The new "Hey BMW" will blow your mind!

[The Automotive Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by 530iDriver

The Audi live cockpit is ridiculously bright and distracting at night even at it lowest dim level. Common complaint about it over at Audi forums as well.

We're not discussing brightness levels. We're discussing overall functionality and the Audi virtual cockpit is superior.

[530iDriver]

Originally Posted by The Automotive Enthusiast

We're not discussing brightness levels. We're discussing overall functionality and the Audi virtual cockpit is superior.

It certainly is but if it becomes an eye sore at night, kind of it loses its edge, don't you think?

[clee1982]

Originally Posted by JayPichardo

I just got a preview of the new "Hey BMW" Intelligent personal assistant. The update will show up first in the 4 series and LCI 5 series and will be able to do things like open the windows and change the driving modes.

I am hoping this is something that can be retrofitted to the 2020 models via future software updates.

So this is like an always on "adaptive" almost

[The Automotive Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by 530iDriver

It certainly is but if it becomes an eye sore at night, kind of it loses its edge, don't you think?

Brightness levels at night don't effect or hinder overall functionality, customizability, or how nicely everything is laid out, so I don't think just because it's bright at night it loses its edge over equivalent BMW system. BMW's digital dash was very poorly thought out, especially that horrible backwards tachometer.

I have been living with the digital cockpit for almost three years now and the only system that completes is the one from Mercedes.

[The Automotive Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by 530iDriver

Mercedes is not even the shadow of its former self.

Mass produced and nothing special is what they have become. How the once mighty have fallen!

Mercedes once manufactured and crafted the fines automobiles in the world. You could tell a MB from miles away. Best paint quality, best sheetmetal, best fit and finish, best interior materials, best attention to detail in and out, safety, innovation. It was a car that had unmistakable presence on the road. Beside a Rolls Royce, a Mercedes Benz was a car to aspire to.

Modern M-B is nothing like that anymore. Just another manufacturer. People go gaga over their interiors riddle with creaky to the touch plastic interior trim pieces and glued in iPad tablets.

The decline of Mercedes started in the early to mid 1990s. While probably better off today they still haven't been able to recapture their former glorious self.

I prefer MB cars made during the era of their best slogan ever:

"Engineered like no other car in the world".

This is a real Mercedes Benz!

These cars used to outlast/outlive pretty much anything on the road.

And you think BMW isn't a mass produced product and is special? BMW and Mercedes have been going at each others throats for YEARS now to be top seller in the USA. It's been tit for tat. If anything, Audi has been the brand that doesn't really move as many units and would be considered more 'special' if we're measuring units sold out of the three German brands. Audi is trying to change that though.

These are businesses that have to scale and answer to shareholders. If shareholders aren't making money, they're not happy. BMW has watered down the brand so it appeals to a broader audience for a reason.

[AdamJ80]

This is fantastic. I hope it comes as an OTA update. I literally just asked the assistant the other day to close the windows. Spoiler, she directs you to use the controls in the door.

[LogicalApex]

Originally Posted by 530iDriver

Mercedes is not even the shadow of its former self.

Mass produced and nothing special is what they have become. How the once mighty have fallen!

Mercedes once manufactured and crafted the fines automobiles in the world. You could tell a MB from miles away. Best paint quality, best sheetmetal, best fit and finish, best interior materials, best attention to detail in and out, safety, innovation. It was a car that had unmistakable presence on the road. Beside a Rolls Royce, a Mercedes Benz was a car to aspire to.

Modern M-B is nothing like that anymore. Just another manufacturer. People go gaga over their interiors riddle with creaky to the touch plastic interior trim pieces and glued in iPad tablets.

The decline of Mercedes started in the early to mid 1990s. While probably better off today they still haven't been able to recapture their former glorious self.

I prefer MB cars made during the era of their best slogan ever:

"Engineered like no other car in the world".

This is a real Mercedes Benz!

These cars used to outlast/outlive pretty much anything on the road.

