![]() Adaptive cruise control and lane guidance worked excellently, and we experienced zero false alarms over weeks of driving. ![]() We've voiced some complaints with BMW's advanced driver aids in the past, but the i4's seem to have been refined to near perfection. How’s the tech? Tech is a strong area for this BMW. There's less traction from the tires than we expected, and while it's never scary or out of sorts, the i4 is more of a handful on tight roads than we expect from a BMW. Body roll is mild as you go around turns, but the i4 can start to feel a little bouncy and unsettled when pushed hard. The steering is quick and light enough to make parking easy but lacks feedback. ![]() It's quick, sure, but handling leaves something to be desired. While many of BMW's cars reward and excite when driven hard, the i4 isn't one of them. The brakes are smooth and provide plenty of stopping power, and the car allows for one-pedal driving, which helps recharge the battery and reduce driving fatigue in traffic (not having to constantly switch between pedals). You'll need to step up to the i4 M50 if you want a considerable boost in speed, but in general the car never struggles to keep up with traffic or merge onto the highway. At our test track, it sprinted from 0 to 60 mph in 5.3 seconds. It’s well suited to the new EVs.How does the i4 drive? The BMW i4 is great to drive up to a point, but it's not the sport sedan we were hoping it might be. ![]() Version 8.0 is a worthwhile iDrive upgrade, largely dodging gimmicks in favour of a combination of slick visuals and intuitive interaction. And the voice assistant stumbles over some simple commands unless they’re phrased in a specific way. The loss of physical heating and ventilation controls, including those for the heated seats, is a backwards step. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are supported, as is increasingly normal, but here they’re integrated in the best way we’ve ever seen – with maps viewable on the instrument panel as if they were part of BMW’s own software. You’ll be able to pay for parking or charging directly from the map, and over-the-air updates ensure you’ll always have the latest version. The factory sat-nav will learn your habits, anticipating the destination you’re heading to based on past behaviour – this works surprisingly well. Information is presented via pin-sharp screens, albeit with an excess of polygons. There’s a vertical menu system that makes as much sense on a touchscreen as it does on a scroll wheel. Whether you’re familiar with previous BMW systems or it’s all new to you, you won’t take long to get up to speed, as it’s so intuitively arranged. However you navigate it, OS 8 is easy to find your way around. But it’s our old friend the iDrive scroll wheel that’s the most welcome carry-over from the previous system, great for making adjustments on the move without taking your eyes off the road. Gesture control remains an option best ignored. You can go via the touchscreen, which feels the most natural for some interactions. You get to choose from four different ways of controlling various functions. No full-width hyperscreens here – what you get is a 12.3-inch instrument cluster and a 14.9-inch central infotainment display, seamlessly joined to look like one ultra-wide screen. The first cars to be fitted with it are the electric iX and i4, and the 2-series Active Tourer.Īs flagship infotainment systems go, it’s discreet. Underpinning the latest evolution of iDrive is BMW’s Operating System 8 – a new generation of processors, software, displays and controls. But the latest version of the iDrive information, communications and entertainment system – dubbed BMW OS8 – is claimed to be a significant step forward, and arrives on a wave of buzzwords: intuitive, intelligent, proactive, adaptive… But what exactly is it, and is it any good? It’s been a feature of BMW cabins for two decades, with regular upgrades in that time. ► New BMW iDrive OS8 reviewed► Debuted first in iX, then i4
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |