Total room was not the issue. It came down to the usability of the space and features that just made most sense in a minivan. With rear facing car seats, the driver and passengers were a bit tighter than we we preferred. Not a safety issue but not as comfortable as we liked. The lower floor of the van helps with…

Sorry, but of all the new-fangled technology making its way into cars, I find HUDs to be HUGELY beneficial to the driving experience when done right. Far more so than massively distracting tech like touch screen center consoles without tactile feedback.

Honestly, with the steering wheel controls, this is definitely less essential. Especially if you have presets all set up so that changing volume and/or source is just a flick of your finger without the need to look at anything.

How may kids do you have that an X5 isn’t enough? Recently had our 3rd and my wife still drives her 2-row CX-7. Kids are small enough that they easily fit 3-across in back. I still drive my RX-8, just don’t take it when we need to haul the baby.

BMW really does it right. You can configure the HUD to display as much or as little info as you want. Keep your eyes on the road but don’t get distracted. In my M5, my HUD shows speed and directions if nav is active. In sport mode, I add the tach which is nice since you don’t want to glance down to catch your shift…

My wife and I so miss the HUD on the X5 M we traded in for a Honda Odyssey, Once the need to tote 286lbs of strollers, diaper bags, snacks, extra clothing, toys, and other mandatory toddler gear, it’s back to something more fun.

what type of radio do you have and how are they intuitive? just curious for you perspective. It takes me way to long to adjust certain things on my radio and hvac stuff.

I’m with you 100%. I seriously will not get another newer BMW without the HUD - it really is THAT helpful.

Agreed - the BMW HUD is very informative and non-invasive. I know exactly how fast I’m driving all the time now and don’t have to take my eyes off the road if I want to scroll radio stations or get guidance from the GPS. I honestly wouldn’t buy another car without this feature because it provides much better…

The HUD in my BMW is so good that I would rather loose the actual gauge cluster than my HUD. It is simple science that it is safer and quicker to read a HUD than to scan down and refocus your eyes on various sections of your dashboard. You admit that NAV is useful in a HUD only if you are in unfamiliar places.... Uh,…

I’m one of those people who sits behind a HUD professionally, and if you are having it distract you, you are using it wrong. First, don’t make it too bright. Turn it down until it is not distracting, at night that is very close to being completely off. Second, you have to look THROUGH the projected image, not at it.…

Damn, K5ING......put some miles on that thing. Those cars don’t even break in until like 150K miles.....

Tldr: in Hudson County, you better have that HUD, son!

I have no issues with HUD’s as you mentioned sort of in your article that they are generally useless “glitz” that no one really pays attention to. But I have MASSIVE issue with peoples cellphone (or GPS) glued right in the middle of the windshield.

the feel is completely bull unless you have one of those crappy cars that sure 40-50 can make a hair raising difference, but for modern cars... you can only judge from your surrounding and if they are all moving with you, harder to judge. On well paved roads with 3-4 lanes in my area, you can easily achieve 80 miles…

“4. Radio station and song. Oops! You just crashed. (You don’t need either of these things).”

“But how often do you need to look at your map or GPS while you’re driving? Only “a lot” when you’re navigating an unfamiliar urban area, which is not a typical driving experience.”

Back to the “I can just TELL when I’m speeding” discussion, which is bad and dumb. Fact is, most people can’t just “feel” 40 mph vs 50 mph.

My X5 has a very high driving position and a fairly tall greenhouse which means great visibility from the driver’s seat but it also means that you have to look down from your natural field of vision to look at the gauges. I find the HUD extremely non-invasive to my driving field of view however it prevents me from…

I agree some HUDs are poorly integrated but studies have shown they actually improve driver attentiveness to the road. As compared to looking down at your radio or cluster information you need is in lower line of sight of the road. Of course it should only be necessary information up there though like speed and…