[joscejrod]

Hi! I’m debating between choosing pre-LCI model with good discount or LCI model.

I much prefer dual screen dashboard design with physical clima controls but driver screen in OS 7 seems to have not many configuration options. Beside this, I don’t now if BMW is going to give updates to that OS to add new features like apple maps in driver display…

Regarding LCI version it seems to be more complex to use, and that dashboard with curve screen is very ugly for me, including the view from passenger. But future proofing is really making me doubt,

Have you experienced both and could advice me between both? Many thanks in advance!!

[G22b58]

I'm with you on the design. Besides physical A/C controls I use the iDrive 7 physical Favourite buttons a lot. iDrive 8 has those expandable from the top of the screen, but I rather have them as buttons.

I drove an M340 LCI for a couple of hours, and that was not enough to know where to find the settings. For instance, activating "Traction" mode requires more steps in iDrive 8. Putting gear box in and out of manual mode is more straight forward pre-LCI (with the lever). I don't really need more variants of the display cluster (I have the revs permanently shown). I fail to see any improvement in iDrive 8 rhomboid display of widgets. Widgets in iDrive 7 are fully customizable but I don't know if there maybe are more to choose from in iDrive 8. I use BMW navigator and selecting reduced(simplified?) map display gives a full screen map view on the control display which is large enough for me.

[joscejrod]

Compared with current car that I have (q3 with virtual cockpit) maps on driver display are more rich and detailed than on OS7 driver screen. Is it not too much dark for you?

[NLJ]

iDrive 8 is fantastic. Screen is crisp and options are well laid out.
Of course if your hangup is over physical buttons, then the choice is yours to make.

[G30M]

i bought 2 iD7 cars for future proofing. don't know if I'll ever touch a BMW with the cost saving take away all buttons and put it on a touch screen.

i felt pre LCI was a car and LCI it turned into an appliance.

but each to their own. people seem to like iD8.

i feel it's only going to get worse. watched a review of the latest Tesla S and they even removed the blinker sticks.

one day i'll be driven around by an appliance but hopefully my buttons galore cars will last a while yet ...

[TheFatArmadillo]

My wife’s car has iD7, have 8 in mine. If I had to choose, I’d pick 8 every day of the week. Nothing wrong with 7, but it does look dated.

[tturedraider]

The 2020 pre-LCI G20 M340i will be my last BMW unless they decide to return to actual dashboards without oversized iPads and with physical buttons for things that should have physical buttons. Not to mention the de-contenting that has been happening since the beginning of Covid.

[NLJ]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

The 2020 pre-LCI G20 M340i will be my last BMW unless they decide to return to actual dashboards without oversized iPads and with physical buttons for things that should have physical buttons. Not to mention the de-contenting that has been happening since the beginning of Covid.

No manufacturer will go back when it is more cost effective to do it this way.

[G22b58]

Originally Posted by NLJ

No manufacturer will go back when it is more cost effective to do it this way.

.. That is provided they can sell the cars.
The problem might be that Audi (and BMW) probably didn't realize the reason why Audi lost a customer and BMW gained one, when I bought my M440 with iDrive 7 instead of a 3:rd Audi.

[NLJ]

Originally Posted by G22b58

.. That is provided they can sell the cars.
The problem might be that Audi (and BMW) probably didn't realize the reason why Audi lost a customer and BMW gained one, when I bought my M440 with iDrive 7 instead of a 3:rd Audi.

Sales and popularity aren’t dictated by enthusiasts.
If they were, we would still have the Marauder!

[Auditobimmer42]

I'm usually very partial to newness. Especially when the tech improves. But when it comes to a car I have been more reserved. I am not a fan of the large unified screen, less buttons and no gear lever.

But ultimately I also would not want to be left behind. idrive 8 also looks pretty awesome

[Davg31]

I had to change my car this year, my 540 series was superb from the engine point of view, but too wide, long, heavy (I'm often on Brussels city always jammed and small street).

I didn't want the 23 because I don't have a physical key anymore, I love the screen, but without a shortcut key it's not possible (I use them every day)

But I also admit that on the G21 the rear bumper is for me badly designed, too plastic.

