Aren't those extra 6 buttons defeating the purpose of the iDrive in the first place though? One knob to rule them all!

Hehe
It's adding convinience to already cool system
Instead of pushing iDrive wheel and select someone from phone book, i just hit one button
Instead of pushing iDrive wheel and select address from your stored locations, i hit one button to navigate home
Same goes for other stuff
Shortcuts rule!!!