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I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I really like the ergonomics of my early W212 (2012 E550). Designing interfaces and technology for effective use by people is an interest of mine.
The placement of the controls seems intuitive and purposeful. Some examples,
The paddle shifter placement on the steering wheel is just right. It allows me to keep my hands at 9 and 3 o’clock (If you’re old like me you will remember being taught to place your hands at 10 and 2 o’clock, but that’s old news). This position allows me the best control of the wheel and easy access to shifting. The indentation on the wheel here helps also. The fact that the right paddle is (+) and the left paddle is (-) is intuitive also (perhaps mirroring the accelerator and brake pedals). In contrast, my Pontiac GXP paddles are push and pull, which isn’t as “nice” IMHO. The paddles as easily identified by feel using the “bump” and “indent” on the backside also.
Initially I didn’t think I’d like have the gear selector lever as a stalk. Being old school, my manual transmission cars have the shifter on the floor, and most automatics have that also. But, freeing up the console real-estate by moving the shifter to a stalk is nice. The cupholders are positioned well (and have been able to accommodate anything I want to put there) and drinks are easy to access because there’s no shifter in the way.
The turn signal and cruise control stalks are positioned perfectly for me. I know that many believe the two were “backwards” and MB did exchange them later on (right?), but I like having the cruise stalk above the turn signal stalk. I use the cruise constantly and being able to easily engage/release or bump the speed is very handy.
The instrument panel is logically laid out. If I had my way, I wouldn’t have an analog clock in the cluster, but I understand that many folks like that. My only complaint is that the speedometer is a little hard to read in certain light. I wish the numbers were always illuminated. Yes, I know I can set a digital speed display, but I usually have something else displayed in the center of the speedometer.
The split opening of the center console is good deign. If there was single door, it would either open from the front or one side, and it would end up being in the way IMHO.
Having levers to for the climate control functions is nice. I can find what I want to do without looking at it, unlike my other cars that only have tiny buttons.
The flat-bottom (D) steering wheel is really nice also. My E550 is the only car that I don’t have raise the steering wheel to enter or exit.
Oh, yeah, there are some things that don’t work well, such as the overhead console. I can almost never figure out how to turn on the interior lights, and the symbols don’t mean much to me either :-)
This is my 1000 post and I wanted to say something meaningful.
So, what are your thoughts about the ergonomics of the W212?
I concur with what you all said above besides having a numeric keypad is also very handy in my opinion as well. Nothing is like Comand knob to control the screen . It would be just perfect to have a touchscreen in regards to multimedia display but it's OK .My only gripe is not having a digital instrument cluster panel in W212 .
I have been driving various cars and W212 is my fave as far as the usability is concerned as well as the position of the gear selector .I also love the fact that we have a sliding lid .The buttons on the steering wheel is just perfectly positioned as well. Not to mention , having seat control buttons on the door panel is another useful Mercedes-Benz "wizardy"
Besides , how can we not say about power folding rear headrests when not in use
I also forgot to say , passenger seat under storage area is very handy too
The keyword is WE ARE OLD ....( pass 50 and wearing glasses is OLD for me )
Jokes aside.
I like a car where I can activate switches by muscle memory and zero sight.
Safer for my eyes to be always on the road for a country like mine with weird & highly idiotic surprises you won't find in developed 1st world countries.
Points I find similar opinion between you and me : Oh, yeah, there are some things that don’t work well, such as the overhead console. I can almost never figure out how to turn on the interior lights, and the symbols don’t mean much to me either :-)
I sometime pressed REAR seat overhead light button by accident, quite often actually when I tried to turn on my overhead light when finding something in the dark.
The auto front overhead light activation with the door opening, I like to keep it off but since our car uses timer based and not immediate OFF, I often made mistake there... ha ha ha.
Honestly I do not drive the car in night time often enough where I need overhead light to be ON while I am driving.
