New Configurator Online for BMW USA

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by MRCUR

It doesn't include tax & fees. (I also hope MSRP isn't what you pay!)

hehe no i dont because i always end up having to drive to California for a reasonable price

[Liquid2.0T]

I saw it yesterday. It's terrible!

[ssuene93]

Dislike it!! :

[drexplode]

Day 2 - hate it even more! Get rid of it!

[JoeyBananas]

It's like True Cars app. It sucks

[r20]

Originally Posted by Ian1973

already a thread on it. It's a crap design

I think you are being to kind to it.

[ASAP]

You would think that for a multi billion dollar company, they'd be able to hire a solid web designer... nope

The website has been trash for as long as I can remember and always has issues loading the configurator.

[NewM3driver]

it doesn't work

[RobC2]

Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com

I never find these online quotes accurate .. Every time i contact a local dealer their quote is ~200 over what BMW website says

Looks like their quote includes $3k down. That might be some of the difference.

[jpics80]

Originally Posted by RobC2

Looks like their quote includes $3k down. That might be some of the difference.

BMW always quotes payments with money down and without taxes and fees.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by RobC2

Looks like their quote includes $3k down. That might be some of the difference.

Since it asks you to put your zip code they should also include taxes and fees in their quote for a more accurate price

The price on the website is too good to be true, but then again that's probably their strategy to get you to go to the dealership

[OneRib]

Don't like it right now. It won't even hold the exterior color choice through the wheel selection process. Keeps defaulting back to white on the 540xi.

[drexplode]

sent an email to customer service expressing my complaints:

-text too large
-requires too much scrolling
-options and affect on vehicle picture bounce around too much
-somewhat confusing to pick the car of interest

[PhilH]

Another vote for "hate it". Huge text and excessive scrolling is the worst part, but there's plenty more to gripe about that just that.

Good thing is, in this section of the forum, generally most of us have already placed an order and don't need to use it!

[pharding]

Why did BMW COPY the Mercedes Benz Web Site quite literally and make it MUCH WORSE. There is broad consensus that the new web site is worst thing that BMW has ever designed or hired someone to design in the history of this great German Company. Immediately upon roll out of the web site, BMW Enthusiasts, past clients contemplating a new replacement BMW, potential clients clients were shocked that BMW held little respect for them and their time. WHY DID BMW COPY THE WEB SITE OF ITS MAIN COMPETITOR? WHY DID BMW PUSH A DYSFUNCTIONAL WEB SITE ONTO ITS MOST VALUED ASSET ITS CLIENTS, MOST OF WHICH ARE REPEAT CLIENTS? DOES THIS MEAN THAT BMW WILL NOW GIVE UP ON ORIGINAL DESIGN IDEAS AND INNOVATIVE ENGINEERING AND JUST COPY MERCEDES BENZ?

There are all kind of theories floating around that attempt to explain this bizarre behavior.
1. BMW just gave up on competing with Mercedes Benz because they no longer have pride in BMW as a company and its long standing history of design innovation. "It was getting too expensive to research and design things".
2.We ran out of ideas and our heads were not working well.
3. BMW is an international car company so they adapted ideas from around the world. From the Chinese BMW learned that copying your main competitor, even if it is blatant, saves money. From the Russians we learned the value of hacking our competitors servers and stealing their designs. From America and its astute businessman President we learned insulting the intelligence of your friends and allies is a great business strategy.
4. Copyright laws don't matter anymore.
5. Apple is going to enter the car business and we cannot compete with their great ideas and design ideals so we better just give up now rather than later.
6. BMW decided to be frugal and just copy.
7. BMW decided that the internet is over rated and resources are better spent elsewhere.
8. With the rise of populism in the Western World traditional German values and excellence are outdated.
9. BMW as a brand is pivoting to making cheap stuff and the web site was a good place to start.
10. BMW decided that it doesn't matter if its clients have a hard time researching extremely expensive German cars and what the clients think, those people will buy our products no matter what.


https://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/vehic...FUQvaQodYmkEHA

https://www.bmwusa.com/home.html?&or...FQmqaQodSS4JNg

[MalibuBimmer]

If you think the website is bad, you can experience true BMW trash with the BMW Connected App. Clumsy, unfriendly and counter intuitive, it combines the worst of the previous ICE and i group apps. (I know because I had them. They stunk, too.)

