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Curious on your guys' thought on the COMAND in the pre-facelift versus MBUX on facelift models? I am a big Apply Carplay guy....and BMW basically is a leader in this. Our X7 has a 12.3 inch infotainment screen and it's touchscreen and uses the entire screen for Carplay.
I know COMAND offers full screen Carplay whereas MBUX does not but that MBUX is touchscreen. I know neither offer wireless....even though this isn't a huge deal for me. However, I think MBUX using the smaller screen for Carplay could be a huge thing for me.
If I use mostly Apple Music, Google Earth maps, Waze.....wouldn't I probably be happier with COMAND? Is there any reason I would want MBUX over COMAND?
I have COMAND in my 2019 C63, same COMAND as in the W213. However, 2019+ COMAND is also different than 2018 and earlier COMAND. It uses the same new Mercedes me connect backend as MBUX, and therefore has OTA updates and live traffic that can be renewed. 2018 and earlier still uses the end of life mBrace platform. I have had several loaners with MBUX and I prefer 2019+ COMAND. CarPlay not being full screen on MBUX is one of the reasons. The other reason is that I still find touchscreens dumb in a car. While the W213 has physical controls, the UI is optimized for touch and therefore involves tons of swiping to use it with the physical controls. It's a terrible experience, IMO.
I continue to be amazed that touchscreens are legal in a car. I just came back from a 4 week trip to Europe and I drove an almost brand new Audi A6 for three weeks. It had wireless CarPlay and you guessed it a touchscreen. I used CarPlay/Google Maps the entire time, but the worst part was the touchscreen. This car was fairly soft sprung, but trying to hit a target on the screen while driving was distracting and an exercise of target practicing. I caught myself being distracted several times trying to make something happen on the UI.
I don't use CarPlay much in my car as I like the MB navigation and its integration with the rest of the car, but not being full screen would bother me every time I used it. It just looked terrible in the loaners I had.
I have a 2019 Cab with COMAND and a 2021 with MBUX and there is no comparison, MBUX is a step backwards from COMAND. The touchscreen design is dangerous to use while driving and the small CarPlay windoe on the big middle display is silly.
Yep, MBUX to me is a one step forward and two steps back situation. Touchscreens work on portable mobile devices, vending machines and other kiosk type terminals, but not for cars and not for productivity devices. Microsoft famously failed with Windows 8 trying to combine touch and keyboard/mouse in the same UI. Didn't work. Still doesn't work in Windows 10 and 11. The Store apps that generally support touch use silly large buttons and waste screen real estate and feel dumb to use with mouse and keyboard. I personally have a Surface Book for my PC, but I pretty much never use the touchscreen. I mostly have it connected to an external extra widescreen monitor and operate it with mouse and keyboard, because I need to be productive. Everything else is a distraction. Similar sentiment in cars. I'm in the car to drive primarily and need to pay attention to the road. No time to fiddle around with a finicky touchscreen that requires concentration to hit the right target. I'm not sure what it's gonna take for the larger industry to wake up and stop stuffing touchscreens into everything just because we use them on our phones and the younger kids of today don't know how to operate a physical button anymore.
MBUX purely because of how much faster it is to load and respond, and I also find the menu structure and layout to be simpler. COMMAND is far too laggy, literally trying to change the radio when the car starts would not register half the time, not enough processing speed. While the CarPlay is smaller, I really don't care that much as I only really use it for google maps and still get to see plenty.
I agree with Kasendorf that it is silly not to use the whole screen for car play. It seems like Mercedes is including car play just to placate people without really caring how it works. I find the interface between car play and the regular Mercedes screen to be difficult so if I want to listen to the radio it takes me two or three steps to get there.
I agree with Mickey that touchpad is easy to use and saves you the trouble of reaching.
Hey Mercedes never works for me or it never works right let's put it that way. If I'm going to make a phone call I use Siri if I want to navigate using Waze I also use Siri.
I agree with JS who clearly drives the CLS or did at one point, that MB UX is faster and that is a plus.
I get the impression that Mercedes engineers do things in a vacuum without looking at the competition or reaching out to drivers to ask their opinion. I can't imagine that the improvements that MB UX needs would be that difficult to include if Mercedes cared to do it.
I had a few cars with touchscreens, Comand, iDrive, MMI…..Touchscreens are great for computer tablets and smartphone where one could concentrate on the task. When one is driving, multi-tasking, there is northing like the tactical feel of a knob or a push button. Clicking thru the dial, everything is digital, precise, the sound and the feel as oppose to the feel of a touchscreen. Also, I hate finger prints.
I'm personally a big supporter of MBUX. Command was good, especially in the last few years, but I never found it fully intuitive. The issue with MBUX is the carplay not taking up the full screen on MBUX 1, but It's not a huge deal to me. It's still a big screen. But aside from that, I findthe speed, customizabililty, menu layout, etc. amazing on MBUX and think it is by a significant margin the best infotainment out there. I like touching it although inly when at a stop (I hate touschreens when driving - dissapointed with MBUX 2 in that sense although I have much less seat time with it to truly form an opinion) but I actually really like the touchpad. It's tuned perfectly for me and has always worked great in every car I've tried. So yeah, 10/10, my favorite in car system, much better then COMMAND for me. Also the in built nav is actually pretty good, I would use it over carplay if I also had AR nav and HUD, which I can't say about COMMAND.
I will say i love iDrive 4(?), the one pre carplay with the purely side to side menus that was on the first few years of F15 X5, the pre facelift F30, etc. but since iDrive 6.0 and especially iDrive 7.0 with widgets, I haven't liked their systems at all. I haven't felt like I could use tem either as only touchcreen or only wheel. And I wasn't into wireless carplay at the beginning when it wasn't so reliable. So that helped push me on the MBUX train. I haven't gotten the chance to try iDrive 8 yet but it seems like more of the same in terms of reasons why I disliked iDrive 7.
