Baby BMW Forum banner

Professional Navigation a must have?

8K views 27 replies 22 participants last post by  fufty1 
#1 ·
Looking or order an M140i and can't decide if professional navigation is a must or not, I don't have it on our F11 520d family car and can't say I miss it.

Options I will be going for are...
3dr Manual in Alpine White
Comfort Access
Sun Protection Glass
Heated Front Seats
HK Surround Sound
Driver Comfort Package

Not sure if pro nav is worth the extra £16.50 a month on a TRL pcp deal.
 
#2 ·
If it were me I would spec it, and I wouldn't buy a used BMW without it. I don't like the small business nav screen at all.

Just my opinion and others will no doubt disagree.

Only you can decide if it's worth the extra. Maybe try both before deciding.

Rich
 
#3 ·
Like most things in life you wont miss what you aint had.
Standard nav works absolutely fine for me, having come from an e92 with no nav. I can see my music covers too using my ipod classic :band:
 
#5 ·
Pro Nav basically from what I can tell gives you Remote Services, Concierge Service and Online Entertainment options. As well as being a larger 8.8" screen, 20gb Harddrive, Touch Controller and a few other features sat nav, voice control features.

Anyway think I've decided against it and also going to go for Valencia Orange now.
 
#6 ·
Depends when you are thinking of selling it though as well.

I would filter out all cars on AUC without Pro nav before I even look at the list for sale and I imagine most will do the same. I wouldn't be without it, worth it for the touch controller and 20gb HDD alone.
 
#7 ·
As someone currently looking at used M135i's Pro Nav is not that big a deal to me. Far more important is Driver Comfort, upgraded speakers and Adaptive suspension.
But I'm probably the exception simce I don't give a crap about in car connectivity/apple play/wifi/online services etc and want a manual box.
 
#8 ·
Pro Nav doesn't appear to be a popular option when looking at AUC cars, more cars don't have it then do. Comfort Access and Driver Comfort Package are must haves for me, I cant stand our 2016 F11 doesn't have keyless entry and wish i'd added that option. I still think its crazy this isn't standard on a £30k+ car along with at least reverse sensors.
 
#9 ·
In an M140/240 you're dealing with enthusiasts.

I'd argue in this model it's the MOST important choice to have it.

You'll see a lot of ex-contract lease cars without it, as they were bought by lease companies to be as cheap on the monthlies as possible. But all privately owned cars of this marque more or less would have it, I'd expect.

Like the other posters, I simply ignore any car without it when looking.. Many will do the same. Someone looking for a 120d might not care, but "we" probably do...

Dave...
 
#10 ·
MEGAginge said:
In an M140/240 you're dealing with enthusiasts.

I'd argue in this model it's the MOST important choice to have it.
I am going to disagree. I think that in the M140i/240i the driver comfort package (because the options should have been standard) and heated seats will be expected on almost everything.

With regards to enthusiasts, I would have though that adaptive suspension would be higher on the agenda than navigation.

I may be biased as I think that BMW's navigation offerings are hopeless compared to dedicated devices or apps, and with the option being at a considerably higher cost than my 4k tv it was an easy option for me to reject.
 
#11 ·
For me I think it is essential.

It just looks so much better with the big screen and separates it from something like a golf with a crappy small screen in the dash.

I love technology and iDrive remains one of the best all round systems on the market, and I dont understand why someone can say the sat nav isnt good? I found it really good in my 2009 135 and fully expect it to be better still in my new car when it arrives.

The smaller standard screens look pathetic for a 30-40k car and really cheapens the feel of the inside IMO

I think many more people would take pronav if it didnt have all the online stuff as well - it is an expensive option just to look at it, you have to fully use its features to really get your monies worth.

It is standard now in M3/M4s so it will start to be more and more prevalent over the next few years.
 
#12 ·
I've ran the BMW pro nav system in my BMW's for years and never had any issue with the sat nav. Not saying it's better than TomTom or any other apps but I've always found it excellent.
 
#13 ·
Matthaus said:
I love technology and iDrive remains one of the best all round systems on the market, and I dont understand why someone can say the sat nav isnt good? I found it really good in my 2009 135 and fully expect it to be better still in my new car when it arrives.
I am not much of a fan of the navigation interface, plus it lacks some important features that I use regularly compared to a dedicated unit.

The interface is a personal opinion, and may be coloured by my decade or so using TomTom and Garmin, but I will run down a few areas I feel that the BMW Nav is lacking in.

1 - Routing is a bit strange at times. Every navigation system has it's own quirks, but some of the routes BMW's nav has guided me near home are a bit strange. All other nav systems guide me along the quickest route, the BMW system goes around the houses a bit. Not necessarily a major issue, but it hits your confidence in the system.

2 - No Speed Cameras!