And then a car without gear selector bof bof.

But the new color is great, and I like the headlights

[Benjamin_Nicholas]

Having spent considerable time in a 2023 X7, the new LCI is not something I like.

It's needlessly complex. They didn't take a page from Tesla with the OS... They just made it confusing and not streamlined.

[idej_jedi]

I might be wrong, but I think some of its down to age / lack of tech use in everyday lives. I work in tech and I'm a little bit of a tech geek so I love the new curved screen and OS8. Granted you have to learn new ways of doing things but the screen imho looks stunning a real wow factor and pushes BMW up with its competitors. I always thought the pre LCI interior with its two screens looked dated when you see what the likes of Merc are putting out there.

I orginally had a Merc 300e on order (and I'm a big BMW fan) due to how modern the interior felt and its more realistic hybrid range. Unfortunately that got cancelled and luckily for me the LCI had come out so it was a no brainer when I saw the improvements they made, namely the lights and large curved screen.

People moan about no buttons but once you've lived with it for a bit, it becomes second nature to tap the temp button or climate control. I do keep a microfibre in the arm rest though due to the increased number of finger prints!

[G22b58]

Don't mention Mercedes, they are even worse. At least BMW has kept physical buttons on the steering wheel. Physical buttons have the advantage that you can feel your way to them, and doesn't false react until pressed. Much easier and safer when driving.

[Equilibrandt]

Originally Posted by idej_jedi

I might be wrong, but I think some of its down to age / lack of tech use in everyday lives. I work in tech and I'm a little bit of a tech geek so I love the new curved screen and OS8. Granted you have to learn new ways of doing things but the screen imho looks stunning a real wow factor and pushes BMW up with its competitors. I always thought the pre LCI interior with its two screens looked dated when you see what the likes of Merc are putting out there.

I have to agree with this. If a buyer is moving from ID7 to ID8, they really have to be motivated or tech savvy to like ID8.

As someone who's both young and quite tech savvy (grew up with a ton of tech), ID8 is miles ahead of ID7 if you can get over the growing pains of simple climate controls and whatnot.

I do also note that I've seen a lot less ID8 hate since when it first came out. Either because people aren't interested in complaining anymore or they've gotten used to the reality of what MMIs are now.

[dudley@07726]

Originally Posted by Equilibrandt

I have to agree with this. If a buyer is moving from ID7 to ID8, they really have to be motivated or tech savvy to like ID8.

As someone who's both young and quite tech savvy (grew up with a ton of tech), ID8 is miles ahead of ID7 if you can get over the growing pains of simple climate controls and whatnot.

I do also note that I've seen a lot less ID8 hate since when it first came out. Either because people aren't interested in complaining anymore or they've gotten used to the reality of what MMIs are now.

Climate control works quite nicely by voice command. I’ve been very impressed by the voice command. Miles ahead of my sold 16 Audi and much better than my wife’s 18 E350 coupe. The BMW gets the whole address correct on the first try every time.

[zlatko]

When I was considering getting an iDrive8 car I was most concerned about the physical screen "design", lack of proper gear shifter joystick and capacitive buttons. It turned out that neither is actually that bad:
- the floating tablet thingy grew on me, the displays themselves are gorgeous. I was expecting to hate the design, but nah - it's OK.
- the gear shifter is slightly better to operate, but I can still equally easy switch to sport mode(push knob back), selecting reverse and drive while maneuvering is also OK with the knob. When reaching for cupholder or phone - there is no joystick in the way. So I would say the change is not big deal.
- removing the capacitive shortcut buttons is simply BAD! It now takes 3-4-5 clicks to reach a function that was a single click away. All still manageable via the shortcut menu though.

