glojo

Wow,
Unbelieveable,
Ours is adjusted to allow for those of us that are 'well endowed' in the height department. The drivers seat moves even further back than the default setting and there is ample room for adult legs?? These 'children' must have legs the size of a full grown elephant???

Is this yet again a US only omission?

Ooops nearly forgot,

Hi Calum,
Thanks for the input, I'll add them to the list

John the curious

Spartan

Probably a Can/Us deleted feature. It's amazing how quickly they can eliminate options with software. Especially after a lawyers threat.

These problems would not exists if the US was not so litigious.

On a side note......

A guy in California sued a bathtub manufacturer for a million dollars claiming he got AIDS from the bathtub. The insurance settled for a far smaller sum rather then fight it in court. Not that it had ANY merit, but because the legal defense would cost far more then what they had any hope of recovering in a counter suit from a broken down bum.

Are you poor? Living in a hovel? Can't get a job that gives you money for sitting on your fat ***? Well then, SUE and make someone pay for your miserable life!

khaug

John, I think you'll find that the decontenting process was incremental, ongoing and did not strictly follow any model year designation. Example: Our '05 MY US CDI with a 8/04 build date can play MP3 DVDs. A friend's '05 MY US CDI with a month later build date cannot.

Our 8/04 car ('05 MY) has:
-No REST feature
-No puddle lights in the mirrors
-The new grille in the center dash
-The console with the tambour cover
-Easy entry feature
-"Drive dynamic" seats

I'm glad I wasn't employed as a customer rep in MB's kundencenter during this period!!

Best wishes to you.

glojo

Spot on, and I blame my poor wording.

It is such a shame this is happening, I had convinced myself it was simply a case of penny pinching, but in hindsight, I think back on this forum and remember the dozens of owners complaining about not being able to work certain features. Ninety nine times out of one hundred it was down to the owner NOT reading hte manual. It was easier to complain rather than take out the manual.

Can we remember the numerous threads on programming seat memories? Mp3 playing. I still believe accountants though are involved

The 211 is a brilliant vehicle, but new owners are simply being short changed.

Bye for now,
John

A very sunny morning in Torquay

Barry45RPM

Its not a matter or reading the manual. Regarding the EZ exit seats: Just like the "look down parking feature" of the passenger side door mirror requires pre-memorizing the downward position of the mirror, so does the Exit position of the seats in American manufactured cars with the EZ Exit Seat option. By requiring the Exit position of the seat to be pre-memorized like the mirror's, the seat will always move back for EZ exit for ANY driver of ANY height from ANY driving position.

Here's how it works on American cars. After you set up all of your other preferences in the car, you also set up your seat exit position & lock it into memory. When you shut off the car & open the door, the steering wheel will move up to its upmost and non telescoped position, AND the seat will move back to your preset memorized exit position. You then leave & lock the car.

When you come back and press unlock on your remote, before you even open the door, the car will check to be sure the seat is in the pre-memorized exit position & that the wheel is up and in, and will move them to your pre-memorized exit position if they are not. (In case someone else has driven the car since YOU last exited the car.) Doesn't it seem logical that the position you needed to EXIT the car will be the same position you need to RE ENTER the car, when you unlock it & not standing around pressing (and holding) door buttons waiting to get in?

In the MB E Class the wheel goes up on exit & the seat may or may not go backward depending on if the engineers feel that the seat is already far back enough, because the seat's exit position has been pre determined at the factory. (In the mean time even putting the seat all the way back will not crush anyone sitting in the back anyway... I mean the seat moves s l o w l y , it doesn't snap backwards like a shot.)

Also in the us cars we simply have to press the memory seat button once on the door if we choose to manually return them to position, on MBs you have to press & hold untill all travel is complete.

What I'm saying is that what is "logical" to German Engineers is NOT logical to (the average) US Very Tall, somewhat fattter American, who are used to American engineered electronic logic.

If you look at what is being removed here, you will see it is features that are not logical to "us" (the average put the key in & go types) here, or are overly complicated, or don't operate like the American cars we have become used to, or are redundant switches and systems... (Why wouldn't you want the charcoal filter to filter the air whenever you are running climate control? Why have a separate switch?) ...and while it is a nice touch, how much extra "cold" are you gonna squeeze out of the A/C system, when you put the system on Rest, shut the car off & run into a store? Once the compressor has stopped, the "cool" in the pipes will be gone in 30 seconds.

Even removing the puddle lights, there is still plenty of lights to see a puddle when you open a door. The console was changed here because we want functional cupholders... especially when the flimsy cupholder design is located above water sensitive electronics underneath them!

