Twenty years ago, the first iteration of BMW’s iDrive infotainment system launched to a great deal of controversy and criticism. Remarkably, it wasn’t a failure, but a sign of the future—it’s hard to imagine a modern car without a screen in it. Thankfully, iDrive got better over the years, and so did the other screens. But the O.G. iDrive is back in a clip from BMW, where new cars talk like college kids back home for the holidays who argue with their bigoted uncles over dinner.
For fans of Pixar’s Cars franchise or maybe keen students of intergenerational drama, why not enjoy a 7 Series telling the all-electric iX that it’s “bullshit” without even commenting on that grille? That’s the point of this video, where BMW’s upcoming electric car describes all the things it can do that an old 7 Series could not.
BMW says of the video: “The night has come and it holds surprises at the BMW Welt. Two cars from two different worlds but closely related to each other. A firstly superficial bragging and mocking conversation turns into a lesson about development, interdependence and caring.” You know the Germans: so great at conveying emotion.
The iX, coded as female, says it “can provide natural and emotional interaction with a characteristic, attractive visualization” while the 7-Series argues that it “can drive very fast.” Then recounts the good all days of having a few too many liters of gasoline before both assume their places on the platform for BMW’s production car history for an, err, touching ending.
As well as making it seem like the BMW Welt museum curators are bizarrely careless about the displays, this gearbox-warming tale of intergenerational understanding poses the question: what do the other cars sound like? Will the 8 Series bridge the gap between the two in a future episode?
Of course, this is not the first time BMW has got weirdly defensive and hostile about the iX. Last time it was to customers. Is everything alright over in Munich?
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