CDs have not been in common use for many years. My '18 E300 came with 2 USB-A ports and and 1 SD port but no USB-C ports or a CD drive. Even SDs are becoming obsolete. There are portable CD/DVD drives that connect via USB readily available. Adapters are readily available to handle "old tech". Though I still have many CDs, open reel & cassette tapes collecting dust in the attic, I've never thought about trying to play them. I'd have to visit an antique store to obtain a player.       Now days I download collectible music and stream the rest. Technology marches on, especially in vehicles.

 

I liked the W212 dash, but there were plenty of buttons I never used such as the full number pad. It had too many buttons IMO, but I'm not a fan of going to zero buttons. On the music, I'm amazed there are people who want to carry around CDs. I haven't kept them in my car for over a decade. In my W212, I played all my music from a USB-A thumb drive. I have hundreds of albums with over 5000 distinct tracks. I started with MP3's at 320 VBR which does reduce sound quality but not noticeable unless on a great sound system. Later I rebuilt my digital library using FLAC which is lossless and just as good as CD sound quality. With the Burmester 4D sound in the W214, I added a couple dozen Atmos albums to my collection that sound amazing. I have spent a lot of time and money building my digital music library, but it's easy and I have it down to a science. Plus, it's effort that can be enjoyed over and over again. I have two home theaters each capable of playing the digital music source from my home server, all my cars and motorcycles have the same music on their own thumb drives, and my phone has all of it as well. When I buy a CD or a music DVD, it's physically handled once to rip it and then put away. I'm old school and buy all my music on physical media. Many people, especially younger generations, would rather stream from the Internet. I do that sometimes, but prefer having the flexibility of my own collection at the expense of some time spent making it.

On USB-A versus USB-C, its not much of an issue as you can get thumb drives in both form factors, however the USB-C interface is much faster and you can plug in a device in either orientation. You can also get adapters to switch from one to the other. My only complaint is that it's much easier to find low profile USB-A drives that do not stick out and cannot easily be hit and possibly broken. I posted a thread a while back (here) on my solution to that problem with USB-C drives. I should look again to see if any new low profile USB-C drives hit the market recently. Using the 90° adapters works great, but I would rather just have a low profile USB-C for simplicity.

 

If you want a CD player you could buy a W212. I have a connectable CD/DVD for my PC. I have old and new music on my current thumb drive - it's a real pain to copy it onto the thumb drive, either from the net or from the CD.

Some Technology is great - my career was a manager in advanced network architecture for a very large US intelligence agency. Our older equipment was far more secure than the newer. It worked just as well. Are you enjoying the endless security breaches due to the new technology? I get a letter a month asking me to spend time to sign up for a pretty useless protection service. How about the run flats - ever get a flat on a Sunday 100 miles from an MB dealer. Or do you waste 1/4 of the space in the smaller W213 truck to carry one? Some new Tech is great - Others sucks..

 

You could rip a CD onto the W212 hard drive while you were listening to it.

 

Can you explain how you made it a one-touch process, via the "permanent bar" across the bottom ?

I suppose you mean the below, by the "Permanent Bar" (which obviously does not include the "recirculation" "button") ?



And then you hit "Menu" in the bar above, which will bring a sub-menu, as shown below:



The above sub-menu has the "recirculation" icon within the screen, which can be pressed to activate re-circulation. And once you are in the sub-menu, your main menu, which has your maps etc is gone, replaced by the above sub-menu.....the whole user interface is a mess, and as user unfriendly as you can get, as far as I can see.

How did you make it a direct touch "recirculation" ? I am curious.

 

You can assign the recirculate button to the spot where the defrost button is somewhere in the myriad of menus. I was able to do mine but unfortunately don’t remember exactly how.

 

I have picked up Kia rental cars, that had a proper "Permanent bar" with ALL HVAC controls available for one-touch application. Of course the buttons are FAR better from a tactile feel perspective, but at least having the ability to directly activate the operation you need, even via touch-screen, is good enough for me........the Mercedes touch-screen does NOT offer that.

Unless you can explain how you made the "re-circulation" function or other climate-control related functions, a direct press option on the "Permanent bar".

 

I believed I learned how from @L1Wolf Maybe he can chime in.

 

Does it remove the defrost button, when you assign the re-circulation to that spot, or does it add the recirculation button to the rest of the functions in the main menu. I don't use the defrost as often as the recirculation, and thus if this option to re-assign a function to that spot exists, I can live with that, even though nowhere close to optimal.

 

It replaces the defrost button.

 

I figured it out. it is the "settings" icon within the sub-menu, which allows you to choose what function you want to go to the main display bar (the "Permanent bar"). So now the "AC" within the Main-Menu is gone, and is replaced with the re-circulation icon. I am willing to live with this, since i use the "re-circulation" icon more than hitting the AC bar.

Also remember, that when the car starts up, pressing on the options within the "Permanent bar" does nothing, till the screen comes on fully. As opposed to buttons that are operational right from the get-go.

As below (where you can choose ONE of the below options to go onto the Permanent Bar - ALL of these were dedicated buttons in the X213):

 

To me, if they want to go to a Touch-screen based system, as opposed to actual buttons, then so be it, since that's the direction that the entire market is moving toward, to reduce costs.

