While I was attending the L.A Auto Show two weeks ago, there were many things that I learned about the new BMW 7 Series. Some of them I have already posted on here, but there are some that are just coming back to me now. In a discussion with the Product Manager of the new 7er, I learned that BMW will only provide an electronic Owner’s Manual which will be accessible through the iDrive Navigation System.
This is the first BMW model that will get the electronic format of the troubleshooting and instructions manual.

While this is pretty cool and a step forward to savings the trees, I do see a few potential issues with this approach, so I had to ask: what one should do if the car shuts down or simply, the iDrive Navigation System won’t work?
Clearly, the answer was to call the BMW Assist, but we do know that some of us would like to try a few troubleshooting steps before attempting to call “customer service”. So, I do hope that BMW will provide an optional paper Owner’s Manual and foresee any potential issues or complaints.
4 Responses to “Did you know the 2009 BMW 7 Series will get an electronic owner’s manual?”
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bad decision i think, no paper manual? lol i guess they will reserve the paper for Hyundai manuals .
Even a PDF version would be ok. It would be available away from the vehicle without killing trees.
Jeez…. are they going to eliminate the flashlight too? Hopefully you don’t need to use iDrive to get into the glovebox.
Having spent a week with a new 7er (and yes, I knew that it came with an electronic manual), I can unequivocally state that this is a super idea.
You need, however, not to think of it as a document you would read like a book but rather that it’s available as context sensitive help.
I utilized the manual several times and it was extremely convenient since the system always pointed me to information relating to what I was trying to accomplish.