I'd like to say yes, but somehow I doubt it. Getting them to fix anything (especially on previously sold vehicles) is a darn near impossible feat. I would like the problem resolved as much as you, but the pessimist in me says that it isn't going to happen. I do hope you succeed though.

 

The pessimist in me says no too, but the NY mobster in me says "IT WILL BE FIXED". The mobster always wins. Especially when my NY attorney gets involved.

Like I said, they have 2 choices:
1. FIX the problem so the Nav unit does what it was sold to do.
2. Refund my money.

 

Birdman. Best of luck to you my Long Island brother. But my money's on they don't fix the problem. If anything they may try and get you to shut up doing other things for you. That said good luck and thank you for fighting the good fight.

 

I think some very glaring examples (e.g., Birdman's Pep Boys) could be prove very embarrassing, and might just get some results. I think the key to complaining to BMW/Mini reps (and getting others on board) is to ask them to find something that doesn't fit well into the categories. It seems any 'auto parts store' fits the bill. We can call it 'Take The Pep Boys Challenge With Your MINI's Nav!'.

I plan to visit my MA (who seems passionate about Minis, and claims to converse with the big cheeses) and make him find the closest Pep Boys with my Nav. I just tried, and failed completely (there's one just a couple of miles away). I tried 'auto services', 'businesses', 'shopping - general', ... Grrrr.

ps. I intially tried 'pepboys' (no space), but realized from google maps that it should be 'pep boys'. Needless to say, it makes no difference to the Nav. The Lexus is really cool in this regard, as it only let's you type in letters that have a match in the database. So, when I tried to skip the space, it would not have presented a 'P' as an option for the next letter.

 

You'll get a lot more leverage if you can get BMW owners to complain about the same issue. Which models of BMW use the same Nav as the R56?

 

LOL again. MINI has heard idealism (or veiled mafia-style threats) before. Legally, the nav does function; it doesn't have to function to your ideals (not that I disagree with your position).

 

I'm cynical too about corporate responsiveness to consumer issues. But this issue is just so embarrassing there might just be a chance. Truly, I think anyone who takes the Pep Boys Challenge will be on board. If you are not, then please sit quietly on the sidelines.

 

And by what authority do you take over this thread and suggest we keep to your agenda or keep quiet? I am certainly entitled to express my opinions about just how much MINI will care. I know the nav's POI search sucks and I don't have to look for Pep Boys to confirm it.

 

Oh, geez, you're quite the troll aren't you? You have every right to be one. Party on.

 

Troll?

 

Not sure what's funnier...

Someone with 261 posts calling someone with 8396 posts a troll...

..or someone with 38 posts pointing it out.

 

LMAO

 

Personally, I vote with LynnEl -- navteq (the makers of the nav system for BMW and Mini) aren't reading this forum, nor would they care. You might contact their customer service to see if you can get any further. the chances of this getting updated are slim to none.

 

Sorry, I don't see where he made that point about navteq reading forums.

Agreed. My only -gentle- request (I did say 'please') was to not discourage folks who do read this forum and are annoyed about this deficiency from complaining directly to BMW/MINI.

And for LynneEl, since he asked, from Wikipedia:

Seems like a good way to get to 8396 posts.

 

Whoops -- my bad; I meant to say that I agree with LynnEl (a woman, perhaps?) that the chances of this getting fixed are slim to none. The navteq comment interjected itself out of order (Bad subconscious!)

By the way, LynnEl's posts have always been polite and enlightening -- definitely not trolling.

 

@LynnEl,

WOW! How in the world did you get well over 8,000 posts just since Feb of this year??? I've been on this board since 2004 and I've just barely broke 1,000. Wow!

@jmdor,

Actually, the MKIII and MKIV BMW/MINI nav system is made by VDO Dayton and not NavTeq (as is the new system in the R56 I believe). NavTeq is simply the map data provider. VDO Dayton would be the ones who would need to update the unit's firmware (at BMW/MINI's request of course).

@rkw,

The nav system in the new R56 MINI appears to be unique to MINI (i.e. it's no longer a BMW/MINI shared system AFAIK). However, I believe that the system is still made by VDO Dayton and shares its heritage with the new nav system in the 3 Series BMW's, etc.