On the other hand, if you go through the tortures of the damned you can now unlock your car from the App if you repeatedly input your passcode. Before you had to call New Jersey and beg. You still can't locate your car because BMW doesn't want to let the owner know where it is. Unless you're within 500 feet of it, in which case it depicts where it is with 1500 foot accuracy. (The idiot who did this one should be promoted. Maybe run all the BMW apps.)

Maybe BMW will hire a new designer who doesn't come from a terrible design tradition. Oh, wait!

[DDD31]

Originally Posted by pharding

Why did BMW COPY the Mercedes Benz Web Site quite literally and make it MUCH WORSE. There is broad consensus that the new web site is worst thing that BMW has ever designed or hired someone to design in the history of this great German Company. Immediately upon roll out of the web site, BMW Enthusiasts, past clients contemplating a new replacement BMW, potential clients clients were shocked that BMW held little respect for them and their time. WHY DID BMW COPY THE WEB SITE OF ITS MAIN COMPETITOR? WHY DID BMW PUSH A DYSFUNCTIONAL WEB SITE ONTO ITS MOST VALUED ASSET ITS CLIENTS, MOST OF WHICH ARE REPEAT CLIENTS? DOES THIS MEAN THAT BMW WILL NOW GIVE UP ON ORIGINAL DESIGN IDEAS AND INNOVATIVE ENGINEERING AND JUST COPY MERCEDES BENZ?

There are all kind of theories floating around that attempt to explain this bizarre behavior.
1. BMW just gave up on competing with Mercedes Benz because they no longer have pride in BMW as a company and its long standing history of design innovation. "It was getting too expensive to research and design things".
2.We ran out of ideas and our heads were not working well.
3. BMW is an international car company so they adapted ideas from around the world. From the Chinese BMW learned that copying your main competitor, even if it is blatant, saves money. From the Russians we learned the value of hacking our competitors servers and stealing their designs. From America and its astute businessman President we learned insulting the intelligence of your friends and allies is a great business strategy.
4. Copyright laws don't matter anymore.
5. Apple is going to enter the car business and we cannot compete with their great ideas and design ideals so we better just give up now rather than later.
6. BMW decided to be frugal and just copy.
7. BMW decided that the internet is over rated and resources are better spent elsewhere.
8. With the rise of populism in the Western World traditional German values and excellence are outdated.
9. BMW as a brand is pivoting to making cheap stuff and the web site was a good place to start.
10. BMW decided that it doesn't matter if its clients have a hard time researching extremely expensive German cars and what the clients think, those people will buy our products no matter what.

Wow, relax man, it's just a build your own website that I'm sure BMW will get the bugs worked out.

[instantexpert]

pharding Obviously, it's #7. The internet is so 2016.

[drexplode]

old configurator still works:

http://www.bmwusa.com/standard/conte...modelcode=17TN

[Germanauto]

Most people always complain about new formats for anything (websites are the most common example) so I try to give the new format a chance.

With that being said, I'm just unable to get used to this new Configurator. I don't know who approved of it, but it's pretty bad. It makes it difficult to select the model you want, see the car as you selection options (b/c you have to scroll down), etc. Just poorly executed and does not push the buck forward the least bit.

[SCMike]

If you want to see what a REALLY effective configurator looks like, go to porsche.com/usa and build your car in the 360-deg 3D mode. It provides full 3D rotatable images of what your actual build looks like, right down to the details of the most obscure option choices (and Porsche has A LOT of free-standing option choices). That cursed 3D configurator has already dragooned me into the purchase of three Porsches. In comparison, BMW's latest configurator is laughable (and a bit embarrassing).

[Maynard]

So not just me hating this. Won't even describe or show options until you select them, and can't figure out how to get the 360 views, or toggle btwn inside and outside shots.