
Reference
At a glance
Controls
Driving tips
Communications
Navigation
Entertainment
Mobility
Contents
The quickest way to find special topics is to 
consult the index, refer to page266.
Using this Owner's Manual
4Notes
7Reporting safety defects
At a glance
10Cockpit
16iDrive
21Letters and numbers
22Voice activation system
Controls
26Opening and closing
42Adjustments
51Transporting children safely
55Driving
71Controls overview
84Technology for driving comfort and 
safety
97Lamps
102Climate
107Practical interior accessories
Driving tips
122Things to remember when driving
Navigation
130Navigation system
131Destination entry
140Destination guidance
147What to do if …
Entertainment
150On/off and tone
153Radio
156Satellite radio
161CD/DVD player and CD changer
168Music collection
173External devices
Communications
180Telephone
193Contacts
195BMW Assist
Mobility
202Refueling
208Wheels and tires
225Under the hood
231Maintenance
233Care
237Replacing components
246Giving and receiving assistance
Reference
254Technical data
259Short commands for the voice activation 
system
266Everything from A to Z 

At a glance
 11Reference
Controls
Driving tips
Communications
Navigation
Entertainment
Mobility
8Instrument cluster12
11Ignition lock5512Buttons on the steering wheel
14Horn, entire surface
15Adjusting the steering wheel50
17Releasing the hood225
18Opening the tailgate/trunk lid31 7
Turn signals60
High beams, headlamp flasher99
High-beam assistant
*99
Roadside parking lamps
*99
Computer73
Settings and information about the 
vehicle75
9
Windshield wipers61
Rain sensor
*61
Sports Wagon:
Rear window wiper62
10Switching the ignition on/off and 
starting/stopping the engine55
Telephone*:
Accepting and ending a call; dial-
ing
* the selected phone number; 
redialing if no phone number is 
selected
Volume
Activating/deactivating voice acti-
vation system
*22
Changing the radio station
Interrupting a traffic bulletin
Selecting a music track
Scrolling through the redial list
Next entertainment source
Recirculated-air mode104
13
Steering wheel heating
*50
16
Cruise control
*62
Active cruise control
*64 

At a glance
 23Reference
Controls
Driving tips
Communications
Navigation
Entertainment
Mobility
Calling up functions immediately via 
short commands
Short commands enable you to perform certain 
functions immediately, irrespective of which 
menu item is selected, refer to page259.
Example: selecting the track of a CD
1.If necessary, switch on entertainment audio 
output.
2.Press the  button on the steering wheel.
Setting the voice dialog
You can set whether the system should use the 
standard dialog or a shorter variant. In the 
shorter variant of the voice dialog, the prompts 
and responses from the system are abbrevi-
ated.
1."Settings"
2."Language/Units"
3."Speech mode:"
4.To select the setting:
>"Default"
>"Short"
Notes
To operate the phone by voice, refer to 
page189.<
For voice commands, bear in mind the 
following:
>Do not use the voice activation system to 
initiate an Emergency Request. In stressful 
situations, the voice and vocal pitch can 
change. This can unnecessarily delay the 
establishment of a telephone connection.
>Pronounce the commands and digits 
smoothly and at normal volume, avoiding 
excessive emphases and pauses. This also 
applies when spelling out and saying a full 
word during destination entry.
>When selecting a radio station, use the 
standard pronunciation of the station name.
>For entries in the voice-activated phone 
book, only use names in the language of the 
voice activation system and no abbrevia-
tions.
>Keep the doors, windows and glass roof/
panorama glass roof closed to prevent 
interference from outside noise.
>Avoid ambient noise in the vehicle while 
speaking. 3.Select the music track, e.g.: 
{C D track 4}
System says: 
{{Track 4}} 

Controls
 111Reference
At a glance
Driving tips
Communications
Navigation
Entertainment
Mobility
Locking
To lock the glove compartment, use the inte-
grated key of the remote control, refer to 
page26.
USB interface for data transmission
Port for importing and exporting data on USB 
devices, e.g. music collections, refer to 
page172.
Observe the following when connecting:
>Do not use force when plugging the con-
nector into the USB audio interface.
>Do not connect devices such as fans or 
lamps to the USB audio interface.
>Do not connect USB hard drives.
>Do not use the USB interface to recharge 
external devices.
Center armrest
Storage compartment
The center armrest between the front seats 
contains either a compartment or the cover for 
the snap-in adapter
*, depending on the equip-
ment version.
Opening
Press the button, see arrow.
Settings*
Slide the center armrest on the driver's side into 
the desired position.
Connection for external audio device
You can connect an external audio device such 
as a CD or MP3 player and play audio tracks 
over the car's loudspeaker system:
>AUX-IN port, refer to page173
>USB audio interface
*/additional connection 
of the music player in the mobile phone
*, 
refer to page174 