 

Interesting. Didn't know that. The Nav does look very similar to my husband' 5-series nav, though.

 

ok, couple things to clear up here:

1. I DON'T CARE WHO, what company built the sytem, who developed the software, who did the testing, who consulted for who.... to build the Nav system in my MINI. I BOUGHT, and PAID big money to MINI COOPER. I am MINI's customer, and MINI will make ME happy, period. How they go about fixing the problem, whether it be themselves, hire a consultant, pay NAVTECH, pay SiemensVDO,.... that is MINI's problem. For me, MINI WILL FIX THE PROBLEM WITH THE PRODUCT THEY SOLD ME, plain and simple.

2. That said, I have sent emails complaining to: MiniUSA, Mini UK, My MINI Dealer (Mini of Hamptons), NAVTECH, SiemensVDO (maker of the hardware), BMWUSA, this forum, soon to add complaints to every other MINI and BMW forum I can find online(mini2, miniuk.....), and soon to be the NEW websites: www.MININAVSUCKS.com and/or www.BMWNAVSUCKS.com

The only company I have missed is BMW Germany (HQ) because I haven't yet found a good contact their. BUT, I am traveling to Germany next week, and WILL find one!! If not in person, via phone or email.

Maybe the website will be:
www.MINI-PEPBOYS-CHALLENGE.com

$10,000 to the first guy that finds PEP Boys, one of the oldest and largest Auto parts retailers in all of North America in the MINI or BMW Navigation system!!!!

Yep, me thinks this WILL be fixed.


Lastly, the reason many things like this don't get fixed, is nobody actually brings it to the companies attention. Like I said earlier, my dealer (sells BMW's and MINI's) had NEVER herd of the issue. Now that MINI has herd of it, with YOUR HELP (send emails and call your dealer and complain about it!!), they WILL fix it.

Like I said, it's either they fix it, or I get a refund. That ussually stirs up things getting changed. The system does NOT function as advertised.

 

Anybody know of an active BMW forum that might be having discussions about this (or is prone to do so )? I took a quick look at bimmerforums, could not find anyone complaining about this issue. I was surprised, since some folks have stated this has been a day-1 issue with BMW NAV.

 

Birdman, I don't mean for this to come across as rude, but what exactly is the advertised function you're expecting it to conform to? I'm just curious at which point you'd consider the issue resolved?

 

Dupe, sorry!

 

@pastabatman,

Well, it has only really been a problem since the Destinations+ search feature was added with the introduction of the DVD-based MKIV nav unit back in 2004. Before that, there wasn't even a way to search for POIs in the BMW/MINI nav system I believe. See this web site for more info on Destinations+ search feature:

http://www.bimmernav.com/why_mkiv.htm

While the link only applies to the nav in the 1st gen cars, the Destinations+ search feature actually continues on completely unchanged in the new R56 nav system.

All-in-all, it's not a problem with the firmware per se, but rather the way that the POIs are broken down into various categories on the map disc. If one could add an "All POIs" category (as I described above in my post about Pimp-My-Nav), then the system could indeed do just that (i.e. search for any POI within that one very large category). The only unknowns at this point are if the system can handle a POI category that large, and if so, the time it would take to perform such a search.

Birdman and I are working on seeing if it can be accomplished using PMN to re-master the nav disc with the "All POIs" category. I'll post more info as I find out if it's possible or not.

 

BTW, the last time I had our MINI in for service they had an information card available that was letting folks know the benefits of upgrading their map DVD to the latest version. On that info card, they actually broke down all of the various POI categories into sub categories so that you could use the card as an informational reference point to know what category you should actually be searching in. Thus, MINI felt it enough of a problem to have of put the work into creating such a card. That obviously shows (to me anyway) that they know there's a problem with finding POIs on the map disc.

 

Here's what the info card looks like:

 

Apparently you haven't heard of iDrive.

I'm in total agreement with problem, but I'm not holding my breath as to getting an OEM solution.
Kudos to Birdman and OfficeMaven if they can work a fix via PMN.