Z4 G29 Delivery Delays

[Argyll Andy]

My Dealer just called with an update; anticipated delivery has been brought forward to February from March, I can cope with that although I would prefer it to have a 22 plate but at least it'll be a 2022 model and without the mandatory speed limiter nonsense (I hope!!).
Touch screen confirmed as deleted, also a component of the Active Park Distance Control is deleted too although I'm not sure which bit, maybe someone else can confirm this?
£500 price reduction on delivery which might just about cover a full tank of E10...

Peter, good news you’ve got an update, even with Feb delivery it could still be a 22 plate March car, depends on when it lands/is registered.

Not sure what the parking deletion is as I haven’t been brave enough to use mine so don’t know if it needs any touchscreen input. I take it you’ll just have a normal screen to operate the iDrive by the wheel?

[ref]Rad[/ref], this was raised previously, here’s the thread with a link to an article

https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=131304&hilit=Speed+limiter

 

[blaster1956]

Hi Peter
Interested to see your Z4 is due Feb, when did you place your order? Mine was due October but then delayed until Feb/March but no feedback from the dealer yet.
Also, what’s the detail about a speed limiter as I have not heard anything on that topic.
Thanks
Rad

For info, mine ordered 8th September, currently showing last week of January for build, with delivery 1st week in March. Dealer doesn't have any info on Touchscreen deletion at this point.

 

[Russ Z4]

Im not going to even ask. Keep it a surprise. I may end up with a 1 series, who knows!

 

[ori]

M40i still has touchscreen.

Delivery time is all in flux and I wouldn’t rely on the estimates.

 

[blaster1956]

M40i still has touchscreen.

Delivery time is all in flux and I wouldn’t rely on the estimates.

Isn't PeterE's an M40i though, and it sounds like his touchscreen has been deleted

Yeah based on your experiences I'm not pinning my hopes too much on the dates I've been given at the moment, particularly as Austria could be heading for a full Covid lockdown (which may mean Magna Steyr having an enforced shutdown).

 

[PeterE]

Isn't PeterE's an M40i though, and it sounds like his touchscreen has been deleted

Yes, that's correct from what I was told verbally yesterday.
I found this the other day: https://www.autoblog.com/2021/11/05/bmws-losing-touchscreen-functionality/ but forgot to post here. And yes, with Austria now confirmed as going into full lockdown, unless they know a way of assembling cars whilst WFH then I'm sure production will be disrupted (although Johnny Cash claimed he could do it in his 1976 song "One Piece at a Time" :lol: )

 

[PeterE]

with Austria now confirmed as going into full lockdown, unless they know a way of assembling cars whilst WFH then I'm sure production will be disrupted

It appears not: https://home.magnasteyr.com/msathome/PUB/services/67_ENG_PIN.php

 

[q96169we]

it sounds like his touchscreen has been deleted

@PeterE, congratulation on your new car. Hope the dealer can deliver the car on time as what they've told you.

A different topic though, but I am just wondering whether I'm the only one here that don't enjoy the touchscreen and happy to accept the £500 off if BMW built my car without the touchscreen? Both of my BMW have touchscreen but I rearly use it. The iDrive controller navigates the system very well especially when driving plus the handwritting input do the job pretty well when I try to input some postcode (I never enter full address). Then, the "Hey BMW" voice input is kind of accurate if I want to find a place (e.g "Hey BMW, go to Wentworth Garden Center"). On the other hand, although I feel the apple carplay is designed around touchscreen operation, I only use the carplay for waze and playing music, which I set use my phone before drive off then never touch it. In my car, all it does is collecting fingerprint of my son after he found out he can control it by touching it.

 

[PeterE]

@q96169we: Yeah, to be honest I'm not too bothered about the screen not being touch-sensitive, they are as you say a bit of a mixed blessing.
My now sold MX-5 screen touch capability was disabled when in motion (a good thing IMHO) and the Mustang's is too far away for me to reach when pinned into the driving seat under hard acceleration :dizzy:, both had/have good voice control.

 

[ori]

I stand corrected. It seems touchscreen is gone.

I know a lot of you don’t care about about touchscreen, but I love mine. Especially useful using waze and CarPlay.
Also I would be concerned about it not being in my car for resale value.
Each to their own though.

 

[blaster1956]

I’m very much of the opinion that I want a car with a touchscreen because that’s what I ordered, do I actually need one, probably not. In all likelihood I will moan if the car is delivered without it, but I don’t see myself rejecting the car after waiting this long!

Very valid point regarding resale value so I will probably go the PCP route to lock in a residual value after 3/4 years.

 

[ori]

I’m very much of the opinion that I want a car with a touchscreen because that’s what I ordered, do I actually need one, probably not. In all likelihood I will moan if the car is delivered without it, but I don’t see myself rejecting the car after waiting this long!

Very valid point regarding resale value so I will probably go the PCP route to lock in a residual value after 3/4 years.

From what I can see, all zeds being manufactured now won’t have touchscreen. So if your car hasn’t been built yet, then you may have an issue.

