Hack99

We've had sunroofs for many years and never opened them. I did an experiment on one of my cars to open and close shade to see how much light comes in. Not much. Roofs are tinted. Dealer demonstrated pano sunroof and it seemed like a lot of engineering for something we would never use.

Larry3Jswft

Fair enough. I'm in the NW and love having one in our Summers. If you never use it, I agree. Great car, eh?

Bourne

personaly I get used to sunroof because there is not enough sun here in Paris so used to have some more light getting in the car. Also the s/r of the C450 is pano so kids can benefit from it in the backside. I can understand that it is not a mandatory option for some people.
A pity you didn't take the AMG driving wheel however, it is very sporty.

Enjoy

Hack99

I did consider the sport steering wheel. My wife will be driving car 90%. I get to fill it up with gas, take it to the car wash and do most of the driving on trips. It was just a cost decision. BTW, the Mercedes finance manager matched the 1.75% interest rate I was offered from USAA. It is not through Mercedes financial however. I also thought a lot about 19 inch wheels. However, my wife really liked the look of the standard 18 inch wheels. Also, she picked the black exterior and black leather with red stitching interior. So, far we only drove to the mall and back. It seems much easier to drive than the E350 4-matic we traded in. Very good visibility and size seems smaller on the outside but just as roomy upfront.

netboy

what i dont understand is alot of people dont get Driver Assistance package (i do, of course). Isnt buying a Mercedes, safety is #1 ?

Larry3Jswft

Mine was an impulse purchase, from the lot. I agree and wish I had it. My wife's gls 400 is a dream on the highway.

Apart from sliced bread (France excepted), I think distronic plus one of the best options available.

Hack99

We had Driver Assistance on E350 4matic and now on the C450. It is excellent and I don't understand why it is optional and not standard.

Bourne

buying a mercedes is may be safety n#1 but buying an AMG or AMG sport is for me sport n#1 and I dont like car electronics interfering in the drive. There is already a lot of electronic mechanisms so didn't want personaly to add driver assistance. for the same cost I prefer to buy other stuff like the AMG wheel, the sound system, the pano roof etc...
Also here in France we don't have the same kind of straight lines highways like in US so sporty driving makes more sense in our small roads.

Hack99

Makes sense. We lived in North Carolina for a number of years. There were many rural roads and weather was pretty good (except for the occasional tornado or hurricane). I drove a Miata. We now live in suburban D.C. We can use all the "electronics" we can get!

cajun1689

Just got confirmation today that the on screen hp and tq are in fact based on factory settings here is the quote from mb direct

autopal

100 percent my thoughts as well. I bought this car for the sport, I don't need all the additional driver assistance

Brutus2015

I live in orlando, so we get too much sun and that flimsy shade they have on the panos just doesnt do much to hold back any of the light and heat. i never use mine, so i went without it. not sure if i would have wanted a normal sunroof vs no sunroof, but it wouldnt get used much.

Brutus2015

I left that option off on mine, and kind of wish i added it. not a huge expense, oh well.

It was really cool to see it in action on the autobahn when we picked up my dads s class. doing 100mph, in light snow, getting passed by little old ladies, while i had no hands and no feet on the controls.

*Knowledge*

Dealer finally replied to my email regarding the build date and shipment hitting the water and he confirms I'm correct. Car is actually in production starting today and will be trucked from Alabama with delivery 1 week before Christmas.

nvestr

I ordered my C450 without Driver Assistance for 2 reasons :

1) Cost restraint - this being my first German car, coming from Japanese luxury brands, I was reeling from sticker shock. To keep costs down, this did not feel like a necessary option for me. I paid for the Premium package, 19" AMG wheels, open pore wood, etc.

2) Novelty - To me, most of the driver assistance features are more towards novelty than actual utility. My other vehicle, a 2016 Acura MDX SH-AWD, has all of these features (Adaptive Cruise Control (Distronic), Lane Keeping Assist, Road Departure Mitigation and Collision Mitigation Braking System).

If anything, the Acura lane keeping assist is better than the Mercedes version. It consistently tugs on the steering wheel to keep you centered in the lane, you don't have to get close to a line marker for the system to intervene, it's constantly correcting and is quite nice on the freeway. That is the only feature I really find useful. Adaptive cruise I find to be cool in theory, but annoying in practice. It brakes too aggressively when the distance between you and front car closes and accelerates too hard when the distance increases or car ahead pulls into another lane. I find it jerky and annoying. The Mercedes version is a bit more refined but I found it to still not be gradual and smooth enough in the application of brakes and throttle.

Overall, I find these gimmicks to be aimed at showing off to friends more than real world utility. My opinion only!

Bourne

Fully agree it is what I said somehow. I have the cruise control on my current Audi and it is fun the few first times but I only used it 4 or 5 times in 5 years. Lane assist however can be useful in long trips and it saved few lives of people I know.
But all of these techno features are not my cup of coffee, I prefer real driving feel especially with such a car.

willywonka

My car was put on a truck Last friday and it arrived today (Texas). I am about to pick it up.

Pretty good considering salesman said I was on the Dec 7 build date. I didnt think Dec 7 would be the delivery date.

willywonka

I also didnt get the pano roof because I wanted weight reduction. ha ha. Actually i swapped out the lighting package and 19" wheels to make up the difference in price.

*Knowledge*

Awesome news! Look forward to seeing your next few posts.

tivoboy

I also didn't get a pano roof.. couple reasons really. One, probably used the pano roof in the current C class about four times since purchase, it really isn't a big deal. Two, GF has fair skin and I think there some UV comes in through the screen..

Three, space. in the back row, I get about 1.5+ inches more headroom at the C pillar and that makes the difference for us tall passengers to not hit the roof. The pano roof does add about that much in space, so headroom reduction.

Four.. could save some weight, and FIVE as others have noted I put the money into the lighting package and better wheels.!

cajun1689

If you would like to submit photos of your car on the C450 website PM me

Waylon Zeng

I dunno that sounds like that most annoying thing ever in my opinion haha

Waylon Zeng

Still waiting on rbrylaw's royal photoshoot treatment

nvestr

Hah, not at all. It is a subtle tug... lol. It is fantastic for freeway driving as it keeps you in your lane automatically... It will actually steer the car around gentle curves all by itself... It just disengages after a while if it detects that your hands are not on the wheel. This feature is off by default, you have to hit the button on the steering wheel to enable it when you're on the freeway. With the feature disabled, the car will still actively return you to your lane if you start crossing a line without your turn signal activated, it simply won't steer for you or keep you centered.

This is the video, if you're interested (for TLX, but same system as MDX):

nadeau

Yea I kept it under 4000rpm, one time I might have went around 6000, when I needed to pass someone lol, and only used comfort, I noticed a big change when I used sport + for the first day, I love the exhaust note