Top Ten dislikes after one week!
Somehow I think these guys had a hand in designing BWW's Idrive.
The Best of Mercedes & AMG
10. Has anyone notice that the polished chrome of the air vents by the window seem to reflect in the side mirror. I can't help but notice a reflection of the chrome ring in the mirrors.
9. I agree on the ipod integration - lame.
8. I'd like to see wood on the MCS unit, also I have a heated steering wheel and the steering wheel controls seem to be begging for some wood around them instead of the plastic.
7. Shift paddle location. This is a personal problem. I have a Dodge Ram Megacab and the steering wheel radio contols are in the same location. I've found myself reaching to move the channel of the Sirius and end up downshifting.
6. Brake controller friendliness. I haven't installed one yet, but looks like it might be non-trivial. We will tow our smaller horse trailer with our GL.
I'm ok with the nav, not great but functional.
These are little things, I love the GL.
Now the good things:
1. Rain sensing windshield wipers - I had them on my ML and love them. I hate being annoyed by wipers and this minimizes it.
2. Heated steering wheel. I've been thinking that would be a great idea for 10 years, finally have them.
3. Cornering headlights. I have to admit at first I thought this was a gimmick. But after a few weeks of coming home in the dark and driving on rural country roads with no lights, these are great.
4. Traction control, etc. I feel safe in this vehicle, and know MB engineering has a well through out plan to keep me safe. Take for example last Saturday I was driving in snow. The roads we ok, not great. I tried setting up the cruise control and it wouldn't let me because my tires had slipped when driving through a small town a few miles back. I was annoyed at first, but then realized it was a safe choice.
here's the part I left out. Before I knew what those buttons were for, I found them accidentally and was driving down the road alternately (and quite quickly) pressing one and then the other.
What a dork.
I wonder if MB will buy me a new transmission when mine falls out....
Reminds me of a funny story when I first got my ML. Somehow she set off the alarm on it by accident. However this caused Teleaid to call me at work wondering if my ML was being stolen. "Hello, this is teleaid, it's 10am and do you know where your Mercedes is". My wife figured I must have people watching her.
1. Rain sensing windshield wipers - I had them on my ML and love them. I hate being annoyed by wipers and this minimizes it.
2. Heated steering wheel. I've been thinking that would be a great idea for 10 years, finally have them.
3. Cornering headlights. I have to admit at first I thought this was a gimmick. But after a few weeks of coming home in the dark and driving on rural country roads with no lights, these are great.
4. Traction control, etc. I feel safe in this vehicle, and know MB engineering has a well through out plan to keep me safe. Take for example last Saturday I was driving in snow. The roads we ok, not great. I tried setting up the cruise control and it wouldn't let me because my tires had slipped when driving through a small town a few miles back. I was annoyed at first, but then realized it was a safe choice.
Love the looks.
Really like the voice command option. I can spell the street names etc and nav obeys my commands.. (wow, never had anyone in my life obey my commands

).Excellent towing capabilities - towed almost 7000 lbs load with no problem. Actually towed better than our old Yukon XL.
Xenon lights with steering capabilities..
Bluetooth works really well. All of us in our household have bluetooth phones and the system syncs up with whoever is driving the car. If all of us are in the car at same time, it picks the one which has the strongest bluetooth signal.
3 zone climate control is really nice. Works well in summers and winters.
Have had few snow storms here, impressed with 4 matic system and traction control.
Love 7 speed transmission
Installing the brake controller was pretty simple. I used a Valley Odyssey (TM) Electric Trailer Brake Controller - Proportional which I got from etrailer.com. I located it tight against the left side fo the center console just above the accelerator pedal. It is easy to glance down and see the brake controller in action and is unobtrusive. MB has a TB out on the installation which I believe STP has the info. If you can't get it let me know and I can email you the PDF. This is a clip from Wolfgang's page at this url.http://www.whnet.com/4x4/pix/164_Brake_Controller.pdf
Trailer Brake Controller Installation in new ML, R and GL
A dealer technical bulletin (DTB) dated Mar 9, 2007 with number T-B-31.19/07d describes how to install an Electric Trailer Brake Controller. The bulletin is for the new W164 M-Class and X164 GL, but might also work for the W251 R-Class.
Four wires are required to operate the electric brake controller. These four wires can be found on a plug tie wrapped to the harness leading to the diagnostic plug under the dash. On early production vehicles the plug was stuffed behind the rear SAM and sometimes difficult to locate.
YOu will need a connector and 4 pins as speced on the TB. Buy the Valley universal pigtail ($12.00) with 4 wires and plug which goes into the controller. this you wire into the MB connector which will then connect to the connector under the dash. You just have to remove the 3 scres to get to it. Pretty simple if you can stand on your head!!!



