12.3 Digital Instrument Cluster
 

I am shopping for a C63s and find very few dealers order a car with the new digital display. What are the pros and cons to this choice? I like it.

I purchased a 2019 C63S from a local dealer's lot last week. I agree with you that the number of 2019s available in the dealer lots is very scarce within a given region and when you filter only vehicles with certain key options like Digital display, Parking Assistance Package, etc. the number of vehicles you can choose from drastically drops. It is surprising like you mention how a dealer specs options you hardly care about and fails to spec options most buyers in this segment would add (eg. Digital Display, 360 cameras, multimedia package, etc.)

The one which had all the options I wanted (+ a dozen others which I did not care about and adding upwards of 10k to the MSRP) was in a different State 10 hours drive away from my home. The dealer offered a good discount for this, but the discount at the local dealer for their car was much higher. So I was in a similar dilemma for different packages/options though - Multimedia package and Head Unit. Given the great discount I received for the car the local dealer had on the lot, the car matching my interior color preference + almost every other option I had in mind, and the welcoming experience at the dealer, I decided that I could live without these two packages/options. My car came with prewired SD card Nav and I was able to get an unopened OEM Nav SD card elsewhere for $60. So the differences for with/without Multimedia package were minor. Given that I will use Android Auto almost always, it did not matter much. Head Unit also does not work great with polarized glasses (like the one I use) so it was another option I decided I could live without.

I had seen the standard Instrument Cluster display during one of my initial test drives a few months ago, but the subsequent test drives and the car I got came with the Digital Display. Personally I liked the Digital one better since it offers more customization on items you want to see in the cluster and its size. The only Con I could think is the reliability of these displays over the years. Given that MB's electronics are relatively more reliable compared to the other German manufacturers, I decided to take the risk.

I feel it is still up to you to evaluate the pros and cons, and more importantly whether you could live with the tradeoffs during the period you will be keeping the car. :)

IMO I feel whichever option you choose wrt Instrument Cluster Display, it grows on you over time and you get used to it and will not miss the other type. You will be more intoxicated by the acceleration, the engine and exhaust notes, handling and other factors like that rather :) Good luck on your purchase.

Thanks for that! Are you still happy you didn't buy a C43? Some say the torque overwhelms the rear tires from time to time when you don't want it too.

I intend to track this car often after the break-in period and hence I favored RWD over AWD. Being in a region which hardly sees any snow and not too much rain, RWD works great throughout the year here.

I agree though that because of the torque and depending on your driving style, it would cause increased wear on the tires. But I feel that is expected with sporty cars in this segment. :D

I always order cars. The liklihood of finding the car configured as I want it on a dealer lot is slim and why compromise on a car like this. I think you can always justify the car not having a certain option that you wanted, but deep down it's a compromise that you have to be willing to live with. The digital cluster was pretty much a must for me. I particularly like the customizability of the dial. I've opted for the Supersport layout, which puts the rev counter front and center and displays the current speed as a digital readout. The analog speedometer to me was always a waste of space as speed is something that you want an exact readout and not a needle that is hard to read for the exact speed. Now I have space left and right to show other useful information like the tire pressure/temperatures, the performance displays or navigation instructions. There's just more useful information that can be displayed at once. Also, the shift lights are great with the whole display flashing as you are approaching redline, since this car doesn't automatically upshift in manual mode, this helps avoid running into the rev limiter. Since I'm doing lots of long distance driving, the driving assistance package was important to me as well and I wanted the full multimedia package. Same for the parking assist. The 360 camera alone is worth that package. I say get the options you really want. It's worth waiting for the car exactly configured as you wanted it, and if you wanna take it a level up, opt for European Delivery and take possession of your brand new car at the factory in Germany and experience it on the German Autobahn. Well worth it. I've picked mine up at the beginning of May and I'm still here until the end of June. This is only available for the Coupe and Cab, though as the Sedan is made in the USA.

Superswiss, thank for your thoughts. I had a LA dealer search the entire country and can't find a car with all the options you commented on. It makes you wonder about the intelligence of dealers? The wireless charging option is $170--out of 95K? I think guys that plan to track the car think they are old time racers and want analog displays. Lewis Hamilton has a digital display that flashes red as he approaches the redline! And, there are no stick shifts in F1 racing. Time to move on with the new technology. Dual clutch automatics are superior in every way. I will be ordering a 2020 car as you suggested. I like the European delivery idea, and as a Delta pilot, can get there for free. However, you have a 1,000 mile break-in to consider. I have driven the autobahn several times, but is slow rental cars. I can get a better deal on a car at home than the 5% discount from Mercedes. Also, I can rent a fast car for a week and thrash that instead of my new car. Still thinking about it though. Enjoy your trip!

Absolutely LOVE the digital display and would do anything to get this car with it. It’s a must for me like it is for Swiss. Then again I did get every option except carbon ceramic brakes.. lol.. on the aesthetic side I LOVE the carbon fiber. I got all the packages inside and out and steering wheel. I have a small issue with the clear coat around the sensors peeling in the rear diffuser so they had to order a new one but you can’t even tell unless you are right up next to it and even then it’s tough to see. I absolutely love it all as well as the aero package. This car is an absolute beast and even though yes you can have traction issues it is easy to control.. much much easier than my 335 which had about the same power to weight ratio thanks to that car being tuned. If you are a good driver and can modulate the accelerator well then you won’t have issues.. if you just sit there and use the kick down every chance you get you will still have fun but you might be in a tree if you have all the systems turned off lol. This car rewards a skilled driver amazingly well!! The rear end is incredibly stable over bumps.. it settles down immediately. Just an amazing car. One that if you can afford it I would order it just as you want like Swiss and I did.

I had a similar situation, did a nationwide search for a car to match my desired specs back in April and no such car existed. Most dealerships are slim on 2019 selection since 2020 production is due to start very soon.

I would love to hear the rational behind the way dealers are ordering the car. Maybe there are some dealer cost issue that benefit them when certain packages are combined. However, I think the person ordering the C63's doesn't really understand the car and who is buying it. The flashy instrument display is something unknown to them and they see leaving it out as a way of keeping the sticker price down. Bob Lutz said in his book 'Car guys and Bean counters' that most Americans don't really understand luxury in the way Germans do. I think he has a point.

I have the digital display and love it, would not take a vehicle without it. There was/is a limited supply line problem with the display. That's why you see vehicles loaded and without the digital display. The dealers are willing to take the cars rather than get nothing.

I heard there was definitely a low supply of HUD units for MY2019 and I saw similar info in the MY2020 Dealer Ordering Guide. I could only find one car in the entire West coast which had HUD when I was searching.

HUD was definitely one of the things that caused delays, and from my understanding, custom orders got priority for it, so dealer-stock order vehicles with it are/were few and far between. I ordered it, and while it's nice on long trips at night, I probably would skip it in the future, since I use polarized glasses during the day, and overall just don't use the HUD much anyway.

I did get the digital cluster, and absolutely love it, and think it was worth the additional cost, no question. The customization, the functionality, the look. It feels a little weird to get into other cars with analog gauges now.