218i 1.5 Luxury Auto 5dr Medium MPV

A fine car spoilt by the new iDrive system

The latest 218i has a new touch screen on the iDrive system along with new software. Irritatingly, BMW have included a feature which varies the screen brightness - on sunny days it is OK but when cloud comes over or you drive into the shade of trees/buildings, the screen fades to the point of being illegible. Add the fact that the new software features a smaller font for the satnav map than previous versions and you have a virtually useless screen! On querying this problem (no mention of the feature in the literature and the dealer was unaware of it!) BMW say this is to prevent glare but under these conditions you might as well switch the screen off!

On all other accounts the car is very good (this is my second) but I would seriously question buying another.

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