So you should think I am pretty happy with iDrive 8 equipped car after reading the above? - unfortunately the issues come from the SW, not the HW changes. iDrive 8 is just not good enough compared to 6 and 7! OK, you gave us screens instead of analogue instruments? Then the biggest benefit of having a screen instead of a dial is that a screen can draw any image on itself. So give us a highly customizable system - I want to have on screen the information I need/want and remove what I don't. Give us a list based menu structure like iD7 alongside the icon based grid. Why you limit me to have "power meter" instead of rev counter when in comfort(yes, I know that the narrower view instruments have the rev counter in comfort, but I like the wide view better!)? Why I can not add tyre pressure in IC like in iD7? Or coasting/engine off status? Why the map in IC is always auto zoom and does not follow what is setup in main screen? Why there is no tyre temperature display without coding? Why after I finish a phone call the main screen does not return to previous state(e.g. Nav) or home screen? Why I can not have permanent map view in HUD? Or legible rev counter in HUD? And I can go on and on and on...
The whole point of screen is to be flexible and customizable.

BMW UI/UX designers made the experience frustrating - rigid, illogical and cumbersome. yes - pretty, but that is subjective and nowhere near enough to get you over the deficiencies. Travelling in my G21 I feel like g21 (no pun intended!) wrote - driving an appliance, not a car. I focus more fighting the UI than being involved and alert in driving.

[chrish_22]

I've had my car with ID 8 for about a month now and overall I love it. Yes, there are cons, but in my opinion, there are more pros than cons. You've likely already heard about all the good things, so I'll just express my thoughts on what I don't like as much:

Climate Control
While I don't mind not having physical controls for most other features, this is something I would very much like to have physical buttons for. The reason being is that it is just more convenient. There are buttons to fast forward/reverse media, but I would prefer to physical climate control buttons than media.

Customization
I love the big screen and the layout, but I wish there was more customization for both the instrument cluster and infotainment screen. Don't get me wrong, there are things you can do, but these are also things that seem very "bland" to me and I would love to be able to customize elements of ID8 more.

Yes, it can take some time to get used to, but even if you aren't tech savvy, you'll find that you really don't need to do too much to get this set up. With every day use, there aren't things you constantly need to do that would cause an annoyance.

I think that it's still a fairly new system, so I'm hoping that with short time, we'll get a lot more features through software updates that will really allow us to take full advantage of the large screen and software!

[G22b58]

I also want to mention other things that are removed for G22 LCI:
*Lighting for the air vent controls in the instrument panel, and for the rear seat air vents (at rear face of center console)deleted
*Illumination of front door storage pockets deleted
*12 V accessory power socket in luggage compartment deleted
*Storage bin to the left of the steering column deleted
*Storage nets on the back surface of the front seat backrests deleted

[zlatko]

G22b58 For G21 you can order the storage the nets on the front seats backrests and the 12V socket in trunk in a separate package. The other de-contents are the same as you listed for G22. Plus the puddle lights in the doors. Also the right side mirror is not dimming. And the armrest storage USB is only charging and no data transfer.

[G30M]

Originally Posted by chrish_22

I've had my car with ID 8 for about a month now and overall I love it. Yes, there are cons, but in my opinion, there are more pros than cons. You've likely already heard about all the good things, so I'll just express my thoughts on what I don't like as much:

Climate Control
While I don't mind not having physical controls for most other features, this is something I would very much like to have physical buttons for. The reason being is that it is just more convenient. There are buttons to fast forward/reverse media, but I would prefer to physical climate control buttons than media.

Customization
I love the big screen and the layout, but I wish there was more customization for both the instrument cluster and infotainment screen. Don't get me wrong, there are things you can do, but these are also things that seem very "bland" to me and I would love to be able to customize elements of ID8 more.

Yes, it can take some time to get used to, but even if you aren't tech savvy, you'll find that you really don't need to do too much to get this set up. With every day use, there aren't things you constantly need to do that would cause an annoyance.

I think that it's still a fairly new system, so I'm hoping that with short time, we'll get a lot more features through software updates that will really allow us to take full advantage of the large screen and software!

I struggle to touch anything accurately while driving and looking at the road.

No way I will be better at giant touch screen vs buttons.

But I'm am old man, I prefer mouse and keyboard, read books and don't own a Kindle, have a wife and don't use tinder.