3 - Real Time Traffic Info is useful, but it needs work. It needs to cover every single road. No point in just covering the major roads if it guides you into gridlock on a side road. Even on the major roads it can be a bit ropey. On the M25 last weekend it was trying to guide me onto the closed M25/M4 London bound slip road. There is no excuse for a RTTI system not picking up that closure.

Another thing that would be a good future addition would be a "timeline" like the TomTom devices. Being able to see exactly how long the delay is, and exactly how far ahead of you the jam is definitely helps. If it's a road I know well, it helps me figure out if the traffic jam is "predictable" or not and I can chose to take an alternative route before the traffic becomes even worse.

My complaints about navigation are not really BMW specific. Car manufacturers have been playing catchup to the handsets and apps for a while.
 
#14 ·
Have the old pro nav system in an E87 the only reason I would recommend it was a way to get a monitor for the iPod integration kit. The family e90 has a TomTom which comes with it's own 4G sim for free lifetime real-time traffic data. It also has speed camera location and postcodes and all £800 less than the E87. The new 1ers come with a screen, I would just take the option to connect an iPhone and browse the music on there and buy a £200 TomTom...
 
#16 ·
I had BusNav on my previous car and ProNav on this and I'd agree: once you have it, for the upgrade cost, you'll not want to go back. I make use of the ability to display three different graphics at the same time e.g. a high-level N plan view, plus a near-scale directional view on the main display and then a junction diagram on the instrument cluster. If I'm on my own and navigating to a new destination, I make use of all three. Particularly valuable on holidays abroad when driving through an unfamiliar city/town.
 
#17 ·
As an alternative point of view.

No it's not. At all.

The standard offering is great and I have no regrets at all on spending the circa £900 on much more worthwhile stuff... A lot of people saying 'absolutely essential' are trying to justify the massive spend in their own heads if you ask me. (Caveat. Am sure this doesn't apply to anyone on this forum 😉)
 
#18 ·
Didn't spec it either. Played with it on the demo on my test drive and then, before ordering, sat and played with business nav in another car. It didn't really seem worth the extra IMO. Maybe if i was in the car travelling here, there and everywhere, then maybe. I though the £ could be better spent on an MPE. :D

Then again, if i was looking as a used buy, i wouldn't be worried about Pro Nav either. Heated seats, PDC, HK - yes, Pro Nav over standard I could live without.
 
#20 ·
I thought ProNav also included a 3-year subscription to BMW Connected Drive as well (versus no subscription with BusNav)? I think the subscription is £60/year? so knock off £180. I appreciate this just begs the question of whether CD is worth it (automated 'in car' map updates and Europe USB stick manual updates probably being the main thing) ...... There may be variation in whether this is/isn't the case depending on country and model/year.
 
#21 ·
msej449 said:
I thought ProNav also included a 3-year subscription to BMW Connected Drive as well (versus no subscription with BusNav)? I think the subscription is £60/year? so knock off £180.
Plus a year's Deezer subscription (£160 a year) so knock off £340.
 
#23 ·
Saurav said:
I would go for the pro nav simply because i think the smaller one looks weird lol. The widescreen pro nav looks perfect, plus i think the new ones come with spotify app support!
Im just specing my m140i and reading right through this thread had remained on the 'not important to me' side, many other options I personally think are more important for that kind of money (HK, heated seats, adaptive suspension, sunroof).... until Spotify app support was mentioned. Better control of media whilst driving would be awesome. Anybody using this feature? Any good?
 
#24 ·
Found another thread on this and sounds like its pretty good for playing stuff on saved playlists. So I guess a better question for me is how difficult is it in comparison to use Spotify through the standard nav system? Assume you can press play on a playlist when setting off and then skip tracks using buttons on the wheel? If you get a call anyone know if you can easily resume playing without touching your phone?

If not I may be tempted with yet another expensive option!
 
#25 ·
As others have said, it's the first thing I put on my must have list. It makes a huge difference to the look of the cabin imo, combined with the black panel display etc.

Feature set is fairly significant over the business system as well (hard drive, 3D maps, Apps integration etc)
 
#26 ·
I've been using Spotify with the pro nav on my M140i and my Android phone and it works pretty well. Got in my car today, phone connected via bluetooth and the Spotify icon appeared in the media list after a few seconds. It took a few seconds more before clicking the button with the idrive controller actually did anything but music was playing before I got out the work car park.

I have had a few problems though with the Spotify icon not appearing sometimes, and other times pressing the button caused the radioplayer app on my phone to start playing instead of Spotify but I think the latter problem at least may be a phone setup issue. It was like the radioplayer app was seeing my car as a bluetooth speaker and taking over instead of letting spotify have go so I think I just need to make sure that app isn't running when connecting.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top