JBLover

I agree, the NAV is crap. I need to at least get the update disc if it is not too pricey because mine gives terrible directions. As caddyowner said, the ecru is a great looking interior, but I have kids and it got scuffed and dirty easy. Now I have black and it holds up much bettter, other than it shows dust a lot easier.

davelex

I wouldn't call the nav crap. It's a 5+ year old design. That's an eternity with the current pace of electronics development.

Mine generally works pretty well and I'm sometimes suprised at how nearly current the maps are. I'm sure in 2006 this would have been considered state-of-the-art.

AlexusAnja

Interesting the Dealer has been in business since 1989 and can't seem to know what they're selling...

As for the BT slow to connect and disconnect. I don't find the disconnect an issue, the connect seems "slow" because it doesn't start audio from the beginning with all the ringing but at point where the line connects. So, you always miss the "hello" from people the first 1 second before audio comes on. That I find stinks because I always have to go "hello, who is this?" making it seem like I'm hard of hearing because person already said who they are.

caddyowner

I have a HTC Incredible phone and it's a crapshoot whether the BT will connect when I start the car. About 50% of the time it pairs right away. Sometimes it will fail to pair and then succeed a couple minutes later. Other times I have to toggle the BT on the phone off/on for it to pair. My old Samsung dumb phone paired each time, every time. Thankfully, my Samsung directory is still in the car's memory, since the car won't upload the directory from my Android phone.

Ty419

That's weird. I don't have any of these Bluetooth issues. Mine works great.

Caddyowner, there is an app in the market called "bluetooth file transfer" that will allow you to send your contacts via bluetooth to the car. I don't know why it isn't built in to Android, but the app works quite well.

CarGuy89

Unlike most of the members here, I really like the Bluetooth, nav, and voice activation. Bt works great with my iPhone 4. It always instantly connects and does as it should. Calling someone else is a bit odd, as there is no ringing. Once the other person picks up, they can hear me perfectly and I can hear them very clear (though admittedly the newer systems in BMWs are much better). I've never had a problem with incoming calls, car always picks them up and displays on the screen. The 'Achilles heel' to the system is that it doesn't show the name of the contact (nor can I add anyone), just the number. Unless you have all your contacts' numbers memorized, it could take a few mins to figure out who you're talking to.

Nav works great for me. It always manages to find the right place for me and the estimated time is usually spot on (unless I hit construction or something like that). I really like how it goes split screen for upcoming turns and tells me how much distance i have before turns. IMO its better than any portable nav we have at home. I know that it's a bit annoying that you have to be stopped to use anything, but I can appreciate the safety feature as I'm almost always by myself in the car anyways. Finding a safe place to pull over and enter your destination is a lot better than rear-ending someone while looking down at the screen.

Voice activation is nice when you want to change the temp. Rather than finding the buttons, you can jus tell the car and it will do it for you. Commands like 'go home' are also nice if you want to enter your home destination while moving.

The ML sound system is pretty good for a stock system. It's definitely geared towards classical music, so if you're a fan of rap/hip-hop (like I am) you won't be as impressed.

caddyowner

Bingo! Thanks. It took some fiddling, but I got it to work. Once I got all the contacts to transfer to a blank phonebook 2, there were a zillion dupes. I deleted that phonebook on the car and created a group called "car" on the phone with just the single entries I wanted sent to the car. I exported the contacts again and transferred all members of the car group as a single item. Worked fine. I then had to re-figure out how to program my one-touch buttons as those must be tied to which phonebook you're using.

Thanks again.

airtime

Back to the original question of making air fail.....install a Data System controller, and drive at super low daily over rough roads and it'll eventually blow

On the BT, thanks for the heads up Ty419 on the android app. That will come in handy. Way better than me using an old Motorola phone to synch up the contact list and drop my sim back into my normal phone.

I never had issues with my cell synch with the car. Usually connect in about 5 to 7 second within starting the car. Only wished the audio was in stereo vs a single sucky speaker.