With pcp. I always hope the car value either plummets so that I feel I’ve had a good deal or stays really high so I end up with equity!

These are “interesting” times with new car production.

 

[sars]

I wonder if the imminent Austrian lockdown will have an impact on your deliveries?

 

[q96169we]

Somehow, I think touchscreen is easily retrofitable as the HW difference is the screen itself only. I really don't think the head unit or cable loom has any difference. The SW difference can be overcome with some simple coding to the headunit. I really doubt that BMW branched the source code to develop a specific version for touch-less screen. If what I think is correct, then all it needs is a screen from somewhere (e.g ebay) plus a coding. Several years ago when I was driving a F10 520d with entrynavi headunit and 4:3 screen, I took my friend's F10 widescreen and put on my car for a try (we both are engineers so we both wanted to try ). With some coding, I managed to make the widescreen work on the entrynavi head unit.

 

[ori]

It won’t be cheap though? New screen for sure.
Regardless, you shouldn’t have to retrofit. It should come with the car!

 

[PerryGunn]

The idea of touchscreens in cars does seem a little odd - the UK Government are removing the loopholes regarding use of mobile phones in cars to stop people taking their eyes off the road. Surely an in-car touchscreen becomes just as dangerous as a mobile phone if you're spending time looking at the screen to touch the right place or swiping through menus.

I know that nav screens etc. require you to look at them as well but it just tends to be a quick glance - personally, if there isn't a dedicated button that I can press without looking, I have a strong preference for voice control when on the move.

 

[q96169we]

It won’t be cheap though? New screen for sure.
Regardless, you shouldn’t have to retrofit. It should come with the car!

Had a quick look at ebay, the screen is about £250-350. Obviously, pre-owned (either from written off car, or from stolen car ). Don't know how much BMW charge for a new one.
It should come with the car as what it's ordered and priced. However, I remember PeterE said £500 off for not having the touchscreen. At least to me, I think this is a fair compensation for missing a touchscreen. I think if you insist that you want the car with the touchscreen and don't mind wait for longer, the dealer or BMW should be able to fulfil this. Personally, I would prefer having the car sooner and taking the compensation for not having the touchscreen. Otherwise, if the car has already entered the production line, all the waiting for the touchscreen to become available ends up with the already built car sitting at outdoor storage without any care being given (especially when G29 has soft-top).

 

[PerryGunn]

Personally, I would prefer having the car sooner and taking the compensation for not having the touchscreen. Otherwise, if the car has already entered the production line, all the waiting for the touchscreen to become available ends up with the already built car sitting at outdoor storage without any care being given (especially when G29 has soft-top).

AIUI once the car has reached a certain stage the configuration can't be changed - I think this is at status 150 - as the vehicle is about to enter production. BMW don't build cars and then store them so they can retrofit options that are currently unavailable.

If you cancel/reject the car because of the lack of touchscreen, you'd have to wait until it reappears on the standard spec (or options) list and then reorder from scratch.

 

[q96169we]

AIUI once the car has reached a certain stage the configuration can't be changed - I think this is at status 150 - as the vehicle is about to enter production. BMW don't build cars and then store them so they can retrofit options that are currently unavailable.

If you cancel/reject the car because of the lack of touchscreen, you'd have to wait until it reappears on the standard spec (or options) list and then reorder from scratch.

My thought is (obviously, only my thought, might not be entirely correct) that once an order reaches certain stage (as you said, configuration can't be changed and the status code is 150), the production must go ahead as the entire production line nowadays is designed based on just-in-time concept which means a specific components for a specific car arrive at the corresponding position in a production pipeline just when such component is needed. Therefore, the production must go ahead even if the touchscreen hasn't arrived on time. In this case, the car will be logged internally as an exception so that further revisit is needed (e.g once the touchscreen arrives, fit it to the car). I think this is why earlier in this thread, people said the car has rolled off the production line but stuck at next stage for a while before released to carrier.

One widely covered news of similar situation is the Boeing 737 MAX. Basically, what it missed was the updated software and potentially hardware re-design at that time. However, the production line kept going for the remaining bit and once the aircraft rolls off the production line, Boeing stored the aircraft somewhere (in the news, Boeing stored many of them in staff car park :lol: ). When the missing bit is available (at the end, only the software), Boeing revisited each aircraft then resumed the delivery as usual. Although manufacture of car and aircraft may sound totally different, but the production line and supply chain concept (just-in-time concept) is the same.

Obviously for BMW, they end up changing the design (in this case, removed the touchscreen). You are likely to be right that BMW can not endlessly store the car for you and wait for the touchscreen become available again. Therefore, it's likely that you have to have to cancel current order and wait for the touchscreen become available again in the future and BMW rebuild a new car for you.

 

[The.Analyst]

I can’t believe that an external contracted out manufacturing plant will hold partly completed cars waiting for parts on a large scale, that they knew in advance were unavailable.

I would imagine the contracted nature of the relationship would mean that BMW would give them a clear steer on what’s coming up and what to do in those circumstances.

No bad thing to get rid of touch screens for safety / ergonomic reasons