glojo

Stones and greenhouse comes imediately to mind.

I am English and extremely proud of that fact but our car industry disappeared. Yes I could make a thousand and one excuses but the bottom line was the cars were simply not good enough. I have been buying Mercedes-Benz for many, many years Not because of snob value, or I am 100% loyal to this brand. I buy Mercedes-Benz motor vehicles because of their advanced technology, their in built safety features, the sturdy engineering, their reliability (Yes my car is a 2004 vehicle loaded with electronic gadgets which had awful teething problems) The after sales service and image.

All I will say is look at American motor vehicles and ask why there is no huge export sales. Stones and greenouses

If my car kept actually breaking down, or the dealer did not perform to the standards I have come to expect, then I would be out of the door before you could say Studebaker

gojuryu

I only have one simple question. Can someone provide me the part numbers I need to upgrade my 2002 ML320 with the Navigation Drive and any other items required.

gojuryu

I'm looking for the same if anyone want to sell theirs.

nopcbs

What does that mean?

There has not been a huge number of export sales of American cars, historically, for two reasons: (1) the internal market is HUGE and, in the past, kept the factories churning quite nicely and (2) American cars have traditionally been too large and too thirsty for export anywhere other than oil rich countries (where they did quite nicely, for the size of the market, by the way).

Anyone who can use the terms "advanced technology" and Mercedes Benz in the same sentence after experiencing the really crappy navigation system that has been in the E-Class for a decade, well they are simply being delusional.

And please stop making excuses for poor build quality and too many repair issues for MB. This does no one any good, including them. They are not selling $15,000 Fiats.

- nopcbs

AmazinglySmooth

I'm sure something similar has probably been posted earlier, but I can't read all 13 pages.


I'd like to officially agree that my E500 GPS is lame:

1) Data entry is smart enough to be annoying and not smart enough to be good
2) There is no logical progression to enter a destination (you have to know how to use it unlike my Garmin portable unit and my 2006 Honda Odyssey--both are intuitive)
3) Graphics are poor (all other units I have ever used are better)
4) Update rate is slow
5) Voice sounds like a computer
6) House numbers are basically even or odd only (but aren't obviously selected as such)
7) Display location is very low on the dash = dangerous when driving

Overall, GPS on my first MB is disappointing at best and dangerous at worst.

Nevada Jack

Oh the Studebaker... my first car. It was a used 1950 Champion Sedan with the pointed nose. I had the greatest little car in the world.

I see the Harbour is still as serene as ever Glojo. I am driving a 2010 E350 now and could not be more pleased. I remember the many discussions on the 211's. I am sure your blue wagon looks as good today as when you took delivery.

Best regards...

nopcbs

You are right, it has been said before and it needs to be said over and over to shame MB into never creating such a dangerous travesty of a GPS system again.

How any company that spends so much time and money (and hype) on safe car engineering could put such a hard to use instrument in such an unsafe place in the dash is...well...it is just beyond normal human understanding.

- nopcbs

faarbuc

I have a 2011 CLS 550 and am stunned by the obsolete and extreme user unfriendliness of the navigation system. My German NAVIGON ($60) on my iphone runs circles around the installed system and all updates are FREE. Its NAVTEQ sytem is so cumbersome and therefore dangerous that I will probably not use it but rather put velcro on my iphone with NAVIGON and put it on my steering wheel. What a picture! you run around in an 80K car and can't use the crappy navigation system. I definitely think this is even enough cause form me to look at the japanese and BMW and Audi in 2 years. Its just disappointing to get a low end system in a beautiful and very expensive car.

SteveC325

We just got my wife a 2011 Hyundai Tucson Limited. I now want to dump my Benz.

The difference in technology is night & day. The GPS system is a dream to operate. I have not even cracked open the manual. It's voice activated and it actually takes you on a proper route to your destination, unlike the "adventure" you go on with the Benz.

I don't even use the Mercedes Nav any longer. I have a $200 Garmin (with lifetime map updates) that I take with me on business trips. I now keep that in my car.

The Mercedes Nav system is complete junk.

Someone at Mercedes should get a swift kick in the *****!

220S

My Porsche has crappy nav, too. Although I'd never consider dumping it for a Hyundai.

p.s., you should have held out for a 2009 E Class. Big improvement with COMAND including real voice control, hard drive, etc.. Still not 'state of the art' like Asian electronics always are, but a notable difference in functionality over the 2008 and earlier systems.

BMW's latest iDrive system is pretty good. But still not like Asian cars. If you want a car primarily for the media and nav goodies, you pretty much have to buy a Japanese or Korean car. Chinese cars will be next here after they satisfy their own domestic demand.

SteveC325

The NAV is the only real, MAJOR complaint that I have, so I'm not gonna trade in my E350 for a Hyundai, any time soon Any improvement they made with the 09+ COMMAND would be a serious improvement over the junk prior to that.

But, after getting in that car for the first time and using the NAV, I hate my NAV even more. And, I can't tell you how much I hated it before that!

I won't even start on how much better the XM radio is - LOL

brm

Why did I read this page after just buying an '08? I agree with all everyone else has said: my five year-old, $70 on sale, portable Garmin runs rings around the system in the Benz. I picked the car up in Delaware, after waiting over a month for a hauler that never appeared, and drove it back to Minnesota. The nav. system routed me through Baltimore! And not being able to input a house number is just plain nuts.

