I got my replacement car today. I love the Comand II. Still have a lot to figure out but it seems to be very accurate.

When I picked up my car, my dealer told me that MB has placed a limit on the mileage of the trade-in, 15,000 miles for a year, prorated for less than a year. I had only 3,700 miles so that was not an issue for me but the dealer said MB just came out with this news. Mileage in excess of 15K will be charged to the owner at a rate of $0.48 per mile. Has anyone else heard this? That is a really expensive rate per mile. Other than that news, the process went fine with no issues. BTW, I finally have my wood wheel!

 

Another thing I noticed is that for SOME CD's, the replacement car's HK system shows the name of the CD. For me this is new but it only displays one out of six so for most it still doesn't show anything but the number of the slot.

 

hey ray, congrats on your car, have fun with it. i havent heard of the .48 per mile thing, but that is really sad on MB's point...any special info on the nav that hast been said before? thanks

 

Thanks bmms8. I think most everything I can say after just a few hours using it has already been covered by DRB. It is cool how you can search on places to eat, libraries, wineries, schools, gas stations etc. You can also zoom in very close or all the way out to a picture of the whole United States showing your location. If I notice anything special I'll post.

 

Yea, the wood wheel is loads of fun. Originally, I thought it was too extravegent, but now I cannot imagine a future MB without it. Command II is pretty sweet......

 

On day 2 the airmatic on my replacement car reported a malfunction. This continued for two weeks. I took the car in last Tuesday, and a part was ordered from California. The car also had a scratch, made during delivery, on the bumper which is being repaired. While the airmatic repair was being made I received a call from the service manager at ASC that they made another scratch on something called a rocker panel. That too was being repaired this week. My car will have been in the shop a week when I pick it up next Monday. I miss the car.

 

Geeez...I guess I will get to be the guy who challenges the 15,000 change. I now have over 16,000 miles.

No mention was made to anyone when the exchange was offered. No opportunity to keep mileage down was made. As a matter of fact, my sales manager said if it were him he would "drive the pi$$" out of it until the new one showed up.

It is a little late for MB to start making new rules.

Hard to believe they would throw in extras for some of us and then try to add penalties. I'll just have to wait and see how it turns out. I do know that mine is the only one my dealer has and he and the area rep were in the dark until the last minute.
Some may remember that they insisted that I was going to get an '04 replacement. I knew better but did not tell them until they found out themselves.

Ray...keep us updated on how the new one compares. Hopefully none of the earlier problems.

 

Geeez...I guess I will get to be the guy who challenges the 15,000 charge. I now have over 16,000 miles.

No mention was made to anyone when the exchange was offered. No opportunity to keep mileage down was made. As a matter of fact, my sales manager said if it were him he would "drive the pi$$" out of it until the new one showed up.

It is a little late for MB to start making new rules.

Hard to believe they would throw in extras for some of us and then try to add penalties. I'll just have to wait and see how it turns out. I do know that mine is the only one my dealer has and he and the area rep were in the dark until the last minute.
Some may remember that they insisted that I was going to get an '04 replacement. I knew better but did not tell them until they found out themselves.

Ray...keep us updated on how the new one compares. Hopefully none of the earlier problems.

 

Today must be the day that alot of us picked up our new NAV cars.

Vader 2 came in and was flawless. I agree that the wood wheel is the way to go........thicker rim then the leather one for sure.
My process took less than 30 mins to complete and off we went only to be greated with Tire Pressure Malfunction......guess when one opts to increase the pressures to 36 psi the computer senses that as well.

I called the dealer Mgr. at home tonite to ask him about the mileage statement. He had never heard of this a told me the same thing 2 mos ago.........use it but don't abuse it.

I feel the NAV 2 once I get used to it will be great. The female voice has a slight Germanic tone vs. the computerized gal in my Lexus.

Hope everyone enjoys the finality of the NAV finally in place.

I ALMOST swapped the E500 for a silver E55 on the floor. After about 20 seconds and 25 grand in balance due I quickly got the hell out of Dodge.

Nice car.

Derek.

 

Hi Ed, this is the link I used to track my car with the VIN. Just clink on Auto, and enter your VIN for the tracking number. Good luck.

http://www.2wglobal.com/www/WEP/Tool...king/index.jsp

 

Rayscar, this sounds impossible - MB would have had to inform us of the limit when we were gievn the option on the trade-in or $2K check. Also, if your car had mileage overage on the date of the trade-in based on a pro-rated 15k miles, how does MB know that the car would not have been within the allowed miles by the end of the lease?

This one I have to attribute to misinformation.

 

Hmmmm...still does not have anything on my VIN number. I have had that number for a couple of weeks. It is either wrong or MB has not put the car on a ship for some reason. I understand that this tracking site is only good after it has been put on a ship. I hope they are not driving it over here

 

It may well be misinformation. All I know is that is what my dealer told me when I got my replacement yesterday. He said they were just informed by MB. He also seemed very relieved that this was not going to be an issue on my car. I'm sure they know it will become a big hassle too.

