rickyf

Hello all, I just got a new 2014 S550 and I'm in love with it. Coming out of a 2013 Audi A8L and in my opinion there is no comparison in the ride and luxury of the two. The Audi shouldn't even be in the same class.

Love the hands free trunk opening and closing. Audi has it but didn't work as easily and I basically stopped using it because I looked like an idiot kicking air under the Audi with nothing happening. The S class works on the first kick every time.

Magic Body Control is pretty sweet, car rides like on a cloud.

The Distronic Plus is head and shoulders above the Audi. I used to get complaints from passengers when using it because it was jerky and always felt like it was going to hit the car ahead. Also, the Benz starts up normally after it's at a stop, the Audi would lag behind and I needed to give it gas to help it start, otherwise cars behind would get impatient. The lane keeping thing is great, but not quite used to it yet, seems not to work all the time.

I could go on about all the little things that I love including the look of both interior and exterior, but what fun would that be. Wanna hear the things I don't like? Sure you do!

In car WIFI, only 3G? Really? I've had a 4G phone for like 5 years now, why the old useless technology? A 4G phone costs nothing, why can't they get this in one of the most technologically advanced cars in the world?

The two USB ports in the center console are useless for charging a phone. I have a Samsung Note 3 and it doesn't keep it charged, especially if I'm using it for Waze or streaming music. There is a free Android app called Galaxy Charging Current Lite that tells the power the charger is getting (useful because cheap adapters don't give full power) The USB sends 340ma and my regular cigarette lighter adapter sends 1200ma.

Also, only one 12V power port in the car (besides the trunk) and that one is in the way of the cup holders when using it. How hard would it have been to add one in the center console or glove box? There's not even one in the rear, only a 110V outlet.

What's with the crazy deep door storage pockets? Try fishing out a pack of gum or other small things that get pushed to the back. My old 2007 S550 had armrests that opened for change and small things, this one was overlooked.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong but automatic high beams aren't coming on in dark areas. I know I can move the switch all the way to the right and use them manually but I was looking forward to letting them go on and off by themselves.

Ok enough complaints. The car is awesome and I am loving getting used to it. Would love to hear others opinions!

acuteperformance

Glad to hear you are enjoying loads more that the Audi. Mercedes really hit the nail on the head with the W222 in my opinion.

hyperion667

congrats on the new ride; it's a great car I agree, any plans for wheels? or any other mods?




enjoy the ride

thomas311

@rickyf: the high beams switch automatically once you push the high beam lever forward and leave it there. It's like manually switching it on and the car will switch them off if required.
Totally agree about the whole 3G thing and the mbrace crap as such. Most of it doesn't work for me: valet protect, driving journal, curfew minder don't work. The iPhone app is really bad quality (I own a company which does also apps, so I know what I'm talking about)

MTrauman

I agree that the 3G should be 4G. This has to be the biggest disappointment with the '14/'15 S class.


With that said, the valet protect, driving journal, and zones are working great for me. I use them daily. Initially when I got my car in February after the Euro Delivery in December, the driving journal had some issues. I spent atleast a couple of hours talking to MB so that the driving journal worked consistently. It now works great. I now have 9700 miles on my '14 S550 4matic.

thomas311

@MTrauman: i will give them a call today and see what happens. I'm still in the trial period, so they have a fair chance to make me happy. The problem I have with these convenience features not working for me, makes me just doubt that the emergency features actually work. The later one was the reason for me to get my 2007 ML63 updated to be able to enjoy the basic mbrace features. My wife mostly drives that one and she drives a lot, so I like to rest assured that those emergency features at least work as designed.

Jason B

And remember, even with auto high beams on the the stalk in the front position, they only come on after 40mph

thomas311

Intermediate result after my call with mbrace:
"we have an issue with the mobile app and valet protect on iPhone and android, we are working on it"
"setting up driving journal via web does not work on IE 11"
"your internet radio wasn't activated, we just did it, should work now"
"deinstall and reinstall your app, maybe that helps"

I was able to setup driving journal now on Google Chrome.
After reinstalling the app, curfew minder seems to work.
Over all I will see how it works in the next couple of weeks.

Bottomline: the services are not smooth yet, nor do they seem to work out of the box. Lot of room for improvements imho.

Kratos-TM

Question on MBC.....to what speed does it stop scanning and bump adjusting ( 80mph )?

rickyf

The high beams only coming on over 40MPH is a big problem. I use high beams every night when I come home and in my neighborhood I'm going way under 40mph. I live in the hills and there are no street lights, so my options are to switch the headlights to the far right "on" position which means they are always on even during the day, or hold the stalk in while driving in the hills, not possible or safe.

theboogers

My high beams fluctuate and go on about 25-30 mph. They use the camera and i think the ambient light and sign reflections will keep the on low. Go someplace dark.

MTrauman

This is incorrect per the owners manual.


If no other road users are present, the automatic high beams come on at 16 mph or above. There are some other limits on the automatic high beams at 19 mph, 25 mph, and 28 mph per the owners manual. These are things like "partial" high beams.

AppleFan1

Ricky, this problem seems strange to me. I have used the USB ports constantly to charge my iPhone and it works great. Does it have something to do with the Samsung phone?

Ormond2004

My Nokia phone seems to charge with the USB port, but I'm not sure on its speed.

My prior car was an Audi, and the internet connectivity was great in comparison to the Benz. I miss having Google Earth on the maps. I actually got more compliments on my Audi A6, but it was pretty sharp.

I never activated mBrace because of the comments here. I wouldn't mind having the emergency notification service.

merc.man

Weird my auto high beams definitely come on under 40 MPH

hyperion667