This is the result of consumers shifting to a lease platform primarily. There is no need to engineer a car to last forever when the customer is swapping them every three years when the lease is up. You combine that with a massive shift in consumers where they are now excited about cars as appliances and you can see the market pulling carmakers down this road.

[Germanauto]

Originally Posted by 530iDriver

Mercedes is not even the shadow of its former self.

Mass produced and nothing special is what they have become. How the once mighty have fallen!

Mercedes once manufactured and crafted the fines automobiles in the world. You could tell a MB from miles away. Best paint quality, best sheetmetal, best fit and finish, best interior materials, best attention to detail in and out, safety, innovation. It was a car that had unmistakable presence on the road. Beside a Rolls Royce, a Mercedes Benz was a car to aspire to.

Modern M-B is nothing like that anymore. Just another manufacturer. People go gaga over their interiors riddle with creaky to the touch plastic interior trim pieces and glued in iPad tablets.

The decline of Mercedes started in the early to mid 1990s. While probably better off today they still haven't been able to recapture their former glorious self.

I prefer MB cars made during the era of their best slogan ever:

"Engineered like no other car in the world".

This is a real Mercedes Benz!

These cars used to outlast/outlive pretty much anything on the road.

My father was telling me exactly this. A couple weeks ago my brother, who is just a year out of college, leased a C300 for like $300/mo. He said that at one time Mercedes Benz was the most esteemed car on the road, and when you saw one you knew there was an accomplished Physician, Lawyer, business executive, etc. behind the wheel. Nowadays kids can lease them for less than a Honda. We are certainly happy for my brother, but it really made us reflect on how far Mercedes Benz has fallen. It certainly hasn't affected their image amongst consumers; if anything they are more popular than ever. However for those of who know, we know.

Mercs are still nice cars, certainly a cut above most brands. But the quality is clearly not what it used to be. As you said, there's cheap feeling materials in the cabin, squeaks and creaks on brand new cars (my brother's included), garbage MB-tex.

I could rant about BMW's fall from grace all day, but I've done so enough on this forum.

[rlmesq]

Originally Posted by 530iDriver

These cars used to outlast/outlive pretty much anything on the road.

I loved the 300D diesel sedans in the eighties. Definitely not a performance car, but an incredibly comfortable luxury car that would go a quarter million miles.

[willjames]

I have the gesture control but turned it off more or less straight away...I had too, it was doing all sorts of funny things when I was sat in the car ripping the head off it

[530iDriver]

Originally Posted by rlmesq

I loved the 300D diesel sedans in the eighties. Definitely not a performance car, but an incredibly comfortable luxury car that would go a quarter million miles.

Agreed. Those things were amazing back then. Lovely solid feeling.

Engineered like no other car in the world. Best slogan ever!

[530iDriver]

Originally Posted by The Automotive Enthusiast

And you think BMW isn't a mass produced product and is special? BMW and Mercedes have been going at each others throats for YEARS now to be top seller in the USA. It's been tit for tat. If anything, Audi has been the brand that doesn't really move as many units and would be considered more 'special' if we're measuring units sold out of the three German brands. Audi is trying to change that though.

These are businesses that have to scale and answer to shareholders. If shareholders aren't making money, they're not happy. BMW has watered down the brand so it appeals to a broader audience for a reason.

BMW is guilty of this too.

But the fall of Mercedes for those of us who remember the old iron is just hard to ignore.

[Tacoma]

Originally Posted by 530iDriver

Mercedes is not even the shadow of its former self.

Mass produced and nothing special is what they have become. How the once mighty have fallen!

Mercedes once manufactured and crafted the fines automobiles in the world. You could tell a MB from miles away. Best paint quality, best sheetmetal, best fit and finish, best interior materials, best attention to detail in and out, safety, innovation. It was a car that had unmistakable presence on the road. Beside a Rolls Royce, a Mercedes Benz was a car to aspire to.

Modern M-B is nothing like that anymore. Just another manufacturer. People go gaga over their interiors riddle with creaky to the touch plastic interior trim pieces and glued in iPad tablets.

