BudC

I've just ordered an '08 E350 with the Voice Command option but the only information I can find about Voice Command indicates that it doesn't do much. There seems to be no support for the Nav system and I'm not sure there is any support for SAT radio.

Other than phone commands and some simple radio/CD commands, what good is it?

Although I'm getting the P2 option, I may not even get the Bluetooth phone puck so I can't see where I'd want to have this option. I am trying to determine if I should delete this option and save $500.

cyclerider

I have the voice control option, and I definitely would NOT purchase it again. I find it to be a total waste of $500. It does not allow any navigation or satellite radio control at all. I never use it to change the radio stations, since you now can scan your presets from the steering wheel controls. Trying to dial a phone number is frustrating, because it frequently misunderstands your voice commands and either asks you to repeat yourself, or just dials another number from your phone book. I always scroll through the phonebook on the COMAND screen and then dial from there. I have given up using voice control altogether. Don't buy it, you don't need the aggravation.

Diesel Benz

I haven't had Linguatronic on a W211 but according to this post, it should do a lot more (I guess this is for the European version but the Navi part at least should be similar):
http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showpost....4&postcount=11

Benz-O-Rama

Are you leasing or purchasing?

If you're leasing and don't think you're gonna use, sure delete it. But if you're purchasing, you may want to keep it for resale purposes. If I were looking at two identical E-classes to purchase used, and one had VCS and one didn't, I'd get the one that had it. Follow me? Plus if you're financing, a 500.00 option will not add much to you're payment. And if you're paying in full, what's 500.00 bucks?



My .02

cyclerider

The US version does nothing in navigation or satellite radio. Telephone, AM/FM radio, and CD player ONLY. If I were selling my car to a private party, I wouldn't demo the voice control, since it often doesn't respond correctly, and just points out the weaknesses in M-B's electronics.

Spend the $500 on the trunk closer instead. It is much more useful.

BudC

Thanks for the feedback. I'm paying cash and expect to drive the car for a long time so resale value isn't important to me.

I'm replacing my E320 much sooner than expected simply because the 2008 E350 is so much better.

Anyway, I'm going to save myself $500 and cancel it.

I'll use the money to buy the Bluetooth integration kit.

Thanks again.

Bud

Barry45RPM

I Love the VCA & find that the system understands me all the time, except if the window or roof is open. It has the best speech recognition software I have come across in any car. It can be trained to recognize your voice more easilly by going through a training program on the comand. I have never done that, since its that good. The trick to it not dialing a phonebook entry by mistake is to make the entries as different as possible. If you have "Alissa's Cell" as one entry & "Linda's Cell" as another, they're not different enough to tell apart by a system that doesn't actually know what you are talking about. Its just listening for frequency & Rythm.

It accepts phone numbers when recited as "Call 1516...555....1212...Call" perfectly every time. It has to be quiet in the car & you have to be facing the windshield or the area of the SOS button.

It doesn't have comands for SAT ot NAV, but it will switch to the Map if you say map. (And when listening to SAT, you CANT scroll thru your SAT presets thru the wheel like you can on AM/FM. It goes to the next higher numbered channel only... and with SAT you will never listen to AM or FM again.)

I had it in '04 & reordered it for my '07. Combined with my Verizon V710 cradled phone, it is flawlessly integrated. Cell phone use while driving will be outlawed everywhere soon, so I like it. You will use it to repeat or select tracks or individual CDs on the CD changer, or switch to the single slot CD, etc. I bet you the people who say "don't get it", don't have it. A quick demo at the dealer is NOT an accurate demo of it's usefullness. Most of the salesmen don't know how to use it, anyway.

