Software upgrade?

[bradbragg]

I've never owned a BMW before but was wondering about upgrades to idrive. If BMW decided to upgrade idrive to include better iphone support or added other features, would they upgrade the software in already sold vehicles as part of routine maintenance? What about if they decided to allow North American cars to have lift gate open and close with key fob, could they just update the software to fix this on existing models?

Just wondering how much updating/upgrades to expect after the sale.

[ictx5]

there are some simple updates that can be downloaded by the owner to the iDrive that takes care of phone updates... Major updates to the cars software done by the dealership. You can be certain that unless it is a safety issue, they will not offer it to you. You will have to be proactive and persistent in asking for it. On my 2011 F10 I have done a few updates thru the iDrive and had a major update done by the dealer that dealt with performance issues.

[wdimagineer]

BMW service departments handle updates in a couple different ways. Typically, they’ll only update your car if there is a specific concern you have that is fixed by an update. The update process is cumbersome and takes a long time. They try not to tie up their hardware during this unless it’s something that needs to be fixed immediately.

Of course sometimes there are larger campaigns that require updates. When they connect your car to ISTA (the diagnostic/programming/etc. tool), it’ll show whether or not your vehicle is affected and prompt to update.

Other updates are available at times, such as Bluetooth updates, which can be downloaded from bmw.com/update. You copy the file to a USB stick and it updates the car for you without dealer interaction.

Map updates also sometimes provide updates to things like iDrive, but it’s usually just map data that’s affected. These are paid updates and released annually.

If you have a dealer that you use frequently, try and strike up a relationship. That’s what I have done. When I know that there is a significant change I’ll call in a favor and have them update my cars. They do this as a favor (they are under no obligation to do so) but they recognize I am an enthusiast and sometimes updates are needed for various projects I might be working on involving retrofits, etc.

As for iDrive updates, etc. it’s hit or miss. As I said above, if there’s a bug or otherwise, it’ll be covered during routine maintenance so long as no hardware changes are required.

For things like convenience or market-specific changes, such as the key fob operation, they also might be covered. Or might not be. These types of updates are usually rolled up into bigger integration level (I-Level) changes. They’re usually not mandatory unless, as I said, there’s a specific concern you have or it’s part of a larger campaign.