The decline of Mercedes started in the early to mid 1990s. While probably better off today they still haven't been able to recapture their former glorious self.

I prefer MB cars made during the era of their best slogan ever:

"Engineered like no other car in the world".

This is a real Mercedes Benz!

These cars used to outlast/outlive pretty much anything on the road.

This is off topic but, IMO, the "decline" of MB took steam around the time Daimler-Benz bought Chrysler in late 1990s and they decided to make cars compromised for cost to compete with everyone else. They really had no choice because by that time Toyota and Honda had equaled/surpassed them in quality/reliability while keeping costs down due to superior production methods (e.g., Kaizen).

The heyday of MB being "the best" was also the period when models lasted much longer. Today we deride Lexus for keeping the IS model into its 8th year, but back in the MB heydays, The SL500 for example, the R107 ran for about 19 years (1971-89) and the R129 ran twelve years (1989-2001). So they had time to perfect it, but today you can't have 10-20 year model cycles anymore as technologies become obsolete fast and people want/expect something new and have less patience to wait.

So, nostalgia is good, but those were different times, different challenges and standing pat was not an option.

[LogicalApex]

Originally Posted by Germanauto

My father was telling me exactly this. A couple weeks ago my brother, who is just a year out of college, leased a C300 for like $300/mo. He said that at one time Mercedes Benz was the most esteemed car on the road, and when you saw one you knew there was an accomplished Physician, Lawyer, business executive, etc. behind the wheel. Nowadays kids can lease them for less than a Honda. We are certainly happy for my brother, but it really made us reflect on how far Mercedes Benz has fallen. It certainly hasn't affected their image amongst consumers; if anything they are more popular than ever. However for those of who know, we know.

Mercs are still nice cars, certainly a cut above most brands. But the quality is clearly not what it used to be. As you said, there's cheap feeling materials in the cabin, squeaks and creaks on brand new cars (my brother's included), garbage MB-tex.

I could rant about BMW's fall from grace all day, but I've done so enough on this forum.

I am far younger so I can't recall those days, but were the market realities any different? I'd imagine they had to be to covet that perception?

Today, lease rates allow people to rent more car than they could afford. So they can punch above their weight for the brand allure and many do. But car leasing isn't new and has been around since the 70s and probably longer in the US...

How was used car prices for luxury makes back then? Is used car prices were fractions of their new car MSRP (which I imagine they were) you'd still have people in older BMW or MB cars that were unable to afford them at full price new.

Where I am going is there has always been a disconnect from reality on that front. If you're very affluent you still tend to get moved around in a Mercedes as the car your driver has, but that doesn't mean your car isn't being picked up for fractions less used.

BMW and MB low cost offerings are the same they've always been. Designed to get you into the brand so you can climb up later. Meaning you start with that CLA once you graduate college and get your decent job and hopefully a few years later you're in a C class and eventually moving up to an E class. They have no real choice but to do this as mainstream cars include more luxury features buyers wonder why they should go for a MB or a BMW when they can get similar safety features and luxury in their Toyota while retaining reliability and lower TCO.

[RSnic]

Well, I must admit that I have been following this thread LMAO & agreeing with most opinions.

My car has gesture control, BUT after several days of inadvertently acrewing up iDrive, I turned it off -- maybe some day soon, I'll figure it out!

The BMW Personal Assistant is OK, not great, BUT OK. While it understands some simple commands (like putting specific channels on SiriusXM), you have to get used to its idiosyncrasies (like using last name then first name, when calling or navigating). The enigma is why BMW doesn't just adopt Google's voice assistant which is quite accurate in picking up on what I'm asking??

Two really useful items. The HUD is an absolute keeper! It provides me useful info without me taking my eyes off the road! Additionally, I have the 8 preset buttons set up so I can get other useful info quickly-- like equalizer or by-turn directions

Perhaps, most useful voice function for me is ability to read & dictate messages -- but here too it's a mixed bag. My previous '14 328 allowed me to read & dictate BOTH Email & text; however, my M340 can only handle text messages-- ugh!? Up until a few weeks ago, it did a good job of that, BUT lately, sometimes messages are read in Spanish & system apparently has a had a hearing loss develop as I have to say replies several times

So, in summary, I think it's a mixed bag, BUT my car is an absolute blast to drive!!

