Thought the same thing. NEVER buy the included cables. Just get them from Amazon for $10.

Incidentally, 21 inch wheels? Surreal. I don't think people have a clue what the purpose of wheels is anymore. Hint: they aren't decorative.

I came from a 430d GC to my W213 E220d. And when I was deciding, I obviously looked at the 5 Series and new A6. I had been with BMW for 18 years non-stop with 3 Series, M3, 5 Series and 4 Series mix of cars. But I fancied a change of marque, to experience something different even though the current 5 Series is a very good car. The new Audi looks too clinical, like a minimalist Scandinavian hotel, it looks nice on first glance, but it isn't too warming or cosy. It looks like a clinical lab or an Apple Store. I HATE the touchscreens. I was amazed looking at review after review how bad the fingerprints get on those screens. Reviewers had cloths with them to wipe them clean. That would drive me mad. And it's dangerous. On the E Class, I know exactly where the buttons for the temperature change are, the buttons for Nav, Phone, Media etc. And I can control things nicely with the steering wheel pads.

The E class has a cosy, welcoming feel to it. The seats, the open-pore wood trim, the lighting. you just sink into it and the end of a hard days work and it cossets you home through rush hour traffic.

And I have a strong feeling that the obsession BMW and Audi have at the moment with these hard edges geometrical shapes, hexagons, rectangles that are on the grill, the dash, the lights etc will age very badly. Have you seen the grill on the new X7??

And Audi's standard kit is a joke. You have to pay for everything. Whether it's blind spot assist, brake assist, leather, sat nav, you name it. The Merc over here now has all that standard.

+1

I agree, the grills on these cars are absolutely hideous to me. These geometric styling trends can get tiring after living with them a few years...and IMO will look terribly outdated in a relatively short period of time.

Again, I suffered with the touch screen on my last car, and proximity sensing is an annoying gimmick, that I guarantee most will get tired of quickly. I shut it off on my last car. The improved voice commands is one thing, but as for the rest.....let's just say I'm glad I got my 2019 before these changes.

We had a rental Kia in Maine last week with a touch screen. There was no voice command button, nor a rotary dial, so I was forced to use the touch screen. I'm glad it wasn't my car. The fingerprints all over the screen would drive me Bat-poop cray cray. It worked OK, but you do have to take your eyes off the road to change anything, which I found stupid, TBH.

My last car, a VW, had the proximity sensing. Now, while I don't like the touch screen really- I came to appreciate the extra real estate the auto-hide of menus and such. It was a smaller screen than my 12" e class though. The "air gestures" on the BMW do seem a little goofy.

All that said, touch screens= fingerprints.

I am indifferent on touch vs. non-touch screens. My previous vehicle had one, and it worked well for 238,000 miles. Fingerprints are cleanable.

I also like the M-B COMAND screen. The menu structure and scroll wheel took a while to learn. Not significantly better, or worse, than other systems.

I'm not a fan of air gestures and auto-hiding menus. Just give me the data on the screen and leave it there. Or allow me to add or remove data.

https://www.autoblog.com/2019/04/05/...-emissions-eu/

Looks like the triad (bmw, mb audi) was in it all together...

Interesting that Daimler was the whistle blower.

It’s good to know that using the touchscreen will be optional. Apart from the fact I just don’t like using a touchscreen in a car, for UK drivers we would be forced to use our left hand which makes the damn thing even more fiddly...

Only for north paw's. :D