Last edited by BenjaminKohl; Aug 13, 2022 at 12:24 PM.
Just bought a used 2021 E350. I had a 2014 E350. So far, I hate the controls. No haptic feedback like little braille bumps. The swiping pads on the steering wheel don't work with gloves. The touchscreen forces you to take your eyes off the road. Fingerprints everywhere, Have to clean the screens every 3 days. Go for one with buttons and toggles - touchpads suck.
Has anyone had the same feelings about the touch stuff and gotten over it and likes it now?
Just bought a used 2021 E350. I had a 2014 E350. So far, I hate the controls. No haptic feedback like little braille bumps. The swiping pads on the steering wheel don't work with gloves. The touchscreen forces you to take your eyes off the road. Fingerprints everywhere, Have to clean the screens every 3 days. Go for one with buttons and toggles - touchpads suck.
Has anyone had the same feelings about the touch stuff and gotten over it and likes it now?
The central control pad does have haptic feedback. Check your system settings. The touchpad is fairly simple to operate in my opinion.
2019 E 450, 2016 E350 4matic (retired), 2018 Ford Edge Sport, 2008 Porsche Boxster
Originally Posted by bobholt
Just bought a used 2021 E350. I had a 2014 E350. So far, I hate the controls. No haptic feedback like little braille bumps. The swiping pads on the steering wheel don't work with gloves. The touchscreen forces you to take your eyes off the road. Fingerprints everywhere, Have to clean the screens every 3 days. Go for one with buttons and toggles - touchpads suck.
Has anyone had the same feelings about the touch stuff and gotten over it and likes it now?
Just my $.02:
When I first got my 2019 E450 after a week of frustration, I disabled the touch pad. I love the rotary dial: I can change stations, etc. without taking my eye off the road. I also like the swiping pads on the wheel which have haptic feedback. I have a heated steering wheel so I do not drive with gloves. I have no trouble with voice commands for my iPhone including WAZE. However I find the Mercedes voice command so bad, I try never to use it.
Porsche Cayman S, Mercedes W213, Nissan Titan, BMW X5, Chevrolet Suburban
My 2018 E-class has the rotary dial which I find really intuitive. Onoe of our BMWs has the touch screen and rotary dial combo. I rarely touch the screen -- it's a reach -- and also I touch mostly out of frustration when I've exhausted the efforts to use the other keys. The other one relies on the rotary dial. I find it far easier to use.
BTW I have the Ottocast wireless adapter in the Mercedes which also gives me a full screen experience with Android Auto. I also love having the volume control on the left side instead of on the right side like the newer W213s do.
I too feel MBUX a step backwards and ripe for distracted driving!
With the dial I could quickly zoom in/out of the navigation map to view traffic ahead. Now it's take your eyes off the road, hope one or two fingers work (and leave fingerprints).
Same with changing audio station/programs which I could quickly scroll thought with the dial, not taking my eyes off the road.
And while I am it, same with the phone...used to be able to quickly dial through contacts
After 5000 miles in my new AT, I mostly no longer bother.
PS: I also found the steering stalk stick for Distonic Plus in my late W212 much safer and intuitive than the steering wheel buttons and pad to push/swipe at highway speeds.. Another step backwards.
Last edited by E430_4MATIC; Oct 2, 2022 at 04:09 PM.
MBUX is awesome. I just swipe using the touchpad, pinch to zoom on maps. I never really use the touch screen, but nice to know I can if needed, like for entering an address into the nav.
I drove a rental with the latest COMMAND prior to MBUX. It was awful.
I think many of you are overcomplicating this. I got my 2018 E300 4Matic Sport last summer. I made a commitment to read the manual, trial and error everything and all the features, and thoroughly learn everything I could about every feature. I did NONE OF THAT! LOL. Therefore, I know and use very little of the features! LOL.
The touchpad sometimes doesn't work. Perhaps it's weather related. I don't know. The knob sometimes doesn't kick in and change two stations if you turn two turns of the knob. I think it's typical. The swipe buttons on the steering wheel -- I have no idea what they are for so I don't mess with them at all! LOL. Interesting thread/posts -- thanks for the info!
MBUX purely because of how much faster it is to load and respond, and I also find the menu structure and layout to be simpler. COMMAND is far too laggy, literally trying to change the radio when the car starts would not register half the time, not enough processing speed. While the CarPlay is smaller, I really don't care that much as I only really use it for google maps and still get to see plenty.
Couple questions, does it ha Bluetooth 5 and fast charging USB C CarPlay?
Couple questions, does it ha Bluetooth 5 and fast charging USB C CarPlay?
I don’t know much about Bluetooth technology so can’t answer that one, but the USB-C ports charge very fast. Apple CarPlay is corded or wireless, driver’s choice (for MBUX 2.0 vehicles like S, C, SL, etc.)
I don’t know much about Bluetooth technology so can’t answer that one, but the USB-C ports charge very fast. Apple CarPlay is corded or wireless, driver’s choice.
Good to know, thank you. Anyone with knowledge on Bluetooth?
Good to know, thank you. Anyone with knowledge on Bluetooth?
I've previously tried to find specs for both COMAND and MBUX, but I haven't found anywhere where the version of Bluetooth is disclosed. However, the improvements in Bluetooth 5 are for Bluetooth Low Energy, which doesn't apply to Infotainment systems. The audio improvements are for headphones to connect via LE and use less battery power.
I don’t know much about Bluetooth technology so can’t answer that one, but the USB-C ports charge very fast. Apple CarPlay is corded or wireless, driver’s choice.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
MBUX Learning / Liking time
