mmanchan

Hi we have an 04 E320 Sport, have been considering installing a dfactory nav, as cool as the after-market ones are, i just don't like clutter on the dashboard and other places..has anyone had the factory nav installed, are they decent, what do they cost? experiences? any direction would help!
Thanks

cyclerider

Yes.
Better than your wife reading a map while you drive.
A lot.
It will sometimes send you on a VERY LONG way to your destination. I got to tour central Nevada for an extra 2 hours and then had to hear everyone say "Why the hell did you go that way?"

Benz-O-Rama

Well...


Having NAV is better than not having NAV, I guess. The MB NAV isn't that great. But, it is better than nothing, that's for sure.

You're gonna want to get in touch with MBenzNL on this board. You'll see his name pop up on here all the time. Basically, he's the best in the biz for factory retrofitting MB's. He or BigSis (also on this board) can tell you everything you need to know about retrofitting NAV, or anything else for that matter, to your car.

Good luck

sosh

Dealer can retrrofit with no problem and on the E the actual unit installs in the trunk. I am not certain if the rest of the set up is pre wired or not. Try to get a quote from the dealer. Remember from the dealer you will receive a better warranty and the unit comes with the nav disc.

edspider

I totally agree with you. The best navs are the cluttery kind, but who wants the clutter. Adding the built in NAV will cost 4-5X so you have to really want it. Especially since it won't add much to your resale value.

I ordered it at the factory and unlike many on the forum, I love it. I like it better than the factory unit from Lexus and Infiniti. I've owned recent models from both and while the Japanese have bigger displays, more detailed displays, voice recognition, etc. I found the MB system to be the most useful and intuitive. I use it much more frequently than I did in Lexus and Infiniti - if only because you can enter a destination while the car is moving. I also like how it will display route info either in the COMAND window or the speedo's MFD.

Even when not is use, I like having my direction and current road displayed in the NAV. It's just a very pleasant system and I fear they will muck it up by trying to mimick the slickness of competing systems.

my06clk

Sosh , you've been mislead.... Did you know that the dealer does not warranty installation of any Add-ons that weren't on the car when it arrived from the factory such as Sat radio, and NAV. Don't believe me, Go Ask them..... SO.. since it is all prewired, what exactly do you consider a "better" warranty? From my experience, even if it doesn't function properly, other that what the laptop screen say's, they don't know what to do anywayz...

sosh

No, I am not mistaken. If I add an MB accessory like nav and phone my dealer will consider it a new car item if its added within the first year and that gives it the 4 year new car warranty. If its added after they give a full one year parts and labor warranty. I have purchased 6 new MB's since 1998 and I have added Nav to a W211, 2 phones in ML's and an I Pod Kit in a W211. All were given new car warranty noted in writing.

cyclerider

My dealer will warranty for four years or 50,000 miles any add-on that they install before I take delivery of the car, with exception of the phone cradle or BlueTooth adapter, which only has a one year warranty.

mmanchan

the dealer in my area quoted me $1800-2000 for it installed..what do you think?

edspider

I think that's pretty reasonable for a dealer price. But if you can get Steve to do it, www.mbenznl.com you would know you had it done right. Perhaps even have some other factory add-on installed. I used him to add Bluetooth to my 06.

cyclerider

Navigation only adds about $500 to your trade-in value, so you have to decide whether the cost is worth it. How long will the dealer warranty the unit? Make sure the warranty covers parts AND labor.

topspin4hand

I love the look of the factory nav. The only characteristic I wish it had is that when you input a street, you don't input the street number which can lead you awry in some instances (you end up going left on the final street versus right).

aceman

I didn't have the Nav on my 05 and was hesitant to have it put in but decided after some thought to go and get it. I'm in sales and use it quite often. I also was looking at cars like the M45 which was full of techno gadgets and one very nice Nav so i went into the purchase thinking the nav was just not as good. That being said, 1 year later, it was by far the best mod i've put into the car. You can enter the street number and it gets you damn close but outside of that and the only other change i'd like to see is being able to choose your route (shortest, fastest, etc.) that's it.

It really is worth the $$$ and i think if you cruise these forums you should be able to get it for 1300-1500 installed IMO.

Aceman