Considering all the misteps and miscommunications on this and other issues, i wouldn't get too excited about it yet unless we get other confirmations that this is in fact true. If it is I don't see how MB can impose that limitation at this late stage in the game.

 

Don't know why it doesn't show your car. Maybe confirm the VIN with your dealer.

 

Or it could be on another ship by another company. I have had my VIN for almost a month.... and it NEVER showed up on the tracking website. It's scheduled to arrive at the VPC TOMORROW.

Should be taking delivery next week.

Peter

 

Ray...did you lease your car? I have been thinking about the 15,000 mile and .48 mileage penalty. That sounds more like an excess lease mileage penalty.

In my case, I did not lease. My car has been built, at least I have had a VIN number (I checked the date) since the last week of June, so the car has been built for 1 month now. They are telling me to expect delivery in the first week or two of September. That will be over 2 months after being built.

Since I have the 15,000 miles on the car, I would be paying 48 cents a mile while they hold on to the car for some reason. I don't think that is going to fly with me or anyone else. I have no choice than to drive the car and would be paying to use my own car. It is not my choice to put the miles on this car...they have not provided me with another.

It does make a little sense if it were a lease, but I recall that those that leased were told that it started all over with the mileage. The 15,000 prorated over a year would mean that you could only have 1250 miles for every month you had the car.

 

wow, 2 months...it should only take 6 weeks, and all of the nav cars have priority, they didnt give you a reason on why it will take so long? also, did your dealer say that there will be a charge...makes no sense for them to do that...maybe they screwed up your car or something, because 2 months is to much time for a priority car

 

Hi Ed, no I purchased my car. I asked if it applied to leases only and was told no. In fact this penalty is even more than excess mileage penalty in their lease program. I hope it is not true but he seemed pretty certain and like i said he seemed to recognise this was going to be a major issues with customers too. He was relieved when he determined it didn't apply to me.

 

It's about right. I think I waited nearly two months, maybe slightly less but not much.

 

If it's like US Chrysler cars, the VIN is assigned when scheduled for production, not when actually produced. That could explain some time issues.

 

Hopefully, there is not that big a tie-in with Chrysler:p

I had thought it was assigned by MB when it came off the line. Maybe I have it wrong. That would explain the time....June to September sitting at the factory makes no sense.

 

Not sure why it's taking so long for some of you to get your replacement cars. Mine was ordered in the middle of June. I heard some folks are saying middle of sept.? I don't understand that. Also, I have not heard of excess mileage penalties. I had a little over 10K and my salesman did not say anything. I also filled out a NEW app. for teleaid, getting me another year. New car, new VIN, everything should start over. That's what I was told. Some initial impressions: I'm hearing ticking sounds!! I can't believe this wasn't corrected at the factory. Perhaps i'm imagining it? I'll listen more tomorrow. Regarding the NAV I'm not impressed (granted I've only glanced at the manual, so that could be it). I've just used it around town and close to home. Took the kids to Mickey-D's for lunch today and figured I'd navigate home. It's probably less than a mile. I hit "home" got to the major intersection and it told me to go in the complete opposite direction (make right instead of left). The other thing I've noticed is that a few times the instruction to turn has been very late. I would have passed the street by, if I didn't know where I was going. Why is she speaking in "meters". Everything else is in miles? I checked the steering wheel function keys and confirmed it's set to miles. The NAV screen shows miles, but she says "turn left in 50 meters". I also don't see the names of any roads on the map as i'm driving. The cover of the manual shows the blue interstate signs. Shoudn't it say the county, or state road on the map itself? And finally, just coming home now, I heard a rattling noise (front end, drivers side?) that scared the s**t out of me. I thought something was going to fall off. Guess i'll be calling the shop tomorrow.

 

congrats on your new car, sorry about all of the problems, it makes no sense why MB didnt fix the problems, even with your NAV.

 

To see street names zoom in on the screen. Hit any of the soft keys on the right side of the map and you'll then see the keys to zoom in or out. The voice prompts on my COMAND are in feet and miles. For example she'll say turn right in 200 feet and there is a bar graph on half the screen counting down the feet remaining until the turn. There must be a setting somewhere for you to adjust. I've no cases of it giving me wrong directions. it will not always give you the shortest route but so far its been very accurate for me.

 

Rays,
I played some more yesterday and she will say turn right in 50 meters, but the screen will have the arrow pointing right with "feet". Weird. I was on an interstate yesterday and it did have the Blue I-495 sign on the map. No other roads though. I'm sure it's in the book, I just have not had time to read it yet!!

Also, anyone who got their replcamenet. is the wood a little darker on the center console than on your original? Mine seems to be definitely darker. Kind of liked the old one better. I figured they all would be pretty uniform, but maybe there is some variation.