Haven't you always wanted to log your road trip?

[jochen 4]

...I've been delving into the software in the BMWs a bit more and having some fun.

I can log and record, as I drive, all of the following:

my location in GPS coordinates every 30 seconds

my town name

my street name that I'm currently on

my vehicle speed in km/h

my engine RPM

my coolant temperature in degrees C

the outside air temp in deg C

and more...

...so that this means that I could go for a long drive, log all the data on a laptop, and then plot it on Google Earth to show where I drove. With a granularity of 30 seconds intervals.

Wouldn't that be useful for a Targa competition?

Or a club drive?

Or just to see how a car engine performs and how temperature changes with RPM and speed...

And it's all there, in your car right now!

(as long as you have the BMW GPS navigation system)

What fun can be had.....

I might show you all my software at the next club meet - I missed the last one unfortunately...

Jochen

[318Touring 40]

All fun and good. However to retrofit Nav to non-Nav car, a $7000outlay is required :-(

So, have fun when you do have one !!!!!

[jochen 4]

Yep, that's why I sort out a car with nav already fitted :-)

Edited June 1, 2007 by jochen

[bumpstop325 0]

I like the events/games you could play on there.

Officer, according to the car. It says it was only doing 99km/h. It cant of been me.

[allan 295]

If you are interested in Nav gear. Part No 65.90.0.390.844 it is from Nth America $2,785.00 US around $3820.32 NZ it is all new stuff with the 16.9 monitor screen.

[jochen 4]

If you are interested in Nav gear. Part No 65.90.0.390.844 it is from Nth America $2,785.00 US around $3820.32 NZ it is all new stuff with the 16.9 monitor screen.

Are you selling or are you advising everyone the US price?

If you are selling, what version is the nav? Mk1, 2, 3 or 4?

If you are advising the price, you need to include BMW-NZ markup. They tend to charge 2x to 3x the US price. So equivalent would be NZD $6,000

And remember, you need more than just the nav computer - you need wiring loom, GPS antenna, brackets, and programming...

[325GRANT 0]

why not just look at something like navman? it can monitor everything your car does, is a lot cheaper and can send and receive messages. plus you can do a stealth installation so if you car is stolen you all you need is a computer with internet access and you will find it in about 2 mins!

on lease its about $100.00 a month.

my 2c anyway

[jochen 4]

why not just look at something like navman? it can monitor everything your car does, is a lot cheaper and can send and receive messages. plus you can do a stealth installation so if you car is stolen you all you need is a computer with internet access and you will find it in about 2 mins!

on lease its about $100.00 a month.

NavMan can take up to 15min to acquire GPS signal and work from a cold start, BMW nav works instantly, everytime, regardless of cold or warm start.

NavMan cannot work in car parks, tunnels, under bridges. BMW can

NavMan cannot mute stereo, give directions through every speaker in the car, show data on instrument cluster, exchange data with trip computer, have voice recognition and integration with telephone system; BMW can

NavMan cannot integrate with existing LCD screen, or use existing car controls to set and program destinations; BMW can

etc etc etc

NavMan is standalone, BMW system is totally integrated.

A world of difference. You have to experience it to understand.

[318Touring 40]

NavMan can take up to 15min to acquire GPS signal and work from a cold start, BMW nav works instantly, everytime, regardless of cold or warm start.

........

Point taken :-)

I know about integrated sat-nav, they are cool (well very cool). However it's very hard to part with $7k when Wellington is quite small, and if you're lost you can always stop at the nearest book shop, covertly consult with one of the maps they have for sale, and on the way again...

What we need is those new car buyers to start specifying sat-nav when optioning the cars, so when they've traded the cars (thank you depreciation), voila, sat-nav in the dash without forking out $7k!!

Edited June 4, 2007 by 318Touring

[jochen 4]

Point taken :-)

I know about integrated sat-nav, they are cool (well very cool). However it's very hard to part with $7k when Wellington is quite small, and if you're lost you can always stop at the nearest book shop, covertly consult with one of the maps they have for sale, and on the way again...

What we need is those new car buyers to start specifying sat-nav when optioning the cars, so when they've traded the cars (thank you depreciation), voila, sat-nav in the dash without forking out $7k!!

Yup, that's what I have. My nav system was factory-fitted.

Do your street map books show you, visually, whilst driving, the location of all of the speed cameras in Wellington...???

[318Touring 40]

Do your street map books show you, visually, whilst driving, the location of all of the speed cameras in Wellington...???

Nope, I rely on eyes Mark I (already modded with prescription glasses) :-)

[entscheidend 0]

To me Navman and all those "on top of dash mounted units" are too tacky ...

I too would prefer OE as Jochen is explaining here.

But I did find this by Pioneer... looks classy, background colors can change to orange/red:

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v3/p...etailsComponent

Not sure if NZ can support it??

Edited June 4, 2007 by entscheidend

[hotwire 352]

As Jochen says - no comparison between the fully intergrated factory system & an on dash add on, the only benefit of the latter being that it is transferable between vehicles. The factory system blows the navman etc units to the weeds.

Again, as we have both proven - it is cost efficient to convert a vehicle with existing system but not so to install from scratch - hense buy car with existing.