Bluetooth Preparation

It's quite a cool feature. It means that if you have a Bluetooth phone you can pair it to the car and your whole phone book will automatically be accessible from the vehicle. All of your calls are rerouted through the car speakers and it even pauses the CD player for you to take a call. It is very good solution being able to walk in and out of the vehicle and have to set nothing up at all. Now you may get this with an unofficial solution but what you probably won't get is the further integration if you are going for the professional sat nav and voice control. If you have the sat nav then all of your phone book is displayed on the 16:9 display along with a few other options (like top 10 calls, calls received and the ability to jump straight into your text messages and send and receive those too). With voice control you can speak not only the number to dial but also any of the entries in your phone book which is a whole lot safer than selecting numbers with the steering or radio controls.

In short - it's more than a wiring loom! ;)

Thanks for the advice.

So you don't need the sat nav or the comms system to make it work? You just need the preparation and a bluetooth phone?

Cheers SimonC

Yes, but note that not all "bluetooth" phones work. The problem is that "there is bluetooth, and there is bluetooth". Bluetooth actually consists of a number of "features", and not all phones support the necessary bluetooth features.

In order for a phone to work, the phone must support the bluetooth "handsfree profile". The bluetooth "headset profile" is not enough, and, for full support, the bluetooth "object transfer" ("OBEX", as I think it's called) must also be supported (this is for the phonebook transfer to the car).

Also, note that at least one cell phone service provider has (in the past, at least) supposedly "crippled" the bluetooth such that it won't work with BMWs.

For more info, see:

If you want Bluetooth for your cell phone, then get the Bluetooth headset for the phone, and you can use it around the house and your office.

And, the bluetooth retrofit kit is quite expensive.

R / John

I think the OP was talking about a new car, in which case he won't have to retrofit it. ;-)

For older cars, it's probably better to just get one of the in-car handsfree bluetooth kits (e.g., one that clips to the sunroof visor or something).

A hands-free bluetooth system (e.g., speakerphone or something integrated into the car) is much nicer than a headset, at least for in-car calls. It's especially nice if you have automatic stereo muting/pausing.

[ Yes, headsets are usable away from the car, and so might be a better deal because of that. However, the headsets-that-hang-from-your-ear might go flying off if you quickly turn your head while driving. ]

You'll have to check with your dealer. I can only tell you with any confidence with what I already have. I would guess that you don't need the sat nav to make it work but I'd check with the comms pack.

Enjoy your new five! :)

I agree. It is a wonderfully elegant solution. Now what would be cool is a direct link to your PC/music system through Bluetooth Class 1 (maybe 2) or wi-fi so that when you park your car in your garage you can download all of your tracks from your music system. Might need Bluetooth 2.0 to make this fast enough to be usable though.

While this would be nice, there are issues:

• Bluetooth probably doesn't have enough range (I know nothing about BT 2.0, though). Most people probably do not have their computer close enough to their car.

• WiFi has the range, but it's more complicated to set up (needed for security).

• Speaking of which, security is a big issue.

BMW seems to have got it right/better, as they don't seem to be using "0000" as the bluetooth pairing key (for E46's, at least, there seems to be a different key for each car). Yay. I've heard of reports where people have hacked into nearby (non-BMW) bluetooth-enabled cars; can you imagine having random unexpected garbage being suddenly spewed from your car's speakers while you are driving???

WiFi seems to be problematic. WEP is insecure, and WPA might not be a whole lot better. Both can be difficult to set up, and I'd hate to see what the setup UI looks like in a car ....

Of course, you can always hack together your own home-grown wireless solution.

Another big problem with this is the useful lifetime of any computer-related equipment. Cars tend to last 10+++ years, whereas 10 years is several lifetimes for computer technology. If a car comes with BT or WiFi, that wireless technology could be obsolete/near-useless long before the car is. It's kinda like being stuck with a car with an

8-track tape player. [ It will be interesting to see how long bluetooth will survive. While BT in cars is very nice right now, it could be non-useful (not quite useless) in a only few years from now. ]