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I've been lurking on this forum since February/March of this year, when I decided to buy an E53 sedan. The forum has been helpful to me, so I'm planning to contribute a bit of content back.
I placed an order for my car in early March and took delivery in mid-August, almost 3 months ago. As others on the forum have reported, my car was delivered without the Hermes module. I signed an acknowledgment of this fact, received a few hundred dollars discount from my previously-agreed price, and was promised that the module would be installed in early 2022.
I'd be happy to answer questions about any of the options I selected, so here's the (crudely retouched) window sticker from my car (note the Hermes-related discounts that went onto the sticker):
For my first attempt at useful content, here are my thoughts on the acoustic comfort package:
As it's implemented on USA version of the W213, the acoustic comfort package is really two pretty different packages in one.
The first part is intuitive: various sound-reducing insulation. This is why I selected the package; I like a very quiet interior. Other than a couple of test drives, I've not driven another W213, so I can't really say much about how a car with the insulation compares to one without, but I can say that it's quite quiet inside. When driving I can still hear the exhaust clearly, especially when the engine is cold (seems to be much louder until it warms up). Some might like this, but I would prefer an even quieter interior, with further reduced engine noise. Still, my comparison point is my previous car, an E39 BMW, and my W213 is much, much quieter. But I don't know how much of that is Mercedes vs BMW, how is the much lower age of the car, and how much is the added insulation.
The second part of the package is infrared-reducing coating on the windows. This was bonus for me, as I purchased the package mainly for the sound insulation, and it's turned out to be a plus for me, though one with drawbacks. My wife has very pale skin and is obsessive about sun protection, so I was planning on having UV-reducing window film installed. Before doing so, I bought a cheap UV meter off Amazon (
) and took some measurements. The results were very clear: with this package, UV transmission from bright sunlight is reduced to negligible levels through the front windshield, the moonroof, and all the side windows. The rear windshield only reduces UV transmission slightly. This probably doesn't matter much, especially since we ordered the rear sunscreen, but because my wife is so careful about sun exposure, I paid a few hundred dollars to have 3M Crystalline CR90 installed on the rear windshield. I think the visible light reduction of the 3M coating is about the same as that of the acoustic comfort package windows: modest reduction, about 5-10%.
But the window coating part of the package has two minuses. The first is interior reflection. Again, I don't have much in the way of comparison against a W213 without the package, but, compared with my expectations from driving other cars including my E39, I see a lot more reflection of the dashboard, especially of my shiny aluminum trim, in both the front windshield and the driver's-side front window. It doesn't interfere with my road vision, but it frequently catches my attention, and not in a good way. The second drawback is reduced radar-detector range. The windshield includes an area without the coating just to the right of the rear-view mirror, and I've mounted my Valentine One there (future project: hardwire). Even mounted in that spot, the sensitivity is greatly reduced compared to what it was when the same radar detector was mounted in my E39. However, that previous installation resulted in a lot of useless chatter from the radar detector. For the last couple of months, I have been running the V1 in all-bogeys mode, and I'm satisfied with the results. The reduced sensitivity has cut down the chatter, and I still get good warning of actual radar detectors, with plenty of time to slow down. So, while I don't recommend the acoustic comfort package for radar detector aficionados, a regular user like me will likely be satisfied with the results.
Overall, I'm happy with the package, but the interior reflection is a real, albeit modest, annoyance.
11-13-2021, 03:08 PM
