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My FiL has the Business Nav in his '53 525 and thinks its great. Yes it only has the voice and arrow, but when driving along can you really concentrate on your 3d map?! I'm not sure whether he has purchased the extra disks, but he has driven all the way to Italy using it with no probs. MiL calls it 'Carmelia' as she is the 'other women' in his life! DB
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Well, I ordered the car yesterday and paid the extra £350 so we shall see whether it is any good. Looks like the current version offers a 2D map as opposed to the Arrows only that used to be used.
What goodies did you spec (if any) Mercian? Were they worth it? What do you wish you added with hindsight?
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Well I ordered the car yesterday and paid the extra £350 so we shall see whether it is any good. Looks like the current version offers a 2D map as opposed to the Arrows only that used to be used. What goodies did you spec (if any) Mercian? Were they worth it? What do you wish you added with hindsight?
I added:
* Auto transmission: less lag pulling away than the 525d I tried (and the Merc E270 it replaces) and shifts nicely - in fact I preferred it to the 525d which I thought was rather noisy for a 6 cylinder, and I can live with the difference in performance;
* Visibility Pack (adaptable xenons with washers): superb - I think well worth it;
* Storage Pack; strapping, net, adjustable storage in the boot - very useful;
* Fully electric, memory driver seat (inc. steering and mirror adjustment): purely for convenience but even without it you can code the keys sperately with saved settings apparently;
* Dimming, folding mirrors; very good, but passenger mirror dipping facility when reversing gave up working on every occassion after the first week - apparently, it's quite a common failing so I'm not too chuffed about it; notwithstanding that, I thought it dipped too much to be always useful so can live with its sporadic nature;
* "Enhanced" ext/interior lighting pack - could have done without it to be honest but useful if you lose things in footwells often!
* Hifi Loudspeaker upgrade: better sound quality than standard system, but it appears the volume is actually limited to a surprisingly low level;
* USB/ Aux socket; for IPod.
* "2HH" wheels, simply because I preferred how they looked...
Went for titanium silver with anthracite linea cloth - I prefer cloth to leather, but it shows every fleck of fluff etc. Most buyers would want leather I guess.
Didn't go for sat nav as I didn't think it was nearly as good or as useful as the standard Merc system, and I don't really use it that much. Didn't have a phone system, as I will have a simple generic cradle and speaker system fitted by Vodaphone if I need it.
There's nothing I regret not fitting, as it's possible to go completely overboard - the auto boot opener might have been useful but apart from that nothing springs to mind.
Good things: comfort and ride, excellent handling, rear seat space, driving position (steering wheel rises when you turn ignition off to creat extra knee room getting out), performance, good turning circle, IDrive easy to set up, has lots of clever touches to suit your driving style but can be easily ignored as long as you don't have too many working toys through it, loads of room in the driver's footwell, park distance control excellent.
Bad things: will tramline quite badly over poor fen roads but nothing too drastic once you adjust - excerbated if you are used to front wheel drive but would be interested to see how run flats compare on a new Mondeo, slightly less room in boot than our V70, and visbility isn't as good with high shoulder line all round, bizarre left hand drive wiper pattern which is annoying more than anything else - can only think there was a good design reason, otherwise it's laziness, only getting 35 mpg at present so hope it improves once it loosens up, ditto engine rather boomy on pick up at about 1350 -1500 rpm otherwise very quiet, stop/start button an unnecssary novelty, FM radio tuning baffles me and reception is variable (eg Radio 2), intermittent working passenger dipping mirror, annoying phone cradle compartment in the centre armrest storage space that takes up room, IDrive screen can be turned "off" but still emits faint backlighting - annoying at night,
Very, very different to drive compared to a V70 and "harder" and sharper then the Mercedes but so far, so good. There overall experience far out weights the bad points - but no car is perfect I guess.
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Hi Mercian,
Interesting and detailed response, thanks. I have an Volvo S60 D5 which has very a very firm ride and I hope the standard SE 520 is better. If not, then at least it may be more compliant. My MD has a V70 which is pretty wallowy and when he drove mine recently he thought it needed a lot of steering input on the motorway. Can't say I notice.
I test drove an M Sport auto with a bigger engine, and ridiculous 19 inch wheels and to be fair it seemed OK on the ride front, but then I did not take it out on some of the truly dreadful Sussex roads nearby.
I was on a mission to keep the price as low as possible and had quite an experience trying to buy at a cost-to-change level that the company I work for would agree to. Eventually ordered through a dealer in Tunbridge Wells (not my most local one but certainly better - more customer orientated and willing to meet the deal I wanted). Good discount (excellent in fact) and good trade-in value. They have also bent over backwards to get a good delivery date. The other benefit of adding less goodies is a lower company ca tax level. I hate giving Darling / Brown every penny.
I went for the Bluetooth kit as it seemed safer than retro-fit kits (albeit very expensive at over £500). I also benefitted from the deal mentioned earlier in the thread which gets me the satnav, an upgraded Radio, CD changer and a few other bits and bobs. I wanted the 2HH wheels as well but felt it was yet another additional cost that was perhaps unnessasary for the company to bear.
Also chose the Titanium and Anthracite cloth. I have had leather interiors before but cannot stand the freezing in winter / roasting in summer experience that I used to endure.
A guy that lives in our village ticked virtually every box on the options list for his 520d (over £5,000 extra) and he was saying the other day that he hasn't the faintest idea what he has actually had fitted!
I also thought the start-stop button was a nonsense. The main benefit explained to me is no longer needing the big heavy ingnition barrel that you would have with normal key-start. Less metal to be near the driver in event of an accident by all accounts.
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I've just come across this after a Google search for BMW Business Sat Nav.
I am just about to put an order in for a 520d SE with the free Business Sat Nav & 6 CD offer.
How have you found the Sat nav? Is it any good? Would you upgrade to the full system if you had a second chance?
I've not used or owned sat nav before so can't really compare this to anything else.
thanks
Edited by Mart on 31/07/2008 at 13:01
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Hi Mart,
It is actually quite good.
I had a Tom Tom One (now passed to my wife) which I was always very pleased with. The BMW system is 2D rather than 3D which is maybe not quite as clear as Tom Tom but the other benefits far outweigh this small negative.
For a start I don't have to prise the SavNav off the window every time I fill up with fuel, stop for a paper, etc for security's sake. It is also great if you suddenly come across an accident / delay you can immediately reroute for a few miles to get you home in good time. I am delighted and certainly recommend you get it. Not sure that it is free though. Mine was £350 for the 6CD Changer and Sat Nav as a package.
In specific answer to your question do I regret not spending the extra to up grade it? Not at all, it works and is good value for money.
If I could make one suggestion about the car though, if you spec anthracite cloth interior it shows every speck of dust and all the plastics seem to mark really easily in day-to-day use. All wipes clean / hoovers up but it drives me to distraction!!!
I also specced the Bluetooth which is very, very good.
Good luck with the new car.
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It is also great if you suddenly come across an accident / delay you can immediately reroute for a few miles to get you home in good time
My TT does that as well.
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Thanks for your reply.
I tested a 520d overnight a couple of weeks ago and was really impressed with the car overall
The Sat Nav worked well and seemed easy to understand. The car's on order now, can't wait till mid October.
Thanks again
Martin
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I hope you enjoy it - a lovely car in all areas.
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