BMW ConnectedDrive Review – the apps

LOCKING/UNLOCKING

How many times have you walked away from your car and then wondered if you really locked it? Or, how many times have you gone back to the car by yourself to find that your partner has the keys? With Locking/Unlocking, neither of these issues is a problem.

Just select the option and use the slider to either lock or unlock your car. The control signal takes a good minute or so to go through, but it means that you don’t have to run back to your car to check it’s locked or stand to long in the rain while you’re waiting for someone with the keys to turn up. It also means that it’s no longer a problem if you lock your keys in your car, as you can just unlock it again.

Never again do you have to worry if you’ve locked your car, as you can send the lock signal from your app

It’s a staggeringly brilliant system and something that should be available on more cars. If you haven’t got the app installed, you can call BMW directly and get them to unlock your car remotely. This is perfect if you’ve managed to lock your phone inside the car, too.

PRECONDITION

Precondition lets you set timers for the car’s fans. The idea is that you can wake your car up and have it cool down or warm up before you get in it. It’s a great idea, although EU laws mean that the car’s engine can’t be started, which means the air-conditioning system doesn’t turn on.

EU law means you can’t set a temperature or turn the air-con on, but you can still pump in fresh air before you get to your car

All you get now, then, are the car’s fans pumping in air from outside. It can be useful on a hot day to pump some fresh air into the car, but the system feels a little hampered. Our car could have two timers set, which can be modified and adjusted in-car, too.

GOOGLE LOCAL SEARCH

Without a doubt this is the most brilliant feature of ConnectedDrive and My BMW Remote. It gives you Google Maps, which you can search and use in the same way as the default Android and iPhone apps, but when you’ve got your location, you can just tap Send to vehicle.

Google Local Search is much more powerful than any in-car address lookup

When you get in your car, your new location appears in Messages, and you can use iDrive to add it to the car’s navigation system. What this means in practice is that you can use the full brilliance of Google Maps to plan out your locations and have them all sat in the car waiting when you get in.

Sending locations from your phone to your car makes using the satnav even easier

While the car’s own navigation system is good, giving you full postcode lookups and Google Local Search, using your smartphone first is so much easier. This is definitely the feature we use the most and highlights the brilliance of integrating your phone with your car.

BMW CONNECTEDDRIVE APPS CONCLUSION

While some of the features are of limited use and the website a bit clunky, once you’ve got Remote Services enabled, the system is brilliant. Being able to find your car, lock or unlock it, and send locations to it from anywhere using Google Maps is brilliant. This is definitely the route that more car manufacturers should take.