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Tips & advice

What is BMW iDrive?

BMW’s iDrive in-car control and infotainment system explained: what it does and how to use it

BMW 5 Series long termer - first report iDrive

With in-car technology getting more and more complex, it’s important that the driver can stay on top of things without being distracted from the road ahead. This is the philosophy that has underpinned the BMW iDrive infotainment system for nearly 25 years, with the set-up allowing drivers to access and interact with a large number of the car’s settings with a minimum amount of fuss.

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iDrive works so well that it has developed a reputation as one of the best in-car control systems you can buy: Audi’s MMI and Mercedes’ COMAND systems have followed iDrive down the same path, and there are several more imitators besides.

But what exactly does iDrive do? Well, when BMW first introduced iDrive on the 7 Series limo in 2001, it created a system that put all of the cabin control functions in one place. There’s a central dashboard screen displaying information on navigation, audio and telephone settings, which is controlled via a rotary wheel that’s located next to the gear lever.

Initially, iDrive was criticised for being a little too fiddly – the rotary controller could move in eight directions, be rotated and be pressed down, depending on the required function, and several needed multiple movements to access, distracting drivers from the road to ensure they’d selected the right thing.

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But a combination of drivers getting used to the system, plus refinements from BMW to make things more intuitive (such as including shortcut buttons for frequently used functions, or voice control as an alternative way of interacting) meant that after just a generation or two, iDrive quickly became considered one of the best systems on the market – and it remains among the easiest, and least distracting, to operate today.

How does iDrive work?

iDrive has evolved over time and BMW has just announced its latest ‘Operating System X’, the tenth generation of the technology. Most current BMW road cars run on either operating system 8.5 or 9, paired with the brand’s large curved display screens.

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Touchscreen control is a much more prominent feature of modern iDrive than it used to be, but certain models, such as the core 3 Series, 5 Series and 7 Series, still include a rotary controller between the seats.

Similar to those early iDrive systems, this controller can rotate in either direction, be nudged forwards, backwards, left or right (although thankfully, no longer in the diagonal directions, reducing menu complexity), and be pressed down like a button to select options.

iDrive also allows you to use the top of the controller as a touchpad (similar to that on a laptop) for drawing characters, although in right-hand-drive markets such as the UK, the usefulness of this does depend on how dexterous you are with your left fingers.

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Surrounding the rotary controller are a number of shortcut buttons, taking you to commonly used menu functions like media, navigation or the home screen. In the 8.5 and 9th generation operating systems, these buttons use haptic technology, rather than being physical items like those on earlier cars. Some models still have a physical, rotary volume controller built into the console, though.

As well as navigating menus, the iDrive rotary knob can also be used for other functions, such as zooming in and out on navigation map screens, or using the up/down/left/right functions to skim across the map in different directions. It can also be used to select different camera views in models with 360-degree parking cameras.

BMW 3 Series - centre console

Then, of course, there’s the touchscreen. iDrive was originally devised as an alternative to using a screen, but now the rotary controller (where present) and screen work in concert, allowing drivers to pick their preferred control method. On the move, some drivers might find it easier to navigate menus with the controller, but at a standstill, prodding the screen may be quicker and more intuitive – if you don’t mind leaving greasy fingerprints on the screen.

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However, the rotary iDrive controller we’ve had for nearly quarter of a century will soon be disappearing. Some models, such as the smaller 1 Series and X1/X2 lines, plus MINI models that used to have a derivative of iDrive, have already dropped it from their operating system 9 layouts – and BMW has recently announced it’s ditching the knob entirely in future cars.

iDrive problems

Of course, technology such as iDrive won’t be to all tastes, but the latest systems should at least be reliable. Past versions of iDrive had problems with screens going blank, the sat-nav not functioning properly and the inability to read CDs. These faults were down to the connections between the car and the iDrive system, but later models use a different set-up that should be more reliable.

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If you go to a BMW dealer, they will probably charge a small fortune to get an iDrive unit replaced if you’re out of warranty. But there are a number of independent outlets that claim to be able to get your iDrive system working properly again through repair, although our advice is to only go to a recommended garage and preferably a BMW specialist, and only do so once your car is out of warranty.

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New BMWs should be easier to fix if you’re having problems, and you can expect your next BMW service to also include a software update to ensure all systems on board are working properly. 

What is the future of iDrive?

BMW Panoramic iDrive 5

At the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, BMW announced Operating System X, the next generation of iDrive, which will be found in the brand’s upcoming Neue Klasse vehicles – the ones that will replace significant model lines like the 3 Series and X3.

In the brand’s technology demo, the main talking point of the new iDrive was the panoramic screen, dubbed Panoramic Vision, at the base of the windscreen, with a head-up display, personalised functions (including for the passenger), and enhanced voice recognition.

But one thing was also notably missing: a rotary iDrive controller. It will not appear in future models, as BMW has found that most customers simply interact directly with the touchscreen now, while the increasingly online nature of BMWs often includes third-party apps, which aren’t optimised to work with iDrive (and vice-versa).

Improved voice control should fill the gap to some extent, for drivers comfortable with talking to their car, and as touchscreen size has grown it’s become a little easier to select the option you want, even on the move. 

That said, seasoned BMW owners have until now been able to operate commonly used functions while barely glancing away from the road (especially since the shortcut keys were introduced), whereas full touchscreen operation will, even with the best systems, require your attention for longer than a purely tactile set-up.

When that happens, the old rotary controller will surely seem a bit quaint – but it remains to be seen whether future BMW operating systems will be quite as intuitive to use on the move without it.

Which infotainment system do you like the best? These are our favourite cars for infotainment and technology...

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