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      07-13-2010, 05:32 PM   #1
hayden
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New MY2011 Features (as of September 2010)

BMW ConnectedDrive Innovations: Advanced on-board use of mobile phones and music players.

Beginning with September production there will be enhancements for BMW Assist with Bluetooth (639) and iPod/USB Adapter (6FL). These enhancements will extend the functionality through improved integration of mobile devices into the vehicle. These new features are made possible by hardware advances and are not “retrofittable” to pre-September builds.

BMW Assist with Extended Bluetooth (639)
The Bluetooth functionality is extended beyond hands-free and phonebook support. Multiple innovations will debut with BMW Assist with Extended Bluetooth. Feature support is dependent upon compatibility with the mobile device.
Mobile Office: Now with the industry-first mobile office integration of BlackBerry Smartphones, a customer can access email, text messages, and notes all through the iDrive system providing a great integration of mobile life into the vehicle. It is important that drivers maintain focus on the road, and to assist them in maintaining that focus, the text is restricted and only fully displayed when the vehicle is parked. However, with the voice control system included with navigation, the messages are read aloud via text-to-speech so the driver can keep his or her eyes on the road. (Compatible BlackBerry hardware, firmware, and feature set T.B.D.)

External Call Lists: The new external call list handling provides a more seamless experience by downloading the “re-dial” and “received calls list” at every reconnect of the mobile device and after each call.

Bluetooth Music Streaming: Bluetooth music streaming offers wireless audio streaming from the mobile device to the vehicle. Music stored on the mobile phone is played and controlled through the iDrive controller.
iPod/USB Adapter (6FL)
This option has also been enhanced with many exciting features.
iPod One-wire integration: No longer will an iPod connection require the “Y-cable”. The original iPod USB cable is all that is required to connect the device to the vehicle. This simplifies the connection by not requiring the aux-input. The music is transferred directly from the iPod digitally to the HiFi system via USB. Therefore as of September, the Y-Cable will no longer be included with iPod/USB Adapter (6FL).

Album Cover Art: The ability to display album cover art will also be included with the iPod/USB Adapter. If cover art is contained in the metadata of the song, it will show on the vehicle display while the song is played.

Voice Control of Devices: In combination with the voice control system included with navigation, the driver can control external devices and select genre, artist, album, and song title by simply speaking the words.

Mobile Phone Device Driver Update: Lastly, in combination with BMW Assist, the USB port of the iPod/USB Adapter can be used to upload new mobile phone and audio player device drivers. (Release timing for this feature and device driver availability are subject to change.)


7 Series


The Model Year 2011 760Li will start production in September 2010. We are pleased to announce that there are no changes to the equipment profile or the price of the vehicle.

As announced at the New York Auto Show, xDrive will be available on both of the BMW ALPINA B7 Sedans. This all-wheel drive performance luxury Sedan achieves 0-60 mph in 4.6 seconds. The B7 will again set the benchmark in terms of performance, refinement, technology, luxury and exclusivity.
The B7 xDrive models will come standard with the same equipment level as the RWD B7 models. The base price for the B7 xDrive short wheel base model is $125,000 and the B7 xDrive long wheel base is $128,900.

The stand-alone optional 19” wheel on the xDrive models (2ST) with performance tires will be replaced with all-season tires (2H1). The wheel styling 235 will remain the same.

The Rear Comfort Seats, which are available in the Luxury Rear Seating Package (ZLU) on the 740Li, 750Li, and standard on the 760Li, will now include a middle seat and seat belt. This means that all 7 Series models will be able to seat 5 passengers.

The 740i and 740Li production restraint that forced every vehicle to have Multi-contour (456) and Heated Seats (494) will no longer apply with the end of August production. Beginning with September production, Multi-contour seats can be ordered in the Luxury Seating Package or as a stand-alone option for $1,300. Heated Seats are standard on the 740Li and available in the Cold Weather Package and as a stand-alone option for the 740i models for $500.

The sensor for Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go (5DF) will be the same size as the 5 Series sensor, meaning it is smaller than the previous sensor. The placement of the sensor will remain to the right of kidney grille.

