Test drive BMW 7 E65 E66 2001 - 2005 sedan

BMW 745LI

There are cars about which cannot be said on the moves what options are in them, and which are not - so there are a lot. BMW 745LI among these cars.
It is clear that in the car for $ 130 thousand with a tail there is a lot of things. And, apparently, in the BMW, in the company with the aviation past, they realized that if all the controls are removed in the form of separate toothpoles and buttons, it would be not a car interior, but a cabin cabin.
Thanks to the management center, the instruction reports, it was possible to avoid the use of an excessive number of control switches and governing bodies. The control center means IDRive. Idrive did not pass perhaps lazy. When we are talking about the new BMW seven, two -person users familiar with the topic are usually two: how do you like the car from behind (let's say it is better inside than outside) and whether it is difficult to get along with Idrive. We answer: you can live with idrive, and you can live in parallel with it without touching a magic silver puck.
SHOCK AND AWE. A person who first got into the place of the driver of the seven will probably experience shock and awe. However, in order to use the car for its intended purpose, you need to know very little: that the engine is started with a separate button, and the transmission is switched by the lever under the wheel. In the usual place, the control of the turn signals and the outer light. Adjustments of the seats, as well as their heating, ventilation and massage of the fifth point - on separate keys, as well as adjusting the temperature and blowing speed of a separate climate system. And the mirrors are controlled from buttons, and parking sensors, and heating the glasses, and the door blocking ... What else is needed?
   
To master all the BMW 745 Li is preferably, knowledge of a foreign language is desirable, although you can do without it if you keep instructions before your eyes. Idrive, installed in our car, offers communication in three languages: Spanish, French and English. There is no native German. As explained in the company’s representative office, the computer supports up to three languages \u200b\u200bat the same time, and this set is the most popular outside Germany, and German, with great desire, can be added. It is likely that already in 2004 the system will speak Russian, and both the new owners of the seeds and the old ones, they will simply have to drive up to the service station for a new firmware.
In the meantime, we can choose between three non -native languages \u200b\u200band only through Idrive. The principle of action is simple. You have a silver puck at your fingertips. Ahead, between the driver's and passenger seats, and the same - from behind. The second controller is an option that is paired with an additional liquid crystal monitor. The IDRive control in the back gives, among other things, the ability to watch TV, find out the current fuel consumption and program the climatic setting timer: which hour to warm up or, conversely, to ventilate the interior.
By the way, the driver can turn off the rear controller so that the passengers do not indulge, but no particularly important functions are not concentrated in it. It’s not that you can’t turn off the stabilization system through it, the deadline for replacing the brake fluid - and it will not be able to find out the rear passenger without addressing the driver. Complete freedom of choice is given only to the front riders.
How alive. As already mentioned, Idrive was created in order to somehow streamline the management of numerous functions. They are grouped according to the sections highlighted on the main page - the so -called coordination menu. Moving the puck in one of the directions, we fall into the desired section. Put the disk to the left - we get into the climate. Immediately collide with one small problem: the menu is displayed with some late-in the range, and if you decided that the system did not understand you, and you will perform some other actions by the controller, you will achieve the opposite effect: they will begin on the screen quickly replace each other with various pages. So there is no need to rush.
When working with Idrive, an unusual sensation arises: the washer is like a living. It can calmly spin, or it can resist, clicking the menu items. If you put through an IDRive the temperature supplied by a climate installation in the chest area, to the maximum and continue to twist the puck, you will feel resistance. They twisted the controller for half a turn-and only you let him go, he will return half a turnover ago. They twisted it into several revolutions - it will spin in the opposite direction for a couple of seconds!
On all four sides. If you place the units of the main (coordination) menu on the cardinal points, then in the West, as we have already reminded, the climate will turn out to be, in the north-west-BMW Assist, in the north-communication, in the north-east, in the east, in the east -Navigation, in the southeast-help (tips on the menu), in the south-entertainment, in the southwest-installations. We list some opportunities presented through IDRive.
In the climate, you can set the intensity of blowing the front passengers in various zones: legs, chest, head. In the latter case, the stream prudently blows on the very head, but on the frontal and lateral glass. In principle, there is something similar in any car with air conditioning. But a really interesting feature is the distribution of heating the front seats between the back and, so to speak, a chair. Moreover, the heating itself is turned on separately, and through IDRive only heat distribution is regulated.
   
In the settings group, you can follow the tire pressure (the data is displayed on the monitor) or set the rigidity of shock absorbers. At every turning on, they automatically become in position of comfort, you can set a sports regime. In the same section - the choice of languages \u200b\u200band units of measurement: air temperature can be measured both Celsius and Fahrenheit, and fuel consumption - both in liters per 100 km and in miles on Gallon ???.
Perhaps the most offensive-we have already noted this-that the installations are buried in the installation-turning off of the DSC stabilization system: if you leave this section, the electronic limiter will not be able to return it quickly. True, after you drown out the motor and start again, the DSC is activated by itself.
Immediately, in the settings, you can program one of the unoccupied keys on the steering wheel-for example, assign it to the function of turning on-off automatic retention: at the traffic light, the car itself will become on the parking brake, riding the need to hold the pedal with a foot, and when touched-itself-itself Feel off parking.
The Bort Data section will talk about the systems requiring verification and the recommended deadlines for visiting the service station. Here you can also set a speed limit: when you reach the value you set, the warning will light up and the sound signal will be heard.
Communications will help you, having one SIM card in your hands, speak on a mobile phone (at your disposal two tubes and a HANDS-FREE system) and read-write short text messages that will be displayed on the central display.
Unfortunately, two sections of the menu in Russia do not work. This is BMW Assist (Assistance in the accident, BMW news, road information and more) and navigation - road guide. So far, only European. We still have regime problems with accurate electronic cards. Nothing to do about. We choose a car. But the homeland is not.
Text and photo Sergey Sherestnikov
Costs (March 15-April 15)
Mileage city/highway - 1400 km
Gasoline A-98 (250 l) $ 105
Moika $ 40
Washing liquid $ 20
Total $ 165

 

Source: "Autopilot"