http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/08/m...a45-qnx-car-2/

i hope we see this soon...

btw whats with the cla amg? its half the price and almost looks as sexy as our cls63...

i find it almost takes away from our cls class

 

It is much smaller, has half the cylinders, and well optioned gets quite expensive, figure about $60-70k. No doubt it's a great looking car, and I like a lot of the exterior details, but it is aimed at a younger clientele compared to the CLS. At 45, I felt too old for the CLA45... but if I were in my 20's I'd have seriously considered it.

I have not driven it but it certainly is not as fast as the CLS. Also to get that kind of power from the 4 cylinder engine the turbo must be quite large which typically results in some turbo lag, although AMG probably did their best to minimize that.

 

i guess i need to see one in person!

that screen would look amazing in our car!

 

Thanks for posting!

I really like that new dash, hope it works as nice as it looks

The CLA AMG may look sexy but I bet the materials used in the cabin won't be on par with the CLS63

 

Thanks for sharing. Good find. Looks pretty slick and I would assume we will get something similar since stuff from big brother (S class) usually makes it down a few years after.

 

to be honest, i think MB did a great job with the CLA45, but i think it is overpriced. Ive see two so far that are close to 60k. You dont get any keyless go stuff like that, lack of materials, and its quick but its not ***** to wall fast like the bigger AMG's. if i have around 60k to spend, id get a really nice CPO C63, or a C63 coupe if in the market for a smaller AMG. Its not a lot of car for 60k imho, but still a cool car!

 

There is a trend here that is troublesome:
Touchscreens in a car = ZERO tactile feedback = Eyes off the road to control functions = less safety, not more. And with menus containing such broad and deep function ranges as they do these days you can bet you are going to have your eyes off the road for a good few seconds, repeatedly, with only a momentary glance at the road ahead while trying to access some obscure function.

Stupid stupid devices that should only be in a vehicle for tertiary functions, not primary or secondary functions.
I can use tactile feedback and hand position to access almost all functions on the steering wheel and center console of my CLS now… a touchscreen will be a pain in the *** and is another case of fashion leading function. One of the most annoying controls in the center console of my CLS is the temperature dial. Previous dials had a left hand and right hand extremity stop. Current dial just rotates in either direction forever. This forces you to allocate visual and mental resources to setting the temperature because you have to look at the dial rather than set it in a position using tactile feedback.
Many of you will not realize how important this is but there is a reason why machines that require 100% attention still have hundreds of switches and dials; take a fighter pilots cockpit for example. Sure they use screens, but switches and buttons located in a logical manner are used for primary functions.

There used to be a very definite design philosophy in Mercedes interiors; controls for vehicle functions that were close to you, were closest to you. There was a heirachy of position where functions in horizontal planes were controlled by controls positioned in a manner that reflected their position relative to the driver. There was a lot of thought that went into control layout in the last decade or so…. take a minute to study this in your vehicle and you will see what I mean.
The use of touch screens shifts away from the fundamental precept of leaving the driver to concentrate on the road. I am glad they have built so many safety features into our vehicles because one day some F*****t will drive right into me while trying to navigate through a touch screen menu to change the color of his interior lighting.

Fashion has also overridden function here in the U.S. with the turn signal. The U.S. love of a red turn signal is another reduction in safety. Many U.S. vehicles simply have a brake light that changes in intensity acting as a turn signal. Absolutely f*****g useless!. Mercedes has now moved away from an amber color to red and this is less noticeable.

All small points but they add up.

 

fair enough, but the world as we know it is changing in a crappy design oriented way, where i live they are getting rid of ALL books in schools and replacing them with ipads, let me tell you the chaos it is bringing here, all grades have gone down (fact)

its not just merc its everyone, did you see the new 2015 audi tt dash?

http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/09/a...gital-tt-dash/

"us"=general population

it is "us" that is to be blamed, unfortunately the majority of "us" want everything regardless of safety or our well being, our schools here were coerced into switching to ipad's as it was being demanded by the parents, it is a huge problem here, teacher's are freaking out! its not the schools fault its the parents...

 

Many good points by DucatiNuts, especially about the tactile control and layout of buttons. And yes, this trend of ipad/laptop replacing books sure is disturbing, demanded by brainless parents.

 

 

 

Sure they don't have the best build quality....but I can't lie; they look pretty good, to me.

damn this is an old thread haha