus on enjoying the view rather than unfolding a giant map every few minutes. I’m experiencing a little sticker shock as the Dollar managed to test a new low just as we were getting ready to come home!

Thanks Hayden for summing it all up. GREAT writeup. I for one enjoyed reading every post and especially liked the beautiful pictures you posted. Again, thank you so very much!

In regards to some of your findings:

I have to agree with every point you listed in the Good column!

In the Bad column:

The starting from a stop should slowly fade as the car learns your acceleration behavior unless you always accelerate hard and jerky

I agree with you on the Active Cruise Control, I found it a bit abrupt as well, not so much when it was accelerating but rather when it slows you down, but then again, for safety reasons I guess they need to do that when someone pulls right in front of you and the car determins that the distance you selected is far greater than the actual distance to the car that just pulled ahead of you!

I have no complaints about the sound system. It also depends on the quality of the source material that you play. If you play highly compressed files from your iPod/iPhone, then you can't expect the system to do wonders for you. I usually use either uncompressed or loss less type audio files and the playback is awesome. What did you use as reference when you were listening to it and are say that the system could/should be better?

I'm not sure if this is what you are referring to in regards to your active side bolsters comment, but when I get into the car, the seats are 'open' and when I start the car the side bolsters (on the rear seat portion) close to my preferred seat width! At the same time it lowers the steering wheel into position. When I turn the car off, the steering wheel goes up and the side bolsters open up so it's easier to get out of the car.

I agree with you on the sunroof button and it's functionality!

My instrument cluster digital screen isn't fuzzy, in fact it is really sharp and very detailed. Maybe it's a setting in your car? I think the contrast changes with the dashboard illumination setting?!?

I don't use an iPod/iPhone so I can't comment on that. I use a 64GB USB stick that's always plugged into the center arm rest USB.

I always have the lane departure warning enabled and find it quite useful. What you experienced may have something to do with the width of the European streets
Give it another go once you get your car...

Passenger side massage feature. I still don't understand why they offer this feature in Europe and the rest of the world but they don't offer it for the NA market... If you ask me, I think that's ridiculous!

Any window stops it's movement as soon as you open the corresponding door, it does that on mine as well as my wife's BMW. I think that they consider that a safety feature. Goes along the same way as not being able to close the power trunk from the 'open only' button inside the car or from the remote!!!

Anyway, thanks again for all your great pictures