[SteveAus]

I Love my car. Love the way it drives. Love the power. Love its versatility. Love the Colour of the paintwork. Love the colour of the seats.

What I really do not love is the way BMW want to continually gouge you for money to maintain things like Connected Drive after your warranty period has ended (yes, my car came with only 3 years warranty! WTF!!). I had downloaded the recent software upgrade, but had not had time to install it due a death in the family and surgery in hospital. However, when I went to install the software, I was informed that my Connected Drive subscription was inactive.

My car is only three years old, but BMW now want another $200 per year to maintain Connected Drive...therefore no software upgrades, no information on tyre temps and pressures while parked, no map updates, etc, etc, etc.

Having paid almost $120,000 for the car in the first place, surely BMW can afford to continue this service for the vehicle life. After all, this is one of the things that appealed to many buyers in the first place, which may have tempted the original purchase. This also helps in resale value down the track.

BMW blanket sends updates to thousands of vehicles at a time all over the world. It is hardly an imposition on a company of this size to continue to service its clientele in this way.

I have bought new Beemers since the 1990's and I normally keep my vehicles for around 7 years (low mileage driver), but I will now definitely be looking at other manufacturers in the future, as this kind of "Big Company" gouging really gives me the shits!

[GTR33R]

Steve, have you got 5 year service plan? My car is 3 years old as well and my Connected Drive still works.

[SteveAus]

Originally Posted by GTR33R

Steve, have you got 5 year service plan? My car is 3 years old as well and my Connected Drive still works.

Yes, I have a 5 year service plan, but Connected Drive is definitely inactive.

I had my rant yesterday and also had a whinge at BMW Australia. I’m not holding my breath for a reply, let alone a favorable outcome.

[AustraliaG20]

I have a 5 year service plan and Connect Drive is inactive as well.. it's just annoying, but to be honest, I really only rely on Android Auto anyway, so I'm not too fussed. At least they made that an option and free!

[Gaviatrix]

I too am out of warranty as my car is 4 years old this month; and I have (reluctantly) paid for Connected Drive. I probably won't do so again, as I don't really use any of the features.

I can't download the latest software update. It was downloaded to my phone, but the car never prompts for the download to it. You can't do so manually. The same thing happened to the last two updates. They expire on your phone after about 4 months. I had a bizarre conversation with BMW support about it, which included being informed that you had to drive the car more then 100 km in one go before the download would start. I do that maybe once every 6 months - generally I only do about 100 km a week! We have 3 cars and the 3er is the least used for longer trips. The car is being serviced in a fortnight (time from booking service to appointment at main dealer Auto Classic in Perth was 7 weeks can you believe) so I'll tackle them about it but I won't be paying $250 to have them do it ...

Like Steve, I love the car, but am frustrated by aspects of the ownership experience and find BMW Australia and their dealers are not great to deal with. My experience with Jaguar/Land Rover and even Subaru has been much better, at least in Perth.

[AP]

Same in uk, connected drive drive free for first 3 years
I think it’s worth renewing as aswell as software updates (remote services) you can get updated maps and RTTI which is well worth it to keep you away from traffic
If you have idrive 7 the there is also the speed camera alert aswell also well worth the small amount of money that is

[SteveAus]

BMW Australia contacted me regarding Connected Drive and offered me three months subscription as I was have problems installing the software update 03/2023.50.

Unfortunately, this made no difference and I am still unable to install the update. It downloads to my iPhone, and uploads to the car, but the car never notifies me that I can install the update…
Thanks BMW…

[Gaviatrix]

Originally Posted by SteveAus

BMW Australia contacted me regarding Connected Drive and offered me three months subscription as I was have problems installing the software update 03/2023.50.

Unfortunately, this made no difference and I am still unable to install the update. It downloads to my iPhone, and uploads to the car, but the car never notifies me that I can install the update…
Thanks BMW…

Yup, exactly my issue. And because there's no ability to prompt it manually, you're stuck. I'll be contacting the Connected Drive team again in the next few days as I'm due to put my car in for a service in a fortnight (after an 8 week wait to get an appointment time at Auto Classic that suited me!) and I don't intend to pay the dealer $250 for a software update that should happen anyway. You don't have to pay Apple to get support from their Genius Bar to fix things that go wrong with their kit ...

