New BMWUSA.com online configurator. It's terrible.

RPiM5 · 02-13-2017, 01:14 PM

Hey guys, in case you didn't know the BMW website now has a new configurator for vehicles. I have played with it quite a bit now and I gotta say it's terrible. I think I am going to contact BMW Customer Relations and provide feedback for them on their new configurator, but what I would also like to do is get feedback from you guys on what you think is wrong with it or what could be improved.

So far this is my list of gripes:

1. Long load times, every time I go to a new section, especially the Packages, I experience longer than normal load times from the website.

2. No dedicated switchability between exterior and interior views of the car you are configuring. With their new system in order to get an interior view you must click on the "upholstery" and "trims" tabs. With the old system your decision to view any part of the car was independent of whether you were configuring packages, options, interior, etc...

3. The interior views are now limited. They made the interior views very wide and took away some of the views you would get in the vertical axis. This more so effects the view when you want to look at the dash head on when you click on the "trim" tab. I feel like it's too limited now. I want to see more of the interior like before.

4. No 3D or rotational views anymore. I don't know why they got rid of this completely. I really liked being able to use the mouse to swivel around the exterior or interior of the car.

5. On "Packages" tab, you now have to click on the "More Details" in order to see what is in the packages. This is highly annoying. Why can't we just see everything up front?

6. You no longer can see a list of everything you are configuring on your car, which used to be listed on the right side of your screen. Instead all they have is a simplified total MSRP as built at the bottom of the screen. And you can't see everything you put on the car until you click on the "Summary" tab. This results in too much clicking by having to click back and forth to see everything you put on the car.

7. There's no more automatic information if you hover your mouse over an item. With the old system, if you hovered your mouse over the color say Tanzanite Blue, a label saying Tanzanite Blue would appear next your mouse pointer without having to click on the actual color itself in order to know what that color was. This also results in too much clicking, because it makes you click on almost every color just to know what its name is, etc..

The old configurator system was actually considered one of the best in the entire industry, now I feel like it is one of the worst. With the new system, you simply do not get all of the information displayed on one page. Now you have to click around to get all the information you want and the pages take a long time to load sometimes.

One reason I think they changed it, is because they had the intent to make it more mobile friendly for people who go to the BMW site on their phones or tablets. I tried going to the site on my phone and it seem more fluid than my experience on the computer, but it's definitely a worse experience on the computer.

Below are 2 examples of the interior shots of the dash. The top one is the old display what it used to look like on the configurator for the interior forward view and the bottom picture is what it looks like now. Both are for an F10 M5 so you can really see the difference.

I recommend you all go to the website and try the new configurator yourselves and let everyone know what you think.

m5 guy · 02-13-2017, 01:20 PM

Yeah it sucks now. I don't like how everything is hidden. Their site is like the rest of them now though. I much preferred the old way, it was very business and logical, to the point. Now it's all smoke and mirrors.

Btw you can still get to the old style if you search for build your own on a search site like google. Do not go through BMW's site.

RPiM5 · 02-13-2017, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m5 guy

Btw you can still get to the old style if you search for build your own on a search site like google. Do not go through BMW's site.

Oh, well that's good news.

Blackraven · 02-13-2017, 07:35 PM

BMW European configurators (like the ones in use for Germany and UK) are better imho.

somer · 02-13-2017, 09:38 PM

bookmark for the old site, who knows how long they keep it up

http://www.bmwusa.com/standard/conte.../default.aspx#

02-13-2017, 01:14 PM	#1
RPiM5 Major General 2873 Rep 7,885 Posts Drives: Black M5 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Earth 616 iTrader: (0)	New BMWUSA.com online configurator. It's terrible. Hey guys, in case you didn't know the BMW website now has a new configurator for vehicles. I have played with it quite a bit now and I gotta say it's terrible. I think I am going to contact BMW Customer Relations and provide feedback for them on their new configurator, but what I would also like to do is get feedback from you guys on what you think is wrong with it or what could be improved. So far this is my list of gripes: 1. Long load times, every time I go to a new section, especially the Packages, I experience longer than normal load times from the website. 2. No dedicated switchability between exterior and interior views of the car you are configuring. With their new system in order to get an interior view you must click on the "upholstery" and "trims" tabs. With the old system your decision to view any part of the car was independent of whether you were configuring packages, options, interior, etc... 3. The interior views are now limited. They made the interior views very wide and took away some of the views you would get in the vertical axis. This more so effects the view when you want to look at the dash head on when you click on the "trim" tab. I feel like it's too limited now. I want to see more of the interior like before. 4. No 3D or rotational views anymore. I don't know why they got rid of this completely. I really liked being able to use the mouse to swivel around the exterior or interior of the car. 5. On "Packages" tab, you now have to click on the "More Details" in order to see what is in the packages. This is highly annoying. Why can't we just see everything up front? 6. You no longer can see a list of everything you are configuring on your car, which used to be listed on the right side of your screen. Instead all they have is a simplified total MSRP as built at the bottom of the screen. And you can't see everything you put on the car until you click on the "Summary" tab. This results in too much clicking by having to click back and forth to see everything you put on the car. 7. There's no more automatic information if you hover your mouse over an item. With the old system, if you hovered your mouse over the color say Tanzanite Blue, a label saying Tanzanite Blue would appear next your mouse pointer without having to click on the actual color itself in order to know what that color was. This also results in too much clicking, because it makes you click on almost every color just to know what its name is, etc.. The old configurator system was actually considered one of the best in the entire industry, now I feel like it is one of the worst. With the new system, you simply do not get all of the information displayed on one page. Now you have to click around to get all the information you want and the pages take a long time to load sometimes. One reason I think they changed it, is because they had the intent to make it more mobile friendly for people who go to the BMW site on their phones or tablets. I tried going to the site on my phone and it seem more fluid than my experience on the computer, but it's definitely a worse experience on the computer. Below are 2 examples of the interior shots of the dash. The top one is the old display what it used to look like on the configurator for the interior forward view and the bottom picture is what it looks like now. Both are for an F10 M5 so you can really see the difference. I recommend you all go to the website and try the new configurator yourselves and let everyone know what you think. Attached Images __________________
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02-13-2017, 01:20 PM	#2
m5 guy Brigadier General 1692 Rep 3,200 Posts Drives: 2020 M5 Comp Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Hawaii iTrader: (14)	Yeah it sucks now. I don't like how everything is hidden. Their site is like the rest of them now though. I much preferred the old way, it was very business and logical, to the point. Now it's all smoke and mirrors. Btw you can still get to the old style if you search for build your own on a search site like google. Do not go through BMW's site. __________________ 2020 F90 M5 Comp Oxford Green Metallic II-Aragon JOURNAL 2016 F10 M5 Space Gray-Black SOLD 2012 E70 X5M Monte Carlo Blue-Silverstone SOLD 2001 E46 M3 Oxford Green Metallic II-Cinnamon SOLD
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02-13-2017, 07:35 PM	#4
Blackraven Captain 208 Rep 654 Posts Drives: Toyota Corolla ALTIS Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Philippines iTrader: (0)	BMW European configurators (like the ones in use for Germany and UK) are better imho.
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02-13-2017, 09:38 PM	#5
somer Major 966 Rep 1,052 Posts Drives: F10 M5 CP Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: FL iTrader: (0)	bookmark for the old site, who knows how long they keep it up http://www.bmwusa.com/standard/conte.../default.aspx#
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