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Originally Posted by Satchnz
Ok I have discussed this with BMW in New Zealand and will post the results here just in case anyone else wants to know in future, as there doesn’t appear to be much knowledge on this subject here.
iDrive 7 - can be changed by the user. Miles <=> Kms, Mpg <=> km/l
Navigation - local maps can be loaded at a cost
ConnectedDrive - this is a no go due to “issues with Germany”. My car would forever be tied to a UK dealership. I could not get any further info on what the issues are, but it sounds like it is a policy decision rather than a technical limitation.
Maybe one day BMW will change the rules but it’s not possible for now.
Hopefully this info helps someone else out one day.
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Hi there,
Not sure if you're still active on here but I thought I might shed some light. BMW (and other high end makes such as Range Rover, Mercedes, etc.) block country geo-coding. This is to keep people basically from doing exactly what you're doing - buying a car in one market for cheaper and importing it. This was especially prevalent maybe 10 years ago when some folks in China were buying cars in the US and shipping back to China in an attempt to get around VAT and other related costs with the way that they import it or whatever.
So to combat this, BMW HQ more or less as time goes on makes it harder and harder. F chassis' it's much easier to do, but it looks like they've locked it down even harder for G series.
I bring up this topic because I'm in a similar boat, through Diplomatic sales I bought a US spec G20 while overseas, and seem to be having issues getting CarPlay to work.
My understanding however is this is mostly just coding. BMW isn't going to take the time to put different hardware in every car based on what country it is going to. They now have what's called a virtual SIM instead of a physical SIM and the system works where it can be used in multiple places, it's just coded differently.