Having levers to for the climate control functions is nice. I can find what I want to do without looking at it, unlike my other cars that only have tiny buttons. Its not bad but I wished the fan speed lever is at furthest RIGHT side, and there then I will not need my eye to find it , can do by touch totally.
On long distance I operate the fan speed quite often as 3 BAR is noisy, but 2 BAR is too slow an air flow in a day time under strong sunlight.
The automatic fresh air vent opening timer I have disabled, used to be per 25 minutes or so it will auto open and for my city traffic that means I will smell exhaust gas
of trucks and whatever lower grade emission than even Euro 1 aka SMELLY !!!
That LED light of the fresh air vent opening is what I used to need to observe while driving.
Initially I didn’t think I’d like have the gear selector lever as a stalk. Being old school, my manual transmission cars have the shifter on the floor, and most automatics have that also. But, freeing up the console real-estate by moving the shifter to a stalk is nice. The cupholders are positioned well (and have been able to accommodate anything I want to put there) and drinks are easy to access because there’s no shifter in the way.
This one is a love-hate relationship for me.
My muscle memory is based on Japanese cars and signal stalk/lever is on the RIGHT and not US or European cars where signal lever is on the LEFT.
Since I sold my Ford Fiesta which has signal stalk/lever on the LEFT, my all other cars are surely Japanese ones and always signal stalk/lever is on the RIGHT.
When I do Jakarta-Bali-Jakarta run, each way still has about 10 hours of rural roads. Single lane and with opposing traffic.
Like below , but much more traffic density :
I always will overtake and using signal light is a must and so very often it has to be done, like hundreds of time in the 10 hours span because so many trucks doing 40KM/H.
Trucks are no 1 cause of accidents on these road because they are so slow, everyone will try to overtake them.
There were 2 instances where my brain had a glitch during 2020 trip ( first long distance trip on rural road for my E400) , out of a few hundreds OK sequences, twice my brain glitched.
I mistaken the tranny stalk as turn signal stalk aka Japanese car signal lever position. I was thinking of something else at that time most likely.
Since I am on a RHD road and car, I will signal left when I have safely overtaken the car in front of me ( now on my far rear left 4-5 car length ) , this means by accident,
the tranny hand lever I will push up (LEFT) and that brings the car into NEUTRAL by accident.
It is just been lucky for me that I like doing WOT during an overtake, which if the truck is at its common 40KM/H,
tranny will drop to 2nd gear and I will pull pass 2nd gear into 3rd to about 120-130 KM/H, because this E400 engine is fun at these speed range.
Therefore when I accidentally was in NEUTRAL (assumed left turn signal activated) , I was not accelerating anymore but
was already in coasting mode..... but I still have excess speed of at least 80-90 KM/H than the vehicle I overtook, so it was safe for me because of the WOT habit.
I then needed to brake to slow car down to the speed next vehicle in front of me is maintaining. By the next few seconds when I demanded acceleration,
I then realized the tranny was in Neutral. M276 3.0 TT is very smooth and quiet engine, the induction growling does not occur till approx 4,000+ RPM.
There are muscle memory sequences since 1982 I started driving to today which got embedded so deep,
it can cause glitch when new muscle memory sequence is needed for the same task.
This very reason, my 1st time in 2015 I drove for a few hours in USA, my most uncomfortable-awkward moments are at 4 ways intersection and a circle/round about and there were
no other cars to remind me that I am on a LHD country , where my sense of traffic flow direction and proper lane positioning must be re-calibrated.
For parking the tranny stalk at steering column is very nice. Almost as good/fast as manual tranny touch only , no need visual.
Able to do go direct to P from a D or R is again nice.
Now what I like about the W212, its hazard light switch position is VERY GOOD.
I drive like a maniac since young, not so anymore, but signaling is something I never fail to do and secondary emergency warning for driver behind me is an art
I have practiced since the 80s, before ABS days and before car manufacturer integrated the amber rear hazard light activation under hard braking.