But then allow ALL of the climate controls and the Audio controls to be in a separate dedicated touch-screen.........just like Kia does in their $20K cars. Not have to play the game of having to choose/prioritize which button goes into the main bar, and which functions are accessible via menu and sub-menu diving.

 

I gave up on thumb drives years ago when I switched to microSD cards. I use a San Disk Mobile Mate adapter with a 64 GB microSD card that sticks out about ½" from the USB slot in the forward console cubby. I've not had any issues with it getting hit. I also have a San Disk SD to microSD adapter with a 512 GB microSD card that fits flush in the console SD slot. Note that I have a W213, I don't know if a W214 has a similar USB in the cubby or SD slot in the console.

 

Yes, it’s the A/C button that gets replaced. Not being in my car, I forgot which one.

 

Or should we say it is the A/C touch-spot that gets replaced, than say a "button" ?

 

I think as far as the E Class goes, the W213 is the end of the line for me. I just do not see myself going into a W214. It was hard going from my W212 to my W213. The screens make everything just unnecessary!

 

That all would be very annoying. I only use AC maybe 25% of the time, but when I do, I also use recirc. Makes no sense that only one can be selected for the main screen. Almost never use defrost, so would be fine if that was buried.

 

I'm not sure why you would only use the AC part of the time. The system is best utilized in auto and it will turn the AC on or off based on need. Leaving the AC off for a period of time can cause moisture and mold to form in the ducts. I know a lot of people think they are saving fuel or wear and tear on the AC by turning it off manually, but I I think it's far more efficient to let the computer manage that and just set the temp to what you like. With energizing air control, I rarely even turn on recirculation since the computer will do so automatically 90% of the time.

 

Because I prefer fresh air and live in a climate where I can enjoy it. Almost 40k on the W213 and no mold in the ducts…but thanks for your concern.

 

I run the A/C in recirculation mode 100% of the time with the exception being during December through February when I keep all the windows down and enjoy the fresh air.

 

Just my $.02:

From October through March, unless it is raining and I need the AC to clear the windows, I have my climate control in auto, sync and and the AC off. This definitely improves gas mileage, saves wear and tear on the AC and I have never had any problem with mold. I have been on this board for many years and I cannot remember any post about not running the AC causing a mold problem. I do not understand why moisture would accumulate: there is fresh air coming through the vents which will dry out any moisture. In the winter there is little moisture in the air, the air is heated and any "moisture" will quickly be dried out - the reason we use humidifiers in our homes in the winter - the heated air is very dry!

There is a reason that Mercedes put a button for the AC: I suggest when appropriate to use that button and turn the AC off - especially in the winter!

As to air turning off the recirculation, I have done this once or twice, the last time when we had the smoke from the fires in Canada on Long Island two years ago. With the recirculation off, you do not bring in outside air and the air, at least to me, gets "stale" very quickly. My Mercedes has two filters for the air system: I let the two filters do their job and do not use the recirculation letting the system take in fresh air.

 

I'm not concerned. You do what works for you. I get plenty of fresh air since I rarely have recirculation on. Having the AC on or off doesn't impact fresh air coming into the cabin.

 

I don't touch the A/C "button" at all, but do hit the "recirculation" function, whenever I am passing through areas that have pollution or significant dust/smoke. Especially when I have a diesel-powered pickup truck etc ahead of me, since no amount of air filters would prevent the dirty, dangerous elements from the diesel exhaust (FAR more dangerous for human health than say gas exhaust), from entering the cabin.

And as far as I know, unlike many other automakers, the Mercedes system will quietly turn off the re-circulation, after a few minutes, even if that's not what the driver wants. With a lighted button (like with the X213), you would immediately know that it turned off the re-circulation, while in case of the X214, you'd need to stare onto the specific spot on the screen to see if the barely visible "re-circulation" indicator is off.

 

I had a W211 Wagon and then got a W212. W212 was better than W211 for me. Then I got a W213 wagon. For me, W213 was better than the W212. Now I have a W214 Wagon and, again, for me, the W214 is an upgrade. Just yesterday, we took a 200+ mile round trip. Doing nothing special, we got 31.8 mpg with the W214 even though I was switching from Comfort mode to Sport to Comfort, depending on road conditions. I did not "baby" the ride at all. I noted that the mileage was a big difference to the W212 as on the same ride we would barely eke out 24 mpg even when I was baby-ing the ride. And my wife thought it was great when I activated the Energizing Comfort program for part of the ride.

I do miss a couple of things from my W213: 1. I much prefer the Cruise Control stalk on the steering wheel column which I think was the best device for controlling cruise control. 2. I do miss the built in sunglass holder in the W213. But for me, the W214 is enough better that those 2 missing items are not a big deal. I do love the wireless CarPlay in the W214 as well.

And I saw 2 other W214 wagons on the road during my trip yesterday! And one drove by my house this morning! It's gonna be a good day!

 

I will not give in to the Dashboard degradation trend.. My very recent puchase for my daughter was a new Subaru.