I would like to hear some opinions about the laser controlled speed guidance system, what does it do during traffic, and has it ever messed up before, putting you in a situation of near-crash, or does the Distronic give you comfort you can rely on (as in closing your eyes for 1 minute in hard traffic and knowing it will not crash) -- Im not suggesting anyone should do that, but it wouldnt be worth the 3.5K extra if its something you always have to watch out for in case it messed up, b/c you cant blame an accident on distronic. and all of us MB owners have crazy insurance rates already.

 

I don't think there is a single safety feature available yet that will allow a driver to close his/her eyes for 1 minute and distronic definitely isn't that good either...you still have to steer yourself...

greetingz,

 

My experience is great. It has not failed me yet and I have taken 2 trips since purchasing the car. 3 hour and 4 hour using it 80% of the time. Works well on curvy roads which I heard would be a problem.

Quite an expensive toy.

 

This is the second Mercedes I have owned with Distronic, the CLS system is improved over the E class 211 system IMHO, I use it every day on both Motorway and regular Dual and single carriageways probably 70% of the time have now covered 10,000+ miles in 3 months.

Some pitfalls are :- on the motorway you have to judge the right setting to ensure the distance you stay back is not too inviting otherwise you get other vehicles jumping in the gap I always set to minimum or slightly up from this.

If the setting is say 70mph and the vehicle in front is doing 50mph and you go uphill sometimes it loses the vehicle in front and accelerates this can get the adrenalin pumping as it closes the gap at a fair pace.

If traffic slows quicker than the permitted deceleration rate allowed for Distronic you get warning beeps and lights and you have to brake.



The cornering feedback to the Distronic control seems to be vastly improved over my E class the speed seems to hold especially if tracking a vehicle in front as the system must be taking steering data and it accelerates on when back towards straight if it can not see another vehicle or holds at the set distance.



Was it worth the money? 35-40k miles per annum it takes some of the strain over standard cruise control, handy on longest distance setting in poor weather as it slows in pace with the car in front giving me an anticipation edge over the possible situation ahead.



The new s class Distronic system looks like a further improvement I would have the night vision as well, well worth every $ if it helps me to avoid that bad accident.



Liftman