If you have to/want to save the $500, thats another story. I have learned NOT to order a car to suit the NEXT owner, or for resale. You're not the next owner's Father. You don't owe him anything. You don't get paid for any options in the car except Comand & Nav. A very clean, well maintained car will fetch you at least the same, probably more from a private guy than a well optioned average car... and chances are you're gonna trade this car to a dealer who won't give you as much as a private sale, but, you will save the trade in amount he gives you for this car in Sales Tax savings on the next one... and you won't have stayed home waiting for the phone to ring, or worry about the car being "jacked" or the check being a forgery, or a million other things. As much as you will love this new car, 10 minutes after you get into your next new car, this one won't even occupy a space in your mind anymore. Get exactly what you want if you can swing it & it makes you happy.

Long story short? VCA is a very nice option to have. ...and so is Keyless Go. But neither is "necessary".

starbrite

Trust me, Barry's right on the mark here. As the old Alka Seltzer commercial used to say "try it, you'll like it".

Benz-O-Rama

I don't have it, and I wish I did. I'll probably retrofit it soon, as I did the phone system. Here's the thing. You say that you're paying cash, right? What's that gonna set you back....60 grand? Seriously, isn't it worth 500.00 bucks just for the "cool factor". Maybe I'm different. I'm 34, and I'm just one of those people that have to have every option available on a car. And 500.00 bucks is what you're gonna pay for the first scheduled maintenance plus a couple of tanks of gas. Just get it, $500.00 is just a drop in the bucket for most of us that own these cars. I'm sure you'll be glad you did.

New E350W4

We have the Bluetooth and it's flawless. Liked it so much, I had the BT kit installed on my V70 and it works perfectly, too WITH voice control built in, repeats the number I give and simply say dial. My wife loves that and wonders why I didn't order VCA for her E!
After reading this, I think I'm glad I didn't

tlbeedy

How funny.... Glad I read this thread.... I even forgot my car is equipped with the voice control.... I do however absolutely love the Automatic Trunk Closer.

organist88

I have voice control on both my '06 E350 and 07' ML350 and I find that I use it on a daily basis. I never had a problem with misunderstood commands; well thats after I ran the personalization setup. One difference I would like to note is that the '07 ML350 has voice control for navigation. It would be interesting if one could get that feature in an older E with a software upgrade.

jimm

Amateur sales training teaches newcomers to determine the prospect’s
“needs” and appeal to those “needs.”

But, clever, STAR salesmen, (5%) who earn the Big Bucks, learn early that
appealing to the prospects “wants” is MUCH more productive! How many
things have we bought in the last 10 years that we really NEEDED ..
compared to what we “just kinda wanted?”

I exemplify this purchasing rationalization. I now live alone. I have a two
passenger corvette. I only NEED a one passenger, because I don’t haul
anyone else.

Guess why I’m getting a second car that hauls 4-5 people? Of course.
Because I “want” it.

And, I’m getting most options that are available. The Voice thing, for
example, which works for hundreds of things .. I may use one or two of
them. Or, maybe none. But, I’ve got the “latest” in case I DO want to use
it. I “want” the latest and greatest!

Now that I’m old, my buying decisions have grown easier. If I think I
“might” like it I get it! If I never use it .. big deal.

(Now, that sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?)

jimm

cyclerider

Speaking of options, I highly recommend the Parktronic feature (if you can get past the $1110 it costs), the rear side-window blinds, and the trunk closer.

Barry45RPM

If you don't travel with people, you wouldn't need the rear side blinds. I had them on my last 2 cars, & outside of people pulling them up occaisionally and saying "what's this?", they were never extended for any other reason.

Not in the '07, don't miss them. It was a good place for MB to save some money.

Heejin

I had the Bluetooth installed in my wife's car as soon as it came out. It was so new, even the dealer had no clue what it was. Anyway, my wife just loves it. I think it was worth every penny spent on that installation.

In addition, she loves the trunk closer as well. She found it very convenient. Do you know that you can even close the trunk using the button on the driver door as well? I highly recommend this option.

One mistake I made was skipping the parktronics so I am having it installed later this month from Sunman which will cost me much more than I would have paid for factory installed option.

Someone could say that these options is not really necessary, but I think that you should enjoy these kind luxuriousness if you are buying Mercedes

BudC

I've been looking at phone integration options and will probably get the V3 RAZR cradle that works either docked or with Bluetooth.