So my left hand coordination ( RHD car ) has always been right leg modulating brake to 90ish% ( non ABS), left hand drop gear (manual tranny )
and then activate HAZARD light ( all under 1,5 seconds) if and when doing hard braking to avoid some dumb azz or a goat/cow in front of me and
at the same time warning the cars rear of me to understand that some shi-et is happening in front of me and so beware as I am doing full power braking WITHOUT tire
screech!!
Before ABS days, the less trained driver will lock their brakes and make super load screeching sound warning other cars of the danger, today with ABS being so good,
unless we are very alert and having that Hazard light activation, cars behind us may not know we brake VERY hard to 99.9% limit.
I have confidence in my reaction time and the way I monitor traffic multiple cars ahead of me, but I do not feel the same for most cars on the road in front or behind me and more so
today's breed of super narcist Text-Instagram-WhattsApp-Facebook addicted drivers who are probably no 1 cause of accident today.
I pity new drivers not able to experience non ABS cars where brake modulation is a good art to master and how sad if no skill on using manual tranny ever experienced.
The paddle shifter placement on the steering wheel is just right. It allows me to keep my hands at 9 and 3 o’clock (If you’re old like me you will remember being taught to place your hands at 10 and 2 o’clock, but that’s old news). This position allows me the best control of the wheel and easy access to shifting. The indentation on the wheel here helps also. The fact that the right paddle is (+) and the left paddle is (-) is intuitive also (perhaps mirroring the accelerator and brake pedals). In contrast, my Pontiac GXP paddles are push and pull, which isn’t as “nice” IMHO. The paddles as easily identified by feel using the “bump” and “indent” on the backside also.
Yes good for me too on the paddle shifter albeit I mainly use the LEFT (-) one only and steering wheel suits my hand hold style of at 9 and 3 o’clock
The instrument panel is logically laid out. If I had my way, I wouldn’t have an analog clock in the cluster, but I understand that many folks like that. My only complaint is that the speedometer is a little hard to read in certain light. I wish the numbers were always illuminated. Yes, I know I can set a digital speed display, but I usually have something else displayed in the center of the speedometer.
I hate clock on IC, but mine doesn't have clock, so its good.
Mine is this version
Is yours the one below ?
I never use the cruise control, not worth it in my kind of erratic traffic and my heavy right foot nature.
CC control not at the best location for my preference.
The 4 window controls at the door is suitable for me to operate while is a relax elbow position.
Some cars I got to maneuver my elbow to the rear to open my driver window. Toll ticket and taking/paying for parking, so driver window is very often used.
I like the fact that the is no touchscreen controls on W212.... I hate touchscreen and is dangerous.
I never use the steering audio control for music volume, I like the current big rotary one we get. By touch, no need visual assist and that click-click feedback is nice for each step up/down.
Push to turn OFF and ON power, clicking dial for increase and decrease of volume...simple and sweet.
That Command MENU very mechanical click-click wheel at center console is also nice, I would not want a touchscreen or touch pad one.
The one I hope should be improved is the tranny E-S-M selector push button.
If it is a 3 way rotary or a twin direction push button so I can scroll up or down at will, I would be happier.
I almost never use dedicated M mode unless I am on a downhill descend or doing simulated Italian Tune-Up, since I can command temporary M mode using the paddle shifter.
If on long distance run, I often switch between E and S. Having only 1 button to select 3 modes, from S to E, I have to go to M first. Waste of time.
E for me is not because I want to save fuel, but it is the most calm gear change and starts at 2nd gear as lowest gear, so for slow traffic it is very useful on
the super slow creeping capability when stop and go often occurred.
My last wish would be an ergomic seat with more hug on my shoulder so I can do fast wide corner at 0.9+ Gs without needing to hold on to the steering wheel to stop my azz and body from
"drifting". Now I can only do tight LEFT turn and my elbow I keep at the door (RHD) to prevent me from sliding. RIGHT turn I have no anchor support except to grab the steering wheel.
