BMW Retired This Signature Feature After 23 Years

Lost in all the buzz about BMW’s dazzling new Panoramic iDrive, which will feature prominently in all of the brand’s next-generation cars, was the fact the new system will kill off one of BMW’s long-running signature features.

(Thankfully, it’s not manual transmissions. Those are sticking around in BMW’s M3 and M2, for now.)

No, sadly drivers will soon have to say goodbye to BMW’s signature iDrive knob, a controversial feature that’s graced the cabins of every Bimmer since the 2001 7 Series. The introduction of the new Panoramic iDrive system means the end of the iDrive knob.

Goodbye iDrive Knob

If you’ve been in a BMW in the last 20 years, then you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about. For the rest of you, the iDrive knob is a little rotary dial/button — typically positioned aft of the gear selector — that allowed occupants to control the iDrive’s infotainment screen. It controlled hundreds of functions, and yet it was — after a short learning curve — remarkably intuitive to use. Better yet, its tactile nature allowed drivers to keep more focus on the road. (Touchscreens force you to look down as you point and prod at the various virtual buttons, which is more distracting. Yes, there’s research on this.) In other words, the humble little iDrive knob was a rather elegant solution to a complex and dangerous problem.

Many other brands tried to copy the BMW’s rotary knob, but none ever nailed it like BMW. There’s a perfect weight and solidity to the iDrive controller. Not only that, but entire iDrive interface was designed around spinning and clicking and pushing. To truly appreciate just how good it was, all you’d have to do is go try all the terrible interfaces other car companies came up with in the early ‘00s. Some used overly-sensitive trackpads like you’d find on a laptop, which — surprise! — don’t work as great when you’re going 120 km/h on the highway. Other brands tried to just throw more and more buttons at the problem. Some cars put rotary knobs on the dashboard, almost like a joystick. (Awful.) Some went all-in on voice control (which, if you think it’s bad now, imagine how bad it would’ve been 15 years ago). Other automakers used a kind of hodgepodge of all these interfaces, which could make an afternoon job out of a task as simple as changing the radio station or inputting a navigation destination.

iDrive Controversy

In 2001, drivers didn’t yet know that touchscreens would take over their cars. Back then, the mysterious iDrive knob initially baffled drivers and critics alike.

“At the press launch of this car, journalists who’ve driven zillions of different cars without help were given a half-hour crash course in how to operate the 745i. Most needed an hour,” wrote the 2002 review from Car and Driver. The article went on to explain that, “Much of the car is controlled like a computer, particularly the 700-plus functions operated via the central rotary-push-knob iDrive system.”

MotorTrend spilled a lot of ink back in 2002 trying to explain how iDrive worked. “Working in graphical consort with a central LCD screen, iDrive operation is oriented toward the eight points of the compass,” the magazine explained. “To access the most often used primary functions — communications, navigation, entertainment, and climate — the controller is moved in basic north/south/east/west directions. Secondary menus — emergency roadside assistance, notification of vehicle maintenance requirements, a basic help menu, and configuring setups for the car’s myriad programmable functions — are called up by moving the controller on those respective diagonals.

Like other luxe manufacturers, BMW applies the term “intuitive” to this revolutionary, integrated on-board system. But exploring its total capabilities requires spending serious quality time with the owner’s manual — and any other human or electronic training resources available.”

Predictably, Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson ridiculed the early iDrive system for offering too many pointless options.

He did have a point. The earliest iDrive system was a bit rough around the edges. But, over the years, BMW refined it — adding a few more buttons, taking away some extraneous features — until iDrive was, in our opinion, the best infotainment system in the biz.

What Comes Next? Panoramic iDrive

Earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025 in Las Vegas, BMW unveiled a production-ready preview of its next-gen infotainment system dubbed Panoramic iDrive.

The control knob is gone. There’s a single central touchscreen, and no instrument cluster behind the steering wheel. Instead, a black strip along the bottom of the windshield is used as a screen; information is projected onto it, visible to all occupants of the car. Driving information like speed and range and directions are right in front of the driver. All the other screen real-estate is highly customizable. (We’re saying “screen” here but this Panoramic display is actually a projector.) But wait! There’s more. The steering wheel is an odd one: sort of an oval, festooned with buttons that light up only when necessary, and mounted on two skeletonized pillars at 12- and 6-o’clock.

As for software, it’s running BMW’s new Operating System X, which, like the previous Operating System 9, is built on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) software stack.

“Technology and customer preferences are changing more quickly than ever. The design of digital experiences and sound is playing an ever more important role,” explained Adrian van Hooydonk, senior vice president of BMW Group Design. “The new BMW Panoramic iDrive not only makes our vehicles smarter and more user-friendly, it also enables much more extensive personalisation, which turns every new BMW into a car that is very much the user’s own,” he added.

We’ll find out how much of that is hyperbole soon enough. Still, we’re going to miss good old iDrive knob.

When Can You Try BMW’s New Panoramic iDrive System?

“Starting with the first series-produced Neue Klasse model at the end of this year, the new BMW Panoramic iDrive will form an integral part of all future BMW models,” said Frank Weber, a member of the board of management of BMW. The first Neue Klasse model to land in Canada will be the all-electric 2026 BMW iX3, which is slated to go into production later this year, followed by the all-new Neue Klasse 3 Series next year.

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