09 Jul 08
The big story, equipment-wise, is a new, simplified iDrive. We've never been huge fans of BMW's telematics/infotainment system, finding it lacked the intuitiveness such systems need to truly work. BMW has listened to the criticisms, however, and added buttons around the controller knob to help users find their way to the menu they want far quicker. We had a quick demonstration of the new iDrive's capabilities at the preview event and it does seem to be easier to use, but we'll reserve judgement until we've spent a bit more time in the car.
The audio and navigation system also comes with a 40GB hard drive that allows you to store all the maps you'll ever need plus the capacity to download music files from CDs, an MP3 player or USB stick and save them in your hard drive. BMW reckons you can store about 100 albums-worth of songs - which is about 8MB, or about the same as an iPod Nano.
Another major innovation is a head-up display that features speed and the option of a display that shows the current speed limit, with the information taken from a camera fitted near the interior mirror that permanently monitors signs by the road and variable speed limits on overhead displays.
There's also no excuse for you (or your chauffeur) to ever collide with anything ever again, thanks to the array of cameras around the car. In addition to the parking cameras at the back that we've come to expect in high-end cars, there are also side view cameras in the front bumper so you can see the traffic coming from the left and right at junctions.
In the unlikely event of an accident in your super-safe 7, you also don't have the excuse that it's dark, as the car is fitted with a night vision system that uses a thermal imaging camera. This helps the driver see people, animals and other objects outside the headlight footprint in a high-resolution display. And if this isn't clever enough, the system's control unit is also said to analyse video data to spot pedestrians who could step out in front of the car and warn the driver to look out for them.