The decontenting here is probably due to keeping the car price competitive here, and eliminating by MBUSA features that are overly complicated, or not intuitively designed for the average 39 month US Lessee, to whom the car is simply a car, not an Icon to be worshiped.

The average Cadillac owners manual is about 1 inch thick, and it covers every option available in the car, and most people here glance at the manual one time on the night of delivery, and can operate eeverything, or figure it out in a couple of trips to the store. The MBs manuals are an incredible 5 inches thick, and you STILL have people posting here trying to figure out how to make things work because they are not intuitively designed. Theyre very clever features to be sure, but not intuitively programmed. At least for the typical USA Guy.

The E Class is still a great car, but it has to remain price and feature competitive in order for MBUSA to sell enough of them to warrant bringing them (or ANY MB model) into the USA.

glojo

Good evening Barry,
I've been away for several months and it's nice to hear you still singing from the same hymn sheet.

Regards,
John

calum

I think the REST feature is intended for heating, not for cooling. I even heard that it's actually RES.T, for "restlich T", i.e. residual heat.

Barry45RPM

You're probably right about it being for heat, which will last longer in "the pipes" than cold.

...as far as "the same old Hymn Sheet"... clearly the moving seat feature was deleted by MBUSA rather than Gremany "wasting" resources on making it right. But since it only worked right for short to average sized drivers, its probably a good idea to remove it? Isn't that like sweeping the dirt under the rug?

glojo

I'll only try to bite once but what makes you think it was removed for your benefit? Granted I'm only 6' 7" and 18 stone but the easy exit\entrance works perfectly for me and my midget of a wife. Plus there have been absolutely zero complaints about it on the UK forum, the complaints are that they have removed this excellent option.

Just one nibble and all the other bait I will desperately try to ignore.

John

Barry45RPM

OK, you're right. They removed a properly working convenience feature that costs nothing to include in the car once the original seat moving programming code was written.

There isn't one piece of hardware relative to this option that has been removed from the vehicle to save money, just the "Settings" choice to activate it. How does that save them money? Maybe the specs for the option call for the cars in the USA not to move back as far as yours do in Europe... I don't know, except that the seat moves back only for shorter drivers here, and not for me even though I have over 6 inches more travel left in the seat.

HELL ONA HARLEY

Hey Barry....
Why not go to the dealer and have them reset the parameters on your seat... I was in about 6 months ago because the seat stopped working in the easy exit mode and they put a new relay under the seat. At that time I asked them if they would set the travel of the seat so it would go back further, which they did.... It now goes back approx 3" form the back seat. Its been trouble free since.

It would and could easily crush the rear occupant (if wanted)

Barry45RPM

Actually, I've just been pretending that it has been deleted from my car. Right now I'm so upset with the performance of my 7 speed trans. Its been in 3 times so far & now I wish I hadn't let them open the whole can of worms. 1st to 2nd upshifts are abrupt, and when I come to a stop sign, I have to wait 3 seconds after coming to a full motionless stop for the trans to drop back into 1st. If I try to go any sooner, the engine races, then slams into gear. I'm starting to get a little disgusted, & am getting ready to ask for another transmission.

shorthair

I am not sure if is the complete list, but I found this in a MB document of the differences in the 2004 - 2005 models:

- Infrared sensor removed from passenger door
- Valet lockout feature removed from trunk
- Mesh pattern behind rearview mirror removed
- Auxiliary connection inside glove box compartment
– Center dash vent temperature thumbwheel removed
– Center console storage ventilation delete
- Windshield washer bottle heater and fluid line heaters removed
- Entrance lamps on side mirrors removed
- Subwoofer for standard audio system on E320 sedan deleted
- Glove box center shelf removed
- Right dynamic seat requires passenger

glojo

Thanks very much 'shorthair'

Notice how I have refused to bite at Barry's remarks? Oooops just did

I'm sure ifhe won $1m dollars he would complain that it should be 10 cents extra

Still it's a miserable morning, with heavy mist and pouring rain, so what the heck?

Hi Barry

Regards
John

A cold, damp, wet, freezing cold morning in Torquay

johna1

Don't forget that the solar powered ventilation system is no longer available as an option...

In general though, I would have thought that the changes were pretty minor and not really worth getting in a fuss over.

glojo

Totally agree and hopefully folks will accept that I have been asked what has been omitted and I am merely doing my best to answer that question.

W210 Fan asked for a picture of the puddle light and I have finally got round to doing it.



Thanks for the missing option,
John