I’ve been driving a 328i xDrive for the past six years without a single complaint. From long road trips to quick errands around town, I am always looking for a reason to take my sporty little Beemer for a spin.
As the car aged and the mileage crept toward 100,000, I figured it was time to upgrade to something newer. Another BMW, of course, since I wasn’t ready to part with the Ultimate Driving Machine yet.
A NATURAL UPGRADE
I found the perfect replacement in November—a 2023 330i xDrive with very low miles, priced to sell.
Everything about this car was exactly what I wanted: color, trim, options, wheels—you name it! I’ve loved driving this car even more than the old one. So what, exactly, has me so wrapped around the axle?
It comes down to these two things:
TOUCHLESS LOCKING/UNLOCKING
I think the car’s ability to lock and unlock based on the proximity of the key is convenient—very convenient. What I hate is when that detection happens while parked in my garage. The scenario plays out like this:
- park the car, go in the house, the car locks (beep)
- come back out for something I forgot, the car unlocks (beep, beep)
- walk back into the house, the car locks (beep)
This annoyance repeats as long as the key is with you. It gets even more annoying if you’re just working around the house—taking out the garbage, grabbing tools, or walking in and out of the garage for whatever reason:
- beep
- beep, beep
- beep
- beep, beep
- beep
Seriously—can’t this location-smart vehicle be told when it’s “at home” and safe to remain unlocked?
I know I can leave the key in the house to avoid all this craziness, but then I inevitably need something from the car and discover it locked. Could I also just turn this feature off? Sure—but come on.
ANDROID AUTO
This next issue is a much bigger deal to me. Here’s what I’m experiencing:
I’ll be driving along with solid cell coverage—four, even five bars—listening to music, a podcast, or an audiobook. Then, for no reason I can explain, Android Auto drops for a second, reconnects, drops again, and reconnects. This will continue through what appears to be a “dead zone”, even though my cell signal strength hasn’t visibly changed.
When I checked in with my master mechanic—ChatGPT—it suggested the issue may stem from driving through a high-interference RF zone. Mr. Chat went on to explain that wireless Android Auto relies on Wi-Fi Direct, and the area where my car has its “Android seizures” might involve a cluster of cell towers, a 5G handoff zone, or some other concentration of industrial RF equipment such as DOT sensors or traffic cameras.
In BMW’s case, the iDrive system immediately terminates Android Auto instead of recovering whenever my phone switches cellular towers, renegotiates data priority, or briefly drops Wi-Fi—even if only for a millisecond. While other car brands recover gracefully, BMW’s iDrive simply does not.
I’ve driven far less luxurious rental cars with a better in-car entertainment experience than this.
CAR BRAND vs. PHONE PLATFORM
This integration between car and phone is terrible and truly diminishes the BMW driving experience.
In fact, it pisses me off.
I know Apple’s CarPlay doesn’t have this same problem, but that’s not an option for me. Neither is going wired at this intersection of modern technology and modern automobiles. I will switch out car brands before I ever switch phone platforms if BMW can’t get this design flaw figured out.
How does this even pass quality control? Send those German engineers back to the drawing board!
By the way, my wife is an Android user too. She drives a 2022 530i xDrive—and she’s not happy either.
Is this really how BMW wants its customers to feel?