Calling BMW drivers.Can you really trust.........

[mr.man]

your sat-nav to take you to any address listed in the countries section. Finland,Vatican City,deep into Berlin etc.
Who's done the longest route and how good was the system?

[Vixpy1]

Mine took me to Birmingham, and if it can take you to there, it can take you anywhere!

[Frik]

Shame you wanted to go to Brighton though wasn't it.

[Olf]

Yes. We I had no problems with mine. Set the country you're going to first, add the address and off you go. Belgium and France worked for me.

[StuB]

Went to Epernay recently and had no real issues, even with old business CD/Satnav.

[Gimlet]

I've done Home to Le Mans, onto Geneva, then Bologna, back up to Strasbourg, then on to Bonn, over to the 'Ring, then Brugge, before returning Home.
Also used it touring Germany, starting in Aachen and making our way down to the Austrian border.
No issues at all, even in some of the smaller places visited on route,the Prof System in the Alpina was superb.

I think the Prof System in the E92 335d I have now is even better.

[Dunk76]

The MK2 (1999 era) is actually pretty accurate given it's age once you've upgraded the lastest firmware and map cd.

It is easily confused by taking a different route or missing your turning - taking an age to re-route and it's not terribly intelligent either.

The D-TMC does have a habit of informing you of 19 mile traffic jams on the motorway just as you arrive at the back of the queue

I suspect much of it's a reflection of the age of the unit, but some the crapness exists in the MK3 & 4 units, and my mate isn't completely bowled over with the E92 system.

My wife's £150 TOM-TOM knocks them all into a hat...

[mr.man]

Thanks for the reasuring replys guys. My car is a 2005 X5 and only asked the question as it was really making hard work of some local routes I'd been trying it out on like directing me an extra 15 miles on a route I regulary use although I'd set it to "shortest route"

[Olf]

mr.man said:

Thanks for the reasuring replys guys. My car is a 2005 X5 and only asked the question as it was really making hard work of some local routes I'd been trying it out on like directing me an extra 15 miles on a route I regulary use although I'd set it to "shortest route"

Only ever really use fastest route. Sometimes use shortest or avoid motorways if I fancy an adventure.

[NickXX]

It is brilliant. I used it over Easter to take us from London - Paris - SW France - Geneva - Zurich - Nurburgring - Brussels - London.

Placed my whole faith in it and it never let us down. Even managed to look up the phone number of our Brussels hotel to give them a call prior to arrival. If you have a recent DVD, it shouldn't put a foot wrong.

I didn't have TMC working at the time - but I hear it is much more effective over there than it is here.

[Dunk76]

NickXX said:

I didn't have TMC working at the time - but I hear it is much more effective over there than it is here.

I only ever get traffic queue announcements, with very occasional speed limit and accidents.... nothing else.

I find the length of the jam feature is far more accurate that TrafficMaster on the phone too...

[Vixpy1]

I need to actually read the manual on my car and find out how to turn TMC on

[john_r]

Done about 8-9,000 miles in Europe and it's never put a foot wrong - even in a few very remote areas, i.e. everyone got out of the way on the assumption I must have been local mafia!

[Zod]

been to various places in France, Switzerland and Germany using it. It works just fine.

[Hedgeman]

I've only been as far as France, Belgium and Holland in my 335d, but the sat-nav has never put a foot wrong. The TMC is fantastic and has saved me from missing my crossing on more than one occasion by re-routing to avoid traffic jams.

[RacingTeatray]

Is the built-in system really worth the extra over an after-market job?

I have a Garmin jobbie that cost 200 quid, and quickly and efficiently directed me from London to the Finnish/Russian border (sadly it couldn't guide me the last leg to Moscow) last month via Holland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. And it did make me wonder whether a natty integrated screen was worth another 1500 or so quid. Sure, if money's no object, then why not but otherwise...

[x5x3]

We ventured to the south west of France this year - the only issue we had was that the TMC signal drops out for long periods (mountains I guess!) which did get us into some jams, but otherwise it was spot on.

[Hedgeman]

RacingTeatray said:

Is the built-in system really worth the extra over an after-market job?

It is expensive, but I do think it is worth the money. It's obviously a far neater install, with no wires trailing across your dash. The screen is bigger (9 inch) and split into two separate areas which can show an overall map in one and graphics for roundabout exits etc at the same time in the other. And of course you avoid the PITA with the portable units of having to remove them and all traces of them from your car each time you park up.

The only minor gripe I have with it is that calculating the route often takes a few seconds.

It should also make the car easier to sell. I spec'd my car pretty well, and the dealer said that leather/auto/sat-nav are the essentials most people want second-hand (though I would kiss goodbye to the money I was spending on my other options come resale time!)

Edited by Hedgeman on Tuesday 18th September 19:43

[julian64]

I threw my tomtom away as it is far inferior to the MK4 system.

I do live near the M25 and use it to travel to work every day. Not because I don't know the way, but because it knows whether the M25 is blocked/congested or not, and therefore when I get in the car every morning it will pick one of three routes to get to work depending on the traffic.

I have the advantage of being able to see the other routes on some part of the journey so can check up on its accuracy. Till now its been spot on.

The tom tom is useless to me from that point of view. I used to use the tomtom purely for speed cameras, but now thats on the MK4 there is little point in the tomtom.