monakh

Umm..yeah...what was I thinking, assuming that the top of the line Benzos would not have state of the art technology. The sad thing is, that DVD-based nav is not even state of the art anymore.

Man, where are we headed?

etenn

emmmm....LS430?:p

monakh

You know, I love Lexus and what it represents. Lexus forced MB (and other automobile makers) to innovate and make their products better.

The LS430 is just **utt-ugly, though. For a 32 year old like me, it is just way out in the left field.

jhb

In my opinion, Lexus has ruined many good designs, including the SC300/SC400 in favor of the hardtop/convertible, the immediate past ES300 and, from the spy pics, the GS series. They had already ruined the LS, so it will be interesting to see what they do with a change on that. From what started as a fairly attractive, more sleek design to the current battleship. Maybe they will actually improve it in the next generation!!!

BMW has done the same thing, except, so far, on the 3 series. Again, in my opinion, the 7 series and the new 5 series are atrocious in design.

That is the distinction with MB. While I don't like every feature, I do like the design of their automobiles. They really get that part of it right. Now, if only they had merged with Honda or Toyota or even Nissan instead of Chrysler, and trashed the design and mechanical engineering departments of the Japanese partner in favor of their own, but trashed their own electrical/electronic engineering departments in favor of one of the Japanese, well..........you get it.

Jeff

Rich

If you go Japanese Navnut, take a look at the Infiniti FX45. Bixenons, DVD nav, intelligent cruise (=distronic), intelligent key (=keyless go), rear seat DVD, 6 disc indash CD, good stereo (way better than MB), auto rear door closer, great handling (0.87g on skidpad), 0-60 6.3, decent luggage capacity, radical styling. All for 52-53K. I am waiting for an E55 w/comand and was watching the value plummet on my '01 E55. Traded an '01 E55 (40Kmiles) and '99 ML430(63Kmiles). Walked away with an awesome new car and a pocket full of money. No way I was going to keep the E55 w/o warranty. Had to replace the air flow sensor twice, throttle actuator once. I had power seat gremlins - never fixed or diagnosed. They actually started working one time as I pulled into the service bay! They only way to get a loaner was to make an appointment well in advance. MB still has a lot to learn from the Japanese.
RIch
'003FX45
'96 993 C4Cab
'01 E55, '99 ML430 - gone

dwang

This has no bearing at all... The W211 nav unit is Comand II, the new and improved Comand by HK. The DVD based nav unit for the W163 is for the original Bosche built Comand/MCS unit. A W163 owner can now upgrade from CD ROM based nav to DVD based nav just by swapping the nav drive (or they can now add DVD nav if you have nothing at all). I don't think that the 2 systems are compatible in any way.


Dave

Silver_Lana

I thought so as well. By the way, have you seen the Audio Control Screen for the MCS system? Yukk...

craign

I spoke with the sales manager at my dealership yesterday he stated that MB has requested a list of those who pre-ordered the command and a list of those that are interested in command. He said that official word is eminent. They also solicited the dealer's opinion as to what they think should be done with the customers who pre-ordered. Certainly sounds like no retrofit is in our future. They didn't say that it couldn't be done but when he said the them that he didn't understand why it is such a problem since so many other cars have DVD nav. their response was that the other cars systems aren't as integrated as the E and that every component in the E is tied together as a system. They have 20 customers that pre-ordered and he said that a buy-back program or a substantial cash refund (several times the initial charge of the command system) seem like likely options. This all happened last week, so we should hear something once the lawyers figure out how to deal with the claims that MB offered something that they could not deliver to prevent losing customers to other brands. This of course is what they did except that maybe they thought that there was a chance they could get it to work. I for one would not have bought this car without Nav. I have had it on my last 3 cars and although the systems aren't perfect, they get you where you are going (most of the time). I am going crazy without it, I used it almost every day for the last 6+ years.

etenn

Like the part about official word is forthcoming. About time. I also would not have bought the car without the Navigation enticement. Hope we hear soon.
Money isn't going to do it for me. I really need a car with Navigation.

tmangus

I was under the impression that the DVD NAV was available and shipping to other countries ( Australlia, Germany), Just not the US.
If this is the case, then there is a unit that does work and should be available for the US cars once the programming is converted to US.

Callaway

No Sat Nav delivered to Australia,just a non-navigation working version of the APS 50 system.

Retrofit still occuring according to my dealer today.