Music collection
168
Music collection
Storing music
The music tracks from CDs, DVDs and USB 
devices can be stored in the music collection in 
the vehicle and played from there.
>Audio CD: tracks are converted into a com-
pressed audio format when they are stored. 
If available, information on the album, such 
as the artist, is stored as well.
>CD/DVD or USB device with compressed 
audio files: the entire content of the CD/
DVD or the USB device is stored in the vehi-
cle as an album. After storing, the tracks and 
directories can be deleted individually. Files 
are only stored in the WMA, MP3, and AAC 
formats. 
Tracks with DRM copy protection can be 
stored in the vehicle but cannot be played 
back.
Regularly back up the music data; other-
wise, it could be lost if there is a fault on 
the hard drive.<
Music recognition technology and 
related data are provided by 
Gracenote®. Gracenote® is the industry stan-
dard in music recognition technology and 
related content delivery. For more information, 
please visit www.gracenote.com.
CD and music-related data from Gracenote, 
Inc., copyright © 2000-2009 Gracenote. 
Gracenote Software, copyright © 2000-2009 
Gracenote. This product and service may prac-
tice one or more of the following U.S. Patents: 
#5,987,525; #6,061,680; #6,154,773; 
#6,161,132; #6,230,192; #6,230,207; 
#6,240,459; #6,330,593; and other patents 
issued or pending. Some services supplied 
under license from Open Globe, Inc. for U.S. 
Patent: #6,304,523.
Gracenote and CDDB are registered trade-
marks of Gracenote. The Gracenote logo and 
logotype, and the "Powered by Gracenote" 
logo are trademarks of Gracenote.
Storing files from CDs/DVDs
CDs / DVDs can only be stored from the 
CD/DVD player.
1.Insert a CD/DVD into the CD/DVD player.
2."CD/Multimedia"
3."CD/DVD"
4.Select the  symbol for the CD/DVD 
player.
5."Store in vehicle"
The music collection is displayed.
The tracks are stored and played back in 
sequence from the music collection.
Observe the following during the storage pro-
cess:
Do not switch back to the CD/DVD player and 
do not remove the CD/DVD from the CD/DVD 
player; otherwise, the storage process will be 
interrupted. 
You can switch to the other audio sources with-
out interrupting the storage process. Tracks 
from the current CD/DVD can also be called up, 
if they have been stored already. 

Navigation
Entertainment
Driving tips
 169Reference
At a glance
Controls
Communications
Mobility
Interrupting storage
1."CD/Multimedia"
2."CD/DVD"
3."Storing..."
4."Cancel storing"
The storage process is interrupted and can be 
continued at any time.
Continuing the storage process
1."CD/Multimedia"
2."CD/DVD"
3.Select the  symbol for the CD/DVD 
player.
4."Continue storing"
Storage of the CD continues at the beginning of 
the track at which storage was interrupted.
Album information
During storage, information such as the name 
of the artist is stored with the track, if this infor-
mation is available in the vehicle database or on 
the CD.
To update the database, contact your service 
center.
Storing from a USB device
To store music, a suitable device must be con-
nected to the USB interface in the glove com-
partment.
>Suitable devices: USB mass storage 
devices, such as USB flash drives or MP3 
players with a USB interface.
>Unsuitable devices: USB hard drive, USB 
hubs, USB memory card readers with multi-
ple inserts, Apple iPod/iPhone.Music from a USB device can be stored 
only via the USB interface in the glove 
compartment.<
1.Connect the USB device to the 
USB interface in the glove compartment.
2."CD/Multimedia"
3."Music collection"
4.Open "Options".
5."Music data import/export"
6."Import music (USB)"
Playing music
Music search
All tracks for which additional information has 
been stored can be accessed by the music 
search. Tracks without additional information 
can be called up via the corresponding album.
1."CD/Multimedia"
2."Music collection"
3."Music search" 

Music collection
170 4.Select the desired category.
5.To select the desired entry:
>Open "A-Z search" and enter the 
desired entry.
or
>Select the desired entry from the list.
6.Select additional categories if desired.
The tracks found are listed in alphabetical 
order.
Not all categories need to be selected. For 
example, to search for all tracks by a certain 
artist, call up that artist only. All of the tracks 
by that artist are then displayed.
7."Start play"
Restarting the music search
"New search"
Music search by voice*
For instructions on the voice activation system, 
refer to page22.
1.Press the  button on the steering wheel.
To select a track directly:
Say the voice command and the name of the 
desired track in one sentence.
Current playback
The list of tracks that was generated last by the 
music search or the album selected last.
1."Current playback"
2.Select the desired track, if necessary.
Top 50
List of the 50 most frequently played tracks.
1."CD/Multimedia"
2."Music collection"
3."Top 50"
4.Select the desired track, if necessary.
Albums
All stored albums, listed in order of their storage 
dates. Symbols indicate the format.
1."CD/Multimedia"
2."Music collection"
3.Select the desired album. 2.{Music search}
3.Open the desired category, e.g. {Select 
artist}.
4.Say the desired entry in the list.
5.Select additional categories if desired.
{Title …}
SymbolFormat
Audio CD
Compressed audio files 

Navigation
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Driving tips
 171Reference
At a glance
Controls
Communications
Mobility
Depending on the album, the tracks or the 
subdirectories of the album are displayed. 
The first track is played automatically, if 
possible.
4.To select tracks, change directories if 
needed. To go up one level in the directory, 
move the controller to the left.
Random play sequence
All tracks of the selection are played back in 
random order.
1."CD/Multimedia"
2."Music collection"
3.Open "Options".
4."Random"
Managing music
Albums
Renaming an album
The name of the album, if available, is automat-
ically entered when the album is stored. If the 
name is unknown, it can be changed later.
An album cannot be renamed while a track from 
that album is being played.
1."CD/Multimedia"
2."Music collection"
3.Highlight the desired album.
4.Open "Options".5."Rename album"
6.Select the letters individually.
Deleting an album
An album cannot be deleted while a track from it 
is being played.
1."CD/Multimedia"
2."Music collection"
3.Highlight the desired album.
4.Open "Options".
5."Delete album"
Deleting a track or directory
A track cannot be deleted while it is being 
played.
A directory cannot be deleted while a track from 
it is being played.
1."CD/Multimedia"
2."Music collection"
3.Highlight the directory or track.
4.Open "Options".
5."Delete folder" or "Delete track".
Free memory capacity
Display the free memory capacity in the music 
collection.
1."CD/Multimedia"
2."Music collection"
3.Open "Options".
4."Free memory"