ddrango

Vote on which you like better, and what color does the old dash light up in at night? I forgot to check.

inFiniTE LooP

the old one lights up orange

MB-BOB

I like the layout of the new dash better (primarily because of the larger tach), but I don't really like the smaller gas gauge...

That said, I like the orange lighting of the older dash better.

delbomber

Every car I've ever had glowed orange...White is a nice change of pace.

Gas gauge doesn;t bother me...would have like a boost gauge squeezed in somewhere.

inFiniTE LooP

i like the old dash simply because it seems to have a larger MFD. i had a somewhat difficult time adjusting to the rainbow shape at first since the usual speed i'm going is right where the steering wheel or my hands seem to be blocking, but i either got used to it or something as the cluster is just like second nature to me now

Justinius7

I find pro's and con's in both. I do like hte large "rainbow" speedo, but i like the sportyness of the newer guages.

I must say I am not real crazy on the older tach, as redline points practically straight up and is rather tiny. (Rev's are very important to me) Althought i like the larger info screen much better on the old dash.

AND TEMP!!!! the older dash has no temp guage readily available. Kinda reminds me of my "GRANNY"s old Cutlas. Just a big speedo and a fuel guage. Personally... I like guages, esp in sporty cars.. I wanna see OIL, Battery, Temp, Tach, Speed, and boost/vacuum(economy, as in the older benz's).

Guest0001

01-04 for me. Much more original and classier.

Capt Nemo o2

I hear ya! Voltage an OIL are very important to be able to see. I just dont trust the electronics enough to tell me when I have low oil pressure. And I wish the car would tell you when you are a quart low. They should have made it run a self test when the car is turned off and warn you at the next startup.

raunen

it would be nice to have a picture of the old and the new as part of this poll. i couldn't find a good one in the pictures thread (or i'd do it myself).

inFiniTE LooP

here's some pics. 1st is 2001-2004 and 2nd is 2005

excuse the difference in picture qualities, i had to snag the '05 one from the mbusa website...

edit - ok, after seeing the pics. side by side it really does the 01-04s no justice, these pics. seem a tad bit biased toward the 05s

edit 2 - i removed the 2005 pic. because i didn't realize it was the AMG cluster, my bad, go on to page 2 to see comparable pictures

Guest0001

Thats so wrong dude

You took an amatuer shot of the 01-04

then you took the professional photo AMG tach version.

inFiniTE LooP

i found these pics. off of edmunds, surprisingly one of the 2001 clusters looks green, was it really like this or just a problem with the picture?

inFiniTE LooP

like i said...nevermind it's useless, if you didn't read it the first time you won't read it this time either...

i removed the pic. of the AMG version, didn't realize it was the AMG until you pointed it out so nicely

Buellwinkle

Neither does it for me, do you have more choice? Looking at the pics I would say that the 2001-04 steering wheels looks more Mercedes like and the 2005 looks more Mazda like. Also, the only thing I like about the 2005 instrument cluster is the chrome rings but compare the dash of the 2005 coupe where it doesn't have the chrome rings and it doesn't look so hot. Lucky for us they don't make it anymore.

DACHIGGA

I like the old 01 to 04 ones, I like the bigger widescreen in the middle.

ddrango

Yea, the new one looks more sporty. I enjoy seeing the exagerated rpms along with the mph. Here's pics I took of the loaner I just had.

ctC230K

oh noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!! it's a c240!!!!

TwofourT

haha come on...it's not that bad

Kev04C320

Last few times I took my car into service, my SA gave me a couple of C240-4MATIC loaner. I think it's quite ok for a family car. I took it out for a spin after fairly severe snow storm in South Central Wisconsin and it performed dutifully. It's day and night between the 4MATIC and my C320 with A/S tires.

However, I do agree that the pre-05 speedometer looks a little better. I guess I got used to the large central display for speed.

jedcred

I like the one I have now, simply because it looks much less cluttered than the new one. However, I don't like the fact that it is missing something that will be very important to me 5-10 years down the line: a temp guage to make sure the car isn't overheating.

BTW, my 04 coupe has a slightly different tach than the ones posted here; it seems to have lost it's dust cover . Check it out. You think it's a difference between coupes and sedans or 02-03s and 04s?

inFiniTE LooP

whoa, i'm not sure if the difference is coupe and sedan or not, but i like yours better

Justinius7

I believe all the coupes have the "three curves dash" therefore the dash cluster has a different look (a sportier look)

One one other note, my largest complaint about the display, is when using the auto-stick the number that displays what gear i am in, is very small, and is next to impossible for me to read, at a quick glance.

Where as the O5 display the gear selected number is much larger and easier to see. (or being a loaner, i was less worried about redline, hmmm)

ddrango

I absolutely LOVE the shifter on the pics I posted on page 2. That 3-pointed star on the shifter looks classy/sporty and slick!

DACHIGGA

YEs, the sedan and coupe from 01-04 have different dashes.

THe coupe merely has a little circle attaches to the needle as shown above, and the sedan has a medium sized quarter circle plastic piece that covers about half the needle. I'm talking about the two guages on the side. The gas and tach guages.

RE-Agent

I do understand that there isn't really a right or wrong answer here but come on! The old display is so ugly I think I would have gotten a 330i or an IS300 if M-B didn't redesign that thing for '05! To those of you who like the rainbow dash I think that you just like it because you are familiar with it (this may explain the last election...)