Oslo

You guys never talk about Distronic. I use the Distronic daily, and it’s the option I like most. Very relaxing, and works perfect. How comes you guys deselect this when ordering?

DavidNJ

If I were a rich man, yada, yada, yada-dee...

In the US Distronic is a $3000 option. It has minimal (virtually no) resale value. 90% of the customers on resale would not even know to look for it.

Even on a lease it is a $300-400 a year cost. Nearly as much as leather interior, ventilated seats, and drive dynamic combined!

Its main feature, keeping a distance between cars under cruise control, is useless in US rush hour traffic where someone will just cut into the space in front of you. And its other advantages (better downhill speed control, inclement weather distance control) never get mentioned.

When MB includes pre-collision and reduces the price to $1500-2000 it will sell. Or if they follow my recommendation and create a top of the line package that includes the current premium package plus distronic, parktronic, tpm, lighting, 4-zone climate control, maybe keyless go (actually a feature I would prefer to skip)...and heated steering wheel

alewifebp

I think two reasons, at least for me. The first is price. $3,000+ USD for this option is priced a little out of range. I would much rather have other options for that same price.

And the next reason is the extremely bad variations of traffic patterns we see in the US. You can probably get away with it in other countries, but in the US, traffic patterns are all over the place, and Distronic just won't be enough for most cases. My daily commute consists of going from 70-0 MPH in quick fashion, then tooling around for about 5 minutes at 10-20 MPH, then hopefully back up to 70 MPH, just to have the cycle repeated.

ATS

Now that I have the car I would like to have it although the $3700 here is Canada is too steep. (I want all the features.. hehe).

glojo

I do not have Distronic, but am I right in thinking that if you are on a busy dual carriageway\autobahn\motorway then you can just relax and let the vehicle in front do all the worrying about accelerating and braking?

If the vehicle in front slows to a crawl or even stops, will your vehicle follow suit? When the vehicle moves again will your car automatically follow suit up to your set speed?

If the speed drops to a 'crawl' will Distronic alter the set distance? Or will the gap stay at the set spacing, thus allowing other slow moving vehicles to get in front of you?

I note that you have the 2.4 Kompressor, does it have the excellent automatic transmission?

Nice speaking to you,
Pool temperature 30.1

John
Sunny Torquay

interpol

I don't have distronic, but do have something similar on my Toyota Sienna minivan... basically a laser that is used to control speed, speeding up and slowing down when needed. It was fun to play with for the first week or two, but I don't find myself using it much now. The main problem out here in CA is not so much the traffic (there's plenty of it), but the driving style of most Californians... we tend to drive pretty close to each other, even when going at normal speeds. The Toyota lets you select different gap lengths, but even the shortest is too long... a car could easily get infront of you without being considered as "cutting you off". This was the main reason (and the cost) that I decided not to get distronic on my MB.

ima55r2

Distronic will cut off under 30 mph in the stop and go of rush hour traffic.

Maintaining a set distance between cars would be great in a parade, a presidential motorcade, or funeral procession but I”m not in too many of those.

Cruise control doesn’t really suit my driving style with the speeds I try to maintain on the road. I probably have used it only twice ever and that was probably to be able to scratch my driving foot.

There’s no doubt about the merits of the system. It's a great safety feature to keep from running into the car in front of you when one falls asleep at the wheel.

I asked a MB rep if it would stop you from going into a tree at 70 mph and he said that would exceed the braking capabilities of the system...so what good is it?

Happy2th

It's purely a convenience feature. I wish my '04 E55 had it. I wonder how much it would cost to have it installed at the dealership? Is it even possible to have it installed if the car did not come with it?

Oslo

http://mbusa.com/brand/models/tech_demos/distronic.html

rdtjr

It would be totally useless in Chicago rush hour traffic. If you tried to maintain a recommended safe distance from the car in front of you, theoretically you might never move at all!

Oslo

You Americans are unbelievable! You modify your cars with Brabus and Carlson kits, buy cars with big engines (and complaining about gas prices), mount huge wheels, and lowering the springs. You even go for Dynamic Seats! Then all you do is using the car during rush hours?

ima55r2

Isn't it great?

My average speed for the last 4 months was 28 mph....with occassional runs above the speed limit.

Fastbuck

Does it work in reverse?

Apollo

Hi

Great innovation, but 1) Too expensive 2) May take your alertness from the road 3) At what point do you stop enjoying driving your car because everything is automatic.

I can see this as being a step towards crash avoidance in the future and even more blue sky, drive by wire cars in the future.