Regardless this car is 1.9 metric ton and not very "good" at very tight bend a Golf R or Ford Fiesta will excel , due to W212 size and weight and rather dull/numb road-feel electric steering,
at wide enough bend at high speed with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 and just regular Bilstein B4 dampers, the driver seat truly shows its weakness.
PS
I am a stubborn guy who does not like wearing progressive glass. Tried once but I hate it.
I need reading glass ( so I am a plus ) and I need driving glass as I can't focus far away too ( minus ). The right eye is the bad one with cylinder.
Therefore when I wear my driving glass, dashboard distance is a little blur, hence switch activation by touch is a high priority.
I have reading glass for 30ish cm focus distance , PC glass 80cm and driving glass 2 meters plus. These are all them glasses best focus distances
I am also a diver and we operate by touch for many task and gear positioned on our body 90% we can't see them but we can feel them.
Anyone else dislike the call button placement in this overhead console? First week I owned the car, thought I could pull a fast one and unplug it from the harness. It simply gave me an error code until I reconnected it. ....something to work on when I have time.
Anyone else dislike the call button placement in this overhead console? First week I owned the car, thought I could pull a fast one and unplug it from the harness. It simply gave me an error code until I reconnected it. ....something to work on when I have time.
The emergency wrench button and information button? My ‘02 C32 AMG had them in the center console and since then in the E class cars they have been in the overhead. In 20 years I have never pressed either call button. I don’t see it as an inconvenient location at all. ( since I never touched them)
The emergency wrench button and information button? My ‘02 C32 AMG had them in the center console and since then in the E class cars they have been in the overhead. In 20 years I have never pressed either call button. I don’t see it as an inconvenient location at all. ( since I never touched them)
I hate to look up at the dark headliner of the car when I need the map light. Guess I need to try harder.
Speaking of those buttons , I must admit a funny thing . I pressed the both farthest right and left side headliner buttons and expect to see center light would illuminate and waited . Nothing happened , for a moment I thought my lights were broken but that center buttons lit up the lamps . I later realized that those two buttons at the side were just for the lights under the mirror .
Well, I also love we have lamps under the mirrors .
What a sight of relief ,anyway I am tinkering about to replace those boring yellow lights to outstanding white LEDs
I realized I should also talk about the location of the park sensor indicators . I have driven many cars no any car has the facility of what Mercedes-Benz offers in that department . Front parking sensor indicators are just within your eyeline so are the rear parking sensor indicators located to exact place where you can see easily when you take a glance at the rear view mirror during park maneuvers
I am fortunate my E400 being a facelift model that the rear-view mirror 2 lamps are already LED module and not T10 filament bulb.
I wonder how difficult or risky tearing open the rear-view mirror just to access those 2 bulbs.
https://www.mersec.net/77/automatic_..._function.html WARNING Risk of burns and poisoning due to the anti-glare mirror electrolyte
Electrolyte may escape if the glass in an automatic anti-glare mirror breaks. The electrolyte is harmful and causes irritation.
Yikes !!!!
in general, I'm happy with the ergonomics of our 2016 E350. the dome light buttons are probably my least favorite, but thats cuz I hardly ever use them. it took awhile to get used to the silly gearbox lever on the steering column, I prefer a center console shifter. But, the NTG5 COMAND works very nicely, especially with Android Auto enabled. The cruise control lever under the turn signal is a bit weird, but I do like how you can +/- either 1 MPH at a time or to the next 5 MPH multiple. The car overall is supremely comfortable to drive, although I do wish the initial throttle pedal response was a little softer, it takes some practice to keep it from lurching forward off a stop (but my other current vehicle is a older Ford F250 pickup with the 7.3 powerstroke diesel, and it requires a healthy amount of pedal to roll). Also the brakes are almost too sensitive (the F250 requires a strong toucn on the brake pedal if you want to stop in a timely fashion).
12-19-2022, 04:10 PM
by accident.
