Is ConnectedDrive a complete waste of time?

[anonymous-user]

[redacted]

[msej449]

BMW Connected Drive is prehistoric, sadly. On my 2016 M235i I have to physically cable the mobile up to get the latest Fuel Tank figure and to use TuneIn. It can lock/unlock the car remotely but can't tell me if the car is unlocked or locked. Although it can tell me if the roof is up/down. Recently, my wife was driving home in very bad summer thunderstorms so I tried to see where she was - 'cannot use location while car is moving' WTF? It does receive map destinations from the app OK and the remote lock/unlock actually works.

So I can't check the car last thing at night to see if I have to leave extra time in the morning to fill it up. I can't see if my wife is en route home when she does an evening meeting at work.

And to get my TuneIn internet radio stations (or R4 when I'm abroad driving) I have to: 1. Plug in the mobile. 2. Invoke the connected app 3. wait for it to load 4. scroll to the services 5 select TUneIn 6 wait for it to connect to the app store 7 OPEN the TuneIn app in the store 8 select the station on the mobile and 9 turn on the radio. And if I stop for petrol or a break, I have to repeat the whole process. Which doesn't work 25% of the time anyway.

Sorry. Rant over.

[craig1912]

On my 330e I can see if it’s locked and use tune in, deezer etc. without phone plugged in.
In the last week though it has lost the option to send destination to car- it’s just disappeared??

[jonttt]

I’ve been really impressed with it on my 7 series. It was a doddle to setup and I can use my Deezer and Spotify on it linked to my accounts / playlists etc....., have emails read to me, speak to it for directions / phone numbers etc.... the voice recognition is definitely one of the best I;ve used. It links through to destinations in my diary for NAV etc....

I’m not sure if you get the LCD remote with the 5 series but I used that a lot last winter to control climate prior to using the car and checking fuel etc.....

Its been 9 months since I set mine up and I;ve never had to touch it since so can;t even remember what I had to do other than thinking it was very easy.

[anonymous-user]

I have had it on two cars from new and not bothered to renew it. I think it is expensive for what it is and also unreliable. For some reason, traffic information has continued to work. However, mostly I find the navigation annoying. It is nowhere near as seamless as the likes of Waze or Google Maps. If BMW could sort the nav out then I would renew. To be honest, the lack of connected drive is probably better for security as it limits the possibility of a wireless attack via connected drive (VW had a major issue with this a while ago on their version of connected drive). Call me old fashioned but is everyone in such an emergency where they have to send their destination to the car nav from their couch or the bathroom? The unlock and lock features are so slow and even on a good connection it can still take time for the app to establish contact with the server. So yes it is a waste of time in my view.

[Fox-]

Super_G said:

I have had it on two cars from new and not bothered to renew it. I think it is expensive for what it is

It's £40 a year for the traffic info, and you get the remote services etc included. Seems fairly cheap?

[bmwmike]

Probably works better if you're bought into the iste ecosystem but generally car software is ancient in approach and execution compared to proper tech companies. Car makers should leave the tech to the mobile device makers IMO and the two sides should work to standardise on interoperability.

[Ninja59]

i only use it for climate timing tbh. having had a g31 on loan it was better than mine but not seamless.

earlier cars got bmw labs which is a pain to setup but has allowed mine to integrate much better with the stuff at home as bmw labs used ifttt.

[F355GTS]

Always found it works fine inc initial setup

[HARTLEYHARE1]

F355GTS said:

Always found it works fine inc initial setup

Same here, set up back in May and working as it should

[anonymous-user]

Fox- said:

It's £40 a year for the traffic info, and you get the remote services etc included. Seems fairly cheap?

It adds up come renewal time depending on what you want e.g. traffic, maps, bmw online etc.

[Fox-]

Super_G said:

It adds up come renewal time depending on what you want e.g. traffic, maps, bmw online etc.

All you really need is RTTI though.

[Eddieslofart]

F355GTS said:

Always found it works fine inc initial setup

This, on I Phone though. RTTI is accurate to the inch. Spotify/Deezer/Rainfall Radar etc. All spot on. I can lock/unlock, see if it’s locked, lights on, all things you don’t need, but use.

Show’s recent destinations, and i can see where the car is when it’s parked. Not sure what more you’d need ?

[Ninja59]

Fox- said:

All you really need is RTTI though.

Be careful different models and years had different levels, some early cars from memory ended up getting charged for the basics if memory serves?

I know mine I did not get charged for the basic connected drive stuff, like you I agree on the RTTI and have extended mine as well as BMW online so I can keep my IFTTT with BMW labs working (I also use IFTTT for other things like my Nest).

[PGN]

I found it was pretty rubbish with my old Alcatel phone but it works much better with my new Motorola. There's a list of tested/approved phones here https://www.bmw.com/bluetooth and some more info here https://www.bmw.co.uk/bmw-ownership/mobile/faq

[mikeyscott]

If it can do traffic on my E82 I’ll buy it.