The Rear Seat Entertainment Package (ZRP) has been moved from a Priority 1 to a stand alone option.
Attached Images
File Type: pdf September Changes.pdf (447.0 KB, 475 views)
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      07-13-2010, 07:59 PM   #2
xDrive50i
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Thanks Hayden for the update. It looks like they finally got this working. Some of those features were rumored to be available a while ago and I kept asking my dealership about this but they didn't hear anything...

To bad it's not upgradeable (as in a software upgrade). Oh well, I think it will be time for a new car sometime soon
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      07-13-2010, 09:44 PM   #3
LAB F01
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it always hurts hearing about new improvements coming to upcoming models... especially after just picking up an '11 f01!
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      07-13-2010, 10:38 PM   #4
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too bad the luxury REAR seating package is still not available for Short Wheel Base model,...
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      07-18-2010, 05:29 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LAB F01 View Post
it always hurts hearing about new improvements coming to upcoming models... especially after just picking up an '11 f01!
yes that is a crock of canola that they call ours a 2011 yet fail to have the later half model year cars with different features...all these model year classifications simply become another marketing tool that is fundamentally meaningless. pretty soon it will be model year and months when the cars were built differentiating the various model options and features.

to me it's become just another year tagged onto your model to identify how old your car is vs the newer models. i ordered a 2011 expecting to have what all the other 2011 models would have.
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      08-04-2010, 07:56 AM   #6
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Thanks to this post, re placed the order for the rear seat package with 5 seats, will post pics once the car comes in.
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      08-04-2010, 10:00 PM   #7
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the american markets are some of the only ones that have 'model years', as in germany and throughout much of europe, there is no such thing, where cars have production months and years differentiating them - a far more accurate approach - and less gimicky too - so that they do not call a car a 2011 when it is built in august 2010 - they call it an august 2010 build.

Last edited by dbs600; 08-05-2010 at 10:35 AM..
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      09-19-2010, 03:40 PM   #8
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thanks man, now i have to work a few extra hours more
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      02-01-2011, 09:01 AM   #9
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One puzzling change for the 2011 MY is that xDrive no longer comes bundled with Dynamic Drive (aka Active Roll Stabilisation). I wonder what message BMW are trying to send? I thought that xDrive and Dynamic Drive work synergistically. I do not see why they separated them.
One will have to buy Dynamic Drive as a stand-alone option. This will result in many people missing out on DD because of the confusion in having so many options to choose from.
BMW should have kept them bundled together because both systems are important in rectilinear propagation of the car in challenging conditions.
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      02-01-2011, 09:47 AM   #10
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Meditations........the 7 Series is puzzling. Why have a M Sport Package when there is no option for paddle shifters on the steering wheel?
I thought the whole point of M is to increase the sporting character of the vehicle. Why are paddle shifters omitted? When one considers that a 550i has 96% of the weight of a 750i, it is not that much smaller; yet the 550i has the paddle shifters option.
Nobody is buying this "7 is too big to be sporty" attitude. Look at Alpina; look at Hamann; look at BMW with the 7's M Sport Package.
Come on BMW, it's time for those paddle shifters on the 7!
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      02-01-2011, 11:54 AM   #11
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By now one would have guessed that I'm on the verge of buying a 750i xDrive. The caveat is one has to think deeply about options. I was surprised to find out that the Premium Sound Package does not come with the 6-CD changer. That privilege is reserved for the Rear Seat Entertainment Package. Since the Sound Pack will be enjoyed by all occupants, why isn't the 6-CD changer bundled in?
Look, if premium sound is required, the primary factors are the quality of the CD plate and the ability of the 6-CD exchanger. All the more reason for a premium exchanger to be implemented with the sound package. Instead, BMW concentrate on the speakers!

Furthermore, BMW should make it clear and promote the fact that the various chassis and suspension options, work synergistically. XDrive with Dynamic Drive yields a more vivid driving experience than sole options.
The average customer will be confused if
there are no recommendations as to
which options to bundle together.