[Burrcold]

Originally Posted by 530iDriver

The Audi live cockpit is ridiculously bright and distracting at night even at it lowest dim level. Common complaint about it over at Audi forums as well.

I've owned 3 Audi's with the Virtual Cockpit and I never found it too bright. So much nicer than the Live Cockpit on BMW currently.

[Germanauto]

Originally Posted by LogicalApex

I am far younger so I can't recall those days, but were the market realities any different? I'd imagine they had to be to covet that perception?

Today, lease rates allow people to rent more car than they could afford. So they can punch above their weight for the brand allure and many do. But car leasing isn't new and has been around since the 70s and probably longer in the US...

How was used car prices for luxury makes back then? Is used car prices were fractions of their new car MSRP (which I imagine they were) you'd still have people in older BMW or MB cars that were unable to afford them at full price new.

Where I am going is there has always been a disconnect from reality on that front. If you're very affluent you still tend to get moved around in a Mercedes as the car your driver has, but that doesn't mean your car isn't being picked up for fractions less used.

BMW and MB low cost offerings are the same they've always been. Designed to get you into the brand so you can climb up later. Meaning you start with that CLA once you graduate college and get your decent job and hopefully a few years later you're in a C class and eventually moving up to an E class. They have no real choice but to do this as mainstream cars include more luxury features buyers wonder why they should go for a MB or a BMW when they can get similar safety features and luxury in their Toyota while retaining reliability and lower TCO.

You haven't said anything I disagree with. I should clarify I was merely making an observation. The world has changed and Mercedes had to change with it. Throwing out low cost bargain models is how you capture those buyers once they advance in their careers.

In LA, once these compact executive cars become 3+ yrs old, they get picked up by anybody and everybody. There's a lot of shit heads rolling around in banged up old 3-series, G37/Q50s, and Lexus IS acting like they own the road.

[Game]

Originally Posted by Burrcold

I've owned 3 Audi's with the Virtual Cockpit and I never found it too bright. So much nicer than the Live Cockpit on BMW currently.

Yeah the Audi cockpit was perfectly illuminated in my experiences.

[B///MWGuy]

Originally Posted by Colinv6

I just don’t get this sort of feature in a car. Same with gesture control.


Literally you have to press one easy to use button and the window goes down. Not only that, I can’t see “hey Bmw” dropping the window 3 inches.

Just more pointless tech to distract us from the diluted driving experience and muted sounds of modern cars.

I find them extremely useful on long trips where I have to eat and drive -- dont want to press on things with my dirty finger.

I also think it keeps my car's touch points cleaner. Pretty great for time like this (pendemic).

They also provide shortcuts -- less digging into menus

[srbs73]

Originally Posted by Burrcold

I've owned 3 Audi's with the Virtual Cockpit and I never found it too bright. So much nicer than the Live Cockpit on BMW currently.

Personally I prefer the BMW system to my my 2016 Q7 setup. Although the Audi VC contained more info, it was really a duplication of what was on the centre screen. The HUD was decent but not a patch on the BMW one (I can't comment on the latest Q7 as it may have improved).

What like about the BMW system, is that the 3 screens complement each other i.e.
1) HUD for Nav and Speed info
2) VC for additional info inc Driving Assistance info
3) Centre screen for detailed info - what you generally don't look at unless safe to do so

[Fraggy]

Originally Posted by addbuyer

yep you’ve definitely got gesture control then

😜😝🤣

[Gregus330i]

Hey BMW, call mum mobile...
Car replies: which one of these contacts do you mean?
Mum Home
Mum mobile

I say "Mum mobile"

Car says "ok, I'm calling mum mobile on their mobile"

Yes, mind blowing indeed as the OP says