Love my new C300
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Junior Member
Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 22
Likes: 2
Lexus GS430
Love my new C300
Cardinal Red / Beige interior / Lindenwood, Premium 2, Airmatic, 17” wheels, Driver Assistance, Blind Spot Assist, Heated seats.
Previously driving a 2003 Lexus GS 430. I wanted something smaller outside (since I rarely carry backseat passengers), without giving up significant ground on the things I liked about the Lexus. And my 6'5" had to fit.
The MB has a better ride, handling feels at least as good in sport or sport+, and it seems equally quiet. I like the adjustability of Airmatic, but it's pretty subtle and was basically a lark to get it. Only notice turbo lag when flooring it from low speed or trying to accelerate after a few seconds of deceleration -- much fewer situations where it's noticeable than was the case in my 2012 SLK). I do miss the complete smoothness and rarely-audible sewing machine sound of the Lexus V8, but the difference is rarely noticeable and never objectionable, and the improved gas mileage is welcome.
No quality problems so far, and great experience with MB of San Jose. I love the Distronic Plus in traffic jams - much less stressful. It makes cruise control useful on Bay Area freeways again. It took some study of the manual and a couple of trips' careful practice to use it safely and smoothly. Lane keeping assist: meh - I’ll probably turn it off and forget it was ever there. Love finally having blind spot assist and rearview camera like my friends with Honda Civics and Ford Focii.
The Burmester sounds really good, with the only issue being the same one with every car sound system I’ve ever heard: certain bass frequencies that have resonance peaks from the cavity housing the woofers or the cabin itself. If that frequency happens to be the root or fifth of a piece’s key it gets old really fast. The peak is far too narrow to address with the bass knob. That said, it’s much better than most; the overall effect is quite listenable for music and understandable for speech (though it would be really nice to have EQ presets because good-sounding music and maximally understandable speech in a car require different EQ settings, even if all you have are bass/midrange/treble).
Nits: it’s 2016! C’mon Mercedes — no Airplay *and* you still can’t get basic features of the iPhone interface to work? Really? All the same problems from my 2012 SLK: Can’t control Audible audiobook player at all. Podcasts are listed but indexed wrong (selecting a podcast plays some random piece of music or nothing at all) so they’re useless. No good way to skip 15-30s ahead or back. Result: listening to spoken word programs must be done through the phone screen, defeating the whole purpose of having a smartphone interface for one of the most common use cases. 80% of the time, connecting an iPhone results in playing (not cuing, actually starting to play) the first track in the music library (Result: I never want to hear the first track on my iPhone again). Can’t search for a track, artist, or song while music is paused, only while actually playing. These problems have been known *for years*, yet the only responses from MB and Apple I’ve ever seen are finger-pointing as to whose fault it is.
I’ve obviously gotten distracted by the current trend of promoting cars as primarily consumer electronics. Bottom line: the driving experience is great when the roads are twisty, on my too-frequent 500 mile freeway round trips, commuting to work, or in stop-and-go traffic. Every ride I take in a competing or cheaper alternative confirms my certainty that I made the right choice.
Enthusiastic thumbs up.
Previously driving a 2003 Lexus GS 430. I wanted something smaller outside (since I rarely carry backseat passengers), without giving up significant ground on the things I liked about the Lexus. And my 6'5" had to fit.
The MB has a better ride, handling feels at least as good in sport or sport+, and it seems equally quiet. I like the adjustability of Airmatic, but it's pretty subtle and was basically a lark to get it. Only notice turbo lag when flooring it from low speed or trying to accelerate after a few seconds of deceleration -- much fewer situations where it's noticeable than was the case in my 2012 SLK). I do miss the complete smoothness and rarely-audible sewing machine sound of the Lexus V8, but the difference is rarely noticeable and never objectionable, and the improved gas mileage is welcome.
No quality problems so far, and great experience with MB of San Jose. I love the Distronic Plus in traffic jams - much less stressful. It makes cruise control useful on Bay Area freeways again. It took some study of the manual and a couple of trips' careful practice to use it safely and smoothly. Lane keeping assist: meh - I’ll probably turn it off and forget it was ever there. Love finally having blind spot assist and rearview camera like my friends with Honda Civics and Ford Focii.
The Burmester sounds really good, with the only issue being the same one with every car sound system I’ve ever heard: certain bass frequencies that have resonance peaks from the cavity housing the woofers or the cabin itself. If that frequency happens to be the root or fifth of a piece’s key it gets old really fast. The peak is far too narrow to address with the bass knob. That said, it’s much better than most; the overall effect is quite listenable for music and understandable for speech (though it would be really nice to have EQ presets because good-sounding music and maximally understandable speech in a car require different EQ settings, even if all you have are bass/midrange/treble).
Nits: it’s 2016! C’mon Mercedes — no Airplay *and* you still can’t get basic features of the iPhone interface to work? Really? All the same problems from my 2012 SLK: Can’t control Audible audiobook player at all. Podcasts are listed but indexed wrong (selecting a podcast plays some random piece of music or nothing at all) so they’re useless. No good way to skip 15-30s ahead or back. Result: listening to spoken word programs must be done through the phone screen, defeating the whole purpose of having a smartphone interface for one of the most common use cases. 80% of the time, connecting an iPhone results in playing (not cuing, actually starting to play) the first track in the music library (Result: I never want to hear the first track on my iPhone again). Can’t search for a track, artist, or song while music is paused, only while actually playing. These problems have been known *for years*, yet the only responses from MB and Apple I’ve ever seen are finger-pointing as to whose fault it is.
I’ve obviously gotten distracted by the current trend of promoting cars as primarily consumer electronics. Bottom line: the driving experience is great when the roads are twisty, on my too-frequent 500 mile freeway round trips, commuting to work, or in stop-and-go traffic. Every ride I take in a competing or cheaper alternative confirms my certainty that I made the right choice.
Enthusiastic thumbs up.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 7,653
Likes: 560
2016 C300
Welcome. I hear you on the audio. I've had the "Burmester" hardware in my hands and it's pretty flimsy, cheap stuff. Ended up putting in an Audison DSP amp, some Focal 2 ways and a small sub in the trunk to get the control and sound I wanted. Worth every penny, especially for a musician. (Everybody else thinks a root comes with a tree and a 5th is something to drink.)
To give you a taste of how the stock system responds to EQ, try the EQu app by Elephant Candy on your IOS device. Huge improvement, and it will kill the resonance problem since you can notch those frequencies right out.
To give you a taste of how the stock system responds to EQ, try the EQu app by Elephant Candy on your IOS device. Huge improvement, and it will kill the resonance problem since you can notch those frequencies right out.