[James S]

Forgive the newbie question, but if the updates are never downloaded because we /I dont want to fork out $250 a pop, what am i missing out on apart from map updates?

[SteveAus]

Originally Posted by James S

Forgive the newbie question, but if the updates are never downloaded because we /I dont want to fork out $250 a pop, what am i missing out on apart from map updates?

The updates should be a free service.
The updates provide various enhancements to the operation of your car.

The updates should download to your phone, and then upload to your car. Once uploaded, the car should request that you install the update to the car.

In my case, I seem to have an issue with how my car is recognizing my iPhone. It should recognize it as a phone with both wifi and Bluetooth connections. Unfortunately, my car is splitting the the wifi and Bluetooth on to two variations of my phone (with slightly different names).
I have called the BMW “Genius” at the dealership and will arrange to meet with him to sort out the issue.
In my case, I cannot delete both variants of my phone (I can delete one, but not the other), so that I can reinstall the iPhone properly.
Apparently, this is not an isolated incident.

I will get back to Adelaide in a couple of weeks (currently in EB) and meet with the “Genius”. I’ll let you know how I get on.

[Gaviatrix]

Originally Posted by SteveAus

In my case, I seem to have an issue with how my car is recognizing my iPhone. It should recognize it as a phone with both wifi and Bluetooth connections. Unfortunately, my car is splitting the the wifi and Bluetooth on to two variations of my phone (with slightly different names).
I have called the BMW “Genius” at the dealership and will arrange to meet with him to sort out the issue.
In my case, I cannot delete both variants of my phone (I can delete one, but not the other), so that I can reinstall the iPhone properly.
Apparently, this is not an isolated incident.

Interesting, I wonder if I have the same issue as I've now had two updates fail to load. I got a message a couple of days back that the latest one, downloaded to my iPhone but not prompted to be installed to the car, is about to expire. I'm awaiting a response from the Connected Drive team to my latest email - my car goes in for service tomorrow so I was hoping to know one way or the other by now.

Last time, they told me I had to have driven the car for more than 100 km in one go to get the update to install. Last weekend I did two trips of c. 300 km, in each case without stopping, but still no joy so it seems that wasn't the issue ... I'm awaiting their next genius response.

[SteveAus]

Originally Posted by Gaviatrix

Interesting, I wonder if I have the same issue as I've now had two updates fail to load. I got a message a couple of days back that the latest one, downloaded to my iPhone but not prompted to be installed to the car, is about to expire. I'm awaiting a response from the Connected Drive team to my latest email - my car goes in for service tomorrow so I was hoping to know one way or the other by now.

Last time, they told me I had to have driven the car for more than 100 km in one go to get the update to install. Last weekend I did two trips of c. 300 km, in each case without stopping, but still no joy so it seems that wasn't the issue ... I'm awaiting their next genius response.

Yep, the “drive the car for a 100 km” is the standard response from BMW Australia.

Yesterday, I spoke with the Genius at the dealership and he advised me how to remove my phone completely from the car.
You can delete the Bluetooth connection easily by simply selecting delete.
With the wifi connection, you have to “ignore this wifi” on your phone before you are able to delete this from the car.
I’m hoping to have time to do this today and then reinstall my phone to the car.
Here’s hoping this will fix the problem, and allow the car to install the software update.

Failing this, the Genius said that he will come to my home when I get back to Adelaide.
He also said that he has reported this update problem to BMW many times and is very frustrated that the issue has not been addressed by BMW in Germany.
Although this doesn’t help us, he also said that there have been no issues with vehicles using iDrive8.

[Gaviatrix]

My car was in for service at Auto Classic today and I picked it up a short time ago. $1270 for a straightforward 4-year service with no extras, thanks very much

I'd grumbled about the failure of the software to update, and they told me on collection that they'd contacted BMW and got a code from them that allowed them to update it (without charge). Only thing is, I'm not sure if it actually did so. My app says 'No software Upgrade available' whereas before it said "Waiting to prompt download" - but is still showing 07/2022.58 as the current version ....! I'll give it a day or two and see if it updates on the phone but I'll otherwise be contacting them to ask what went on. It's more of an irritation than an issue at this point, but it makes you wonder what it will be like in a few years when they offer no support at all for older vehicles. I reckon my 1966 Land-Rover could end up being the only vehicle that works come the apocalypse!