Last edited by SteveJ; 02-01-2011 at 01:02 PM..
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      02-01-2011, 01:18 PM   #12
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I must point out that the key performance oriented BMW 7s come with Active Roll Stabilisation ie 1) the M Sport Package. 2) Alpina B7 xDrive. 3) 760i/Li.
So, it is brazenly clear that if you're looking for superlative handling, you better include ARS in your list of options.
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      02-01-2011, 01:28 PM   #13
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I cannot afford the Alpina B7 or the 760i, so I will go for a 2011 BMW 750i xDrive with Active Roll Stabilisation as my first and foremost stand-alone package.
I would have gone for the M Sport Package, but aesthetically I prefer the looks of the regular BMW. I am not a fan of high gloss shadow line!
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      02-01-2011, 04:21 PM   #14
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AFAIK, BMW does not offer a CD changer anymore but rather a DVD changer. You do not really need a CD changer since you can transfer your CDs onto the systems HDD which makes selecting a song or album a LOT faster than changing a disc in a changer. It also gives you the ability to put a LOT more discs into your car compared to a 6 Disc changer. The reason the entertainment package comes with the 6 disc DVD changer is since DVDs take up a LOT more space than music and since the system HDD only has 12GB available for misc storage, you wouldn't be able to store a lot of movies on it. There are also legal issues involved in copying movies that I'm sure BMW obviously doesn't want to get into.
I use the DVD changer for kids movies so that my kids can select and watch them while we are on the road and use a USB stick for my music that I can listen to (also while the kids are watching their movies with the wireless headphones in the back).
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      02-02-2011, 05:55 AM   #15
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I take it that you don't listen to the in-car music through headphones! I've never tried the Rear Seat Entertainment Package, yet if you're listening to your music via the car's speakers and not through headphones, will it not be heard by your kids even though they wear the wireless headphones, or are the latter great at blocking external sound?

The problem with listening to CDs on the HDD comes when one is constantly listening to new music. It is far easier to stick your latest bunch into the 6CD/DVD changer than to waste time transferring music on to the HDD.

BMW could have given us the best of both worlds ie stick the 6CD/DVD changer in both the Premium Sound & Rear Seat Entertainment Packages. In the event of a customer wanting both packages they could market a Sound & Vision Package which would obviate any need to buy the 6CD/DVD changer twice.
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      02-02-2011, 06:14 AM   #16
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Is there a technical reason why BMW excised Active Roll Stabilisation from the 750i xDrive in MY 2011? Did they ascertain that the two systems are incompatible? I know that one cannot have Integral Active Steering with xDrive because of incompatibility. A regular Alpina B7 has Active Roll Stabisation. I'm assuming that MY 2011 Alpina B7+ xDrive will retain this feature.

Conversly, the reasoning could be economical. More money could be made if the two features are separated!
If that is the case then MY 2010 owners had a far better deal than MY 2011.
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      02-02-2011, 10:53 AM   #17
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SteveJ, you obviously haven't changed too many disc in one of these 6 disc DVD changers in a F01/F02 or else you would know that it is time consuming and rather annoying. To change all 6 disc in the changer will take you probably about 4 to 5 minutes! So you don't really save any time putting them into the changer, it is by far easier to change the disc in the center dash mounted single CD/DVD player and listen to the disc from there!

With the changer, first you need to eject a disc, which if you don't eject the disc that is currently loaded, the changer will have to 'park' the currently selected disc and then move to eject the one you have selected. Once you remove the ejected disc and insert the new disc, the changer will load the disc and start playing it to identify the disc, this takes some time and once it is recognized (as either a music CD or movie DVD), you can select the next disc to be ejected, at which point the entire process starts over, the disc you just inserted needs to be 'parked' in the location you selected, then the new disc you just selected to eject will have to be moved into position so the drive can eject it, etc...
As I mentioned above, to change all 6 discs takes a good 4 to 5 minutes!

I find it far easier to take my USB stick and plug it into my laptop, transfer the songs I want to listed to onto the stick and when I get back into the car, plug it back in, the system will scan the USB stick for any changes and off you go...
I have over 7000 songs on my USB stick and IIRC it took only about a minute to scan all 7000 songs. At least for me this is a lot easier as I have my entire music collection transferred onto my home media server (14k+ songs), so all I need to do is select what songs I want to take with me. When I transfer the selected songs, I do have to convert them since my library is in lossless m4a format and for the USB stick I convert them into mp3 format. This happens on the fly anyway so not a big deal.

It is also extremely hard to change the discs in the changer from the driver side. I usually change the DVDs in the changer every few month so the Kids have something new to watch and don't have to bother with putting a DVD into the rear center console mounted DVD player themselves (prevents them from scratching up the DVDs). When I do change them, it's usually before a long trip and I do this from the passenger seat.