JanuszGrygor

This is perfect way to use our navigation to get to specific destination or house number.

Thanks


http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w211...ml#post4149425

220S

For those who have TeleAid (or MBrace), you can just have them download the directions. Or use your iPhone and use the TeleAid (or MBrace) app that will immediately download directions to your COMAND.

fwiw, several weeks ago I couldn't find a gas station on the POIs and hit the TeleAid button. They offered to download the directions to the Nav or talk to me while I was driving and give me directions. I chose the latter and it was like having the Nav give me directions but in an interactive voice, lol. But it was kind of scary that somebody knew exactly where I was and where I was driving.....

WEBSRFR

BTW from what I know the ability to download POI/directions to your command only works on the 2009 W211. I activated MBrace but would have upgraded to MBrace+ if I was able to download addresses and they said my Command does not support it...

Must be nice to drive that fancy new 2009 W211 with the fancy new Command system... oh and that fancy E63 engine

WEBSRFR

The navigation system seems to go out of its way to route you through ridiculous routes... If you are totally lost, it is not bad but from the little testing I have done in areas I know well, it rarely picks the best route where you can take a major road and get there sooner. My circa 1999 Garmin navigation system is much better sadly.

Have said that this is all I have to say about the W211 navigation system most of us have:

Gavin S.

Seiko has a line of watches called Grand Seiko that are easily as well made as Rolex, better really IMO. The thing that Rolex does best is convince the average consumer that they make the finest watch in the world. It's not even close. They make a decent watch, but companies like Patek Philippe, Audemars Piquet, A. Lange & Söhne, the list goes on, make such more refined movements with real complications that a true watch collector would not even compare Rolex to them. Rolex makes over a million watches a year. They are the Bose of the watch world. Another company that has convinced the general public that they are in the conversation as to making some of the finest audio equipment in the world. I own a Submariner and have owned a Daytona and Sea Dweller. I admire Rolex for what they are, but have no illusions about where they stand in the world of horology. Sorry about the rant, but it galls me to see Rolex used as an analogy to express the top of a product field. If you want to be educated about watches, go to www.timezone.com and you will learn about the true artform of watch manufacturing.

220S

Speaking of watches, I bought an IWC Mark (XVI or something or other) Pilot watch only because I liked the way it looked.

It's not flashy at all, it's very simple looking and I can read the dial easily and quickly. I have no idea if it's a good watch or not and I'm not a collector, or into watches. But I liked that it wasn't quartz and I love seeing the second hand move like it does, unlike a battery powered watch. These mechanical (or 'auto' I guess they're called) movements are nice.

Now I don't need that humongous analog clock on the dash that Mercedes insists on keeping in the E Class models.......

Gavin S.

I love IWC (International Watch Company). I've owned several. I just sold their version of the Submariner called the Aquatimer.

220S

I think IWC is a partner with AMG and Mercedes. They use IWC branded clocks in some of the AMGs (I think they had a special IWC version CLS63 in limited production.)

It's not why I got the watch. I just got it because it looked decent and can be used as an everyday watch. One day I was walking down the street and noticed a fancy new store had opened (off Rodeo in BH.) It was the IWC store and so I looked around. Ended up with a new watch and a lighter wallet.

I just now found the watch on their website. It's this one: http://www.iwc.com/en-us/collection/pilots/IW3255/

I realize it's nothing special in the world of watches, but it's well made and tells time.

I's sure your Aquatimer is way much more of a watch. Some of the IWC watches in their store were pretty expensive

WEBSRFR

And what's up with Mercedes not wanting anyone else in the car, other than the driver, to know the current time?

WEBSRFR

If anyone needs further proof that our navigation system is crap, just look at the attached image. While driving through a residential neighborhood in Washington DC, at maximum magnification level, the navigation system felt it was sufficient to give the name of just ONE street. If I ever have to depend on the car's navigation system, I know I am pretty much screwed.

nopcbs

The clock is in the most idotic position anyone could think of...other than the back seat or the trunk. (Are those coming in future E-Class models?) Or maybe someone forgot to tell the crack engineering team that designed the dash the most market segments had the steering wheel on the left side of the dash?

Real dumb!

- nopcbs

Sportstick

If one is not interested in the current time, buy a Rolex. We bought a pair for my wife and myself. Neither can keep time, although Rolex says they are "in spec", several minutes a month off being satisfactory to them. Brand reputation, so-called "class", and all those other distractions become meaningless when our Casio Solar Atomic watches keep precise time for a couple of hundred dollars. I've spoken with other Rolex owners who have similar experiences, and actually laugh at my more recent revelation of the Rolex sham and compare their watches to older Jaguars...just there for the looks, but they don't rely on them. So, we were fooled...once. Will never buy another one. If our Mercedes cars worked as poorly as a Rolex, they would be long gone.

Sgooter

Rolex accuracy versus everything else: for a timepiece worn on your wrist, just how accurate and precise does it really need to be? Most of us are not currently flying a combat mission with a precise time over target.
Rolex is an image that portrays the mating of luxurious materials and beautiful workmanship; similar to a Rolls Royce. That said, my neighbor's Rolls is once again under repair in his garage...could he be hot wiring a TomTom?