As for the Voice option, it's so restricted compared to the ones from companies like BMW that it didn't seem worthwhile to me. I wanted it for entering destinations into the Nav system but the Mercedes Voice option doesn't do it. I originally assumed it would support the Nav system and had it on my '08 order but when I found out how little it does, I deleted it.

I still do not understand what I'd use the trunk closing option for. My neighbor has it on his new Lexus and it takes a long time to close the lid. Why not just shut it? Why would I want to close the trunk lid from inside the car? Haven't I just put something in the trunk? I'm concerned that it's more of a hassle than a plus. Quite frankly, I'm concerned about Keyless Go as well. It comes with the P2 option so I have no choice.

As for Parktronic, it wouldn't seem to solve my biggest problem and that is backing out from between two big SUV's. I almost never drive in the dark so backing up in the dark is a rare event and I live in the desert where the sun shines all the time so I don't have a problem with driving rain obscuring viability.

If I could see some justification for these things, I'd get them. So far I simply can't see it.

Heejin

Believe me. I had exact same thought before I got the trunk closer for my wife's '07 w211. She was still happy with '04 w211 without trank closure, but it's one of her favorite option on '07 w211 now.

MARK CUMMINS

The Voice Control WILL Come in Handy Next Year WHEN the New Law goes into affect re NO More Hand Held Phones...

Heejin

Talk to Sunil Re distronic.....Its One of My Favorite mods....You NEED It!

Oh and a EuroNav with TV Tuner helps in traffic!

BudC

When my neighbor proudly showed me the way his GS-350 trunk would close I was thinking to myself, why would I want to have something that takes forever to close when a small flip of the wrist would do it?

I do have a question about it. I assume that if you lock the trunk with the Valet key, it will disable the feature. Another question, is there any way with the key fob to close the trunk? My wife may have her arms full of groceries in the garage and wouldn't be able to reach up and press the button to close the trunk but she might have the key fob in her hand.

BudC

I don't get the connection. Voice Control hasn't anything to do with hand held phones. The phone will be in my pocket or my wife's purse or docked in a bracket. The phone will be controlled by the controls on the steering wheel.

It will be fully integrated so that I'll use the audio system and the built in microphone to communicate with the phone.

Barry45RPM

You can controll the phone & scroll thru the phone book on screen, or with the VCA just pull the talk lever and say "Call the Office" and you're connected... or you can say.. "Dial 800 555 1234... dial" and your connected.
No scrolling or taking your eyes off the road. THAT's the connection. Its all done by talking to the car.

jimm

This is quite confusing, but, as I understand it, since I’m getting Voice, now
the dealer can install Bluetooth (for about 425 more) which will then enable
me to use the car’s speakers for my phone calls. All with my cell phone in my
pocket!

Wherein I can turn those speakers up as loud as I want! This is GREAT
because I’m now pretty hard of hearing.

My salesman thought that “maybe,” if you got Voice, MB would make Bluetooth
standard for 08 (because everybody wanted it.) But, the sales manager said he
hadn’t heard that.

jimm

DerekACS

Jimm, the 2008 specs (for Canadian E Class) state that "cellular telephone preparation (MHI)" is standard and " accessory Bluetooth adapter is included".
I would be surprised if US specs were different.

BudC

Was the MHI an option for 2007 in Canada. We had to get the P1 option package in the US to get it. The Bluetooth puck costs about $400 extra.

My deal with the salesman is that I get the car for whatever Invoice turns out to be so it's possible Jim and I may save some money on our '08 orders or not. If more options are made standard, they'll just add it to the base price so it's probably going to be a wash.

I was assuming I would buy the V3 RAZR package that permits either docking to the bracket or using the phone via Bluetooth. I guess we'll have to wait until the dealers find out more before we'll know what's going on. If Bluetooth is made standard then I assume we'd have to buy a bracket if we also wanted the option to dock the phone as well.

It's going to interesting to see what changes are included in the 2008 W211's.