I have had cartridge based 6 disc CD changers in other cars in the past and changing the discs was a tad bit easier but even then I would only change the discs every few weeks and for the most part when I did want to listen to new songs on a CD, I would simply use the dash mounted CD player. I find the USB memory stick to be far more convenient than having to handle CDs, they only fit a few songs, take up a lot more space and sometimes when it's really cold outside either won't play at all or keep skipping during playback...

I think most people (including myself) prefer the USB interface option over a CD player (or changer) for their music as a LOT of people use either a memory stick or iPod/iPhone or other smart-phone capable of storing/playing back mp3s. CD sales keep declining and online music downloads keep going up, so your chance of ever seeing a CD changer for music playback in a new BMW is next to nil. If memory serves me right, the MY2009 or at least at the introduction of the F01/F02 the CD/DVD changer was actually still part of the professional sound system and was taken out and even discontinued as an option the following model year.
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      02-02-2011, 11:07 AM   #18
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In regards to the sound level, the kids are usually so engrossed into whatever they are watching that they don't even hear my music or even when I talk to them

I don't listen to the music very loud anyway. The level is usually set so the music is more in the background. I do listen to the music louder when I am alone in the car and occasionally crank it when I'm playing a song I really like

What I've been surprised by is how long the batteries have held up in the wireless headphones. These are still the original batteries and they are going on to 2 years, well more like 1 3/4 years but still...
Especially considering that every time the kids get in the car, by the time I get into the car and start the engine, they already have the headphones on and are ready to start their movie!

I have to say though that the rear entertainment package was worth every penny! The kids are ALWAYS quiet (except for the occasional burst of laughter when something funny happened in the movie they are watching). And if they get bored of watching movies, they usually select the navigation (map) mode and look up interesting places on the iDrive system or they just like to watch the map while I am driving
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      02-02-2011, 05:23 PM   #19
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Thanks for the tips on convenient accessing of music. I never realised the 6-CD/DVD changer took so long to load. The USB memory stick looks like the way to go. I take it that sound quality from this type of source is hi-fidelity.
Some have suggested that the Premium Sound Package on the F01 is not up to the standard of the E65. I hope this is not true.

You have made me interested in the Entertainment Package. Anything to keep the kids quiet!
I understand that the package only comes with two wireless headphones.
I would need two extra ones to avoid a scuffle in the back seat! Four kids with only two headphones is a recipe for conflict! I hope extra 'phones are available from good ol' BMW.
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      02-03-2011, 06:14 AM   #20
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Just perused http://www.alpina-automobiles.com
The Alpina B7 xDrive does have Dynamic Drive ( Active Roll Stabilisation ). Thus xDrive and DD are certainly compatible.

I conclude that BMW excised DD from being bundled with 750i xDrive MY 2011, for financial reasons. They simply felt that customers should pay extra for it!

Alpina have made the decision to bundle xDrive and Dynamic Drive because their research shows that both systems implemented concurrently, promote optimal driving.

This has reinforced my decision to make sure that my 750i xDrive ( non-Alpina ) comes with Dynamic Drive.

The beauty of DD is that active anti-roll stabilisers on the front & rear axles minimise car body roll eg when cornering or in sudden changes in direction.
The result is a better performing car. Perhaps I'm a little too intense but I crave for a vivid encounter between man, machine and motorway anytime I step into the car. If it is affordable I'm willing to spend to achieve that level of experience.

Last edited by SteveJ; 02-03-2011 at 06:27 AM..
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      02-03-2011, 11:40 AM   #21
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SteveJ: When I picked up my car, the dealership had to order the headphones through the parts department. Actually there was a note on the original order instructions from BMW HQ that dealers had to order the headphones through the parts department since the car would NOT be shipped with them (I guess BMW was afraid that they would either get lost or stolen during transport?!?). I'm not sure if that's still the case or if the factory now includes them with the car when you order the rear seat entertainment package.
You can order additional headphones from the dealership. I think they come as a set. Each headphone has a small switch on the side to select if it should pick up the signal (IR) from the left or right display.

Dynamic Drive makes a HUGE difference! There is very little body roll when turning into corners. I wouldn't want to drive the car without it!

One more suggestion if you are picking options and don't get a fully loaded car, get the HUD, in my opinion it's one of the MUST HAVE options and makes driving soooo much nicer!
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