Reference
At a glance
Controls
Driving tips
Communications
Navigation
Entertainment
Mobility
Contents
The fastest way to find information on a partic-
ular topic or item is by using the index, refer to
page292.
Using this Owner's Manual
4Notes
7Reporting safety defects
At a glance
10Cockpit
16iDrive
21Letters and numbers
22Voice activation system
Controls
26Opening and closing
42Adjusting
54Transporting children safely
58Driving
76Controls Overview
88Technology for comfort, convenience
and safety
111Lamps
116Climate
124Practical interior accessories
Driving tips
138Things to remember when driving
Navigation
148Navigation system
149Destination entry
158Destination guidance
165What to do if …
Entertainment
168On/off and tone
171Radio
174Satellite radio
179CD/DVD player and CD/DVD changer
187Music collection
192External devices
196DVD system in rear
Communications
212Telephone
224Contacts
226BMW Assist
Mobility
234Refueling
239Wheels and tires
251Under the hood
256Maintenance
258Care
262Replacing components
273Giving and receiving assistance
Reference
280Technical data
285Short commands of voice activation
system
292Everything from A - Z
At a glance
11Reference
Controls
Driving tips
Communications
Navigation
Entertainment
Mobility
9BMW X6: upshifting or downshifting with
automatic transmission64
10Instrument panel12
13Ignition lock5814Buttons on steering wheel
15Horn, entire surface
18Releasing hood251 6
Parking lamps111
Low beams111
Automatic headlamp control
*111
Adaptive Light Control
*112
High-beam Assistant
*113
7
Head-up Display
*109
8
Turn signals65
High beams, headlamp flasher65
High-beam Assistant
*113
Roadside parking lamps
*113
Time, date, outside temperature,
Check Control76, 84
Computer78
11
Windshield wipers65
Rain sensor66
BMW X5: rear window wiper66
12Starting/stopping engine and
switching ignition on/off58
Telephone*:
Accepting and ending calls, start
dialing
* selected phone number,
redialing if no phone number is
selected
Volume
Activating/deactivating voice acti-
vation system
*22
Changing the radio station
Selecting a music track
Scrolling through the redial list
Next entertainment source
Recirculated-air mode, 119
Steering wheel heating
*53
Lane departure warning
*104
16
Steering wheel adjustment52
17
Cruise control
*67
Active cruise control
*68
At a glance
23Reference
Controls
Driving tips
Communications
Navigation
Entertainment
Mobility
Running functions directly with short
commands
With short commands you can carry out certain
functions directly, regardless of which menu
item is selected, refer to page285.
Example: selecting the track of a CD
1.Switch on Entertainment sound output if
necessary.
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.Select a setting:
>"Default"
>"Short"
Notes
To operate the phone by voice, refer to
page219.<
For voice commands, bear in mind the follow-
ing:>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.
>Say the commands and numbers 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
common 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 doors, windows, and glass sunroof
*/
panoramic glass sunroof
* closed in order to
avoid unpleasant outside noise.
>Avoid making other noise in the vehicle
while speaking. 3.Select the music track, e.g.:
{C D track 4}
System says:
{{Track 4}}
Controls
127Reference
At a glance
Driving tips
Communications
Navigation
Entertainment
Mobility
Procedure
1.Make sure that there are no large metal
objects or overhead power lines in the vicin-
ity of your vehicle and that you have enough
space to drive in a circle.
2.Enter the currently applicable compass
zone.
3.Press the adjustment button for approx. 6-
7 seconds to display C. Then drive in a
complete circle at least once at a maximum
speed of 4 mph/7 km/h.
If the calibration is successful, display C is
replaced with the points of the compass.
Setting right/left-hand drive vehicle
Your digital compass is already set to right or
left-hand drive vehicle to match your vehicle at
the factory.
Setting language
You can set the language of the display:
Press the adjustment button for approx. 12-
13 seconds. Briefly press the adjustment but-
ton again to change between English "E" and
German "O".
The setting is automatically stored after approx.
10 seconds.
Roller sun blinds for rear side
windows*
Pull the loop of the roller sun blind and hook
onto bracket.
Do not open the window with the roller
blind raised, as otherwise there is a dan-
ger of damage, and therefore a danger of inju-
ries at higher speeds.<
Glove compartment
Opening
Press the button. The covers open upward and
downward and the lighting in the glove com-
partment switches on.
To prevent injury in the event of an acci-
dent while the vehicle is being driven,
close the glove compartment immediately after
use.<
Closing
Press one of the two covers closed.
USB interface for data transmission
Port for importing and exporting data on USB
devices, e.g. music collections, refer to
page187.
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.
Navigation
Entertainment
Driving tips
187Reference
At a glance
Controls
Communications
Mobility
Music collection
Music, storing
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 drives.<
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 CDs/DVDs
CDs / DVDs can only be stored by 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.
Interrupting storage
1."CD/Multimedia"
2."CD/DVD"
Music collection
188 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 BMW
Sports Activity Vehicle 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 drives, 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 inter-
face 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"
Navigation
Entertainment
Driving tips
189Reference
At a glance
Controls
Communications
Mobility
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, select 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 operating the voice activa-
tion 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 a single 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
Music collection
190 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
that album is being played.
1."CD/Multimedia"
2."Music collection"
3.Highlight the desired album.
4.Open "Options".
5."Delete album"
Deleting a directory or track
A track cannot be deleted while it is being
played.
A directory cannot be deleted while a track from
that directory 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"