bud.jones

Aloha everyone,

My wife and I will be purchasing, most likely, an ML350 this December. My situation is a little bit complicated in that we only have one dealer here in Honolulu. Actually, the same dealer also has a dealership on Maui, but in the entire state, there is only one Mercedes dealer.

My assumption is that they will want to rid their lot of the MY2013 vehicles as soon as they can, but that is only my conjecture. Due to that, I think I could probably get a nice deal on a MY2013 ML350 at the end of the year. Am I off base with that thought?

Anyway, I went to Edmund's and spec'd out what I would like to have in a MY2013 ML350, and have attached the screenshot of the results. I have read on several forums how customers try to get the dealers to go below Dealer Invoice, but have also seen, as is shown in the attachment, either the "Fair" or average purchase price as somewhere between the Dealer Invoice and MSRP. When negotiating with the dealership, should one simply try for a "fair" price or should one try to get between the dealer's "true cost" (defined as the actual cost charged by the factory to the dealer) and the Dealer Invoice?

Finally, aside from iOS in the Car, an initiative announced by Apple in this year's WWDC keynote address, what are the compelling reasons to purchase the MY2014 ML350 over the MY2013 ML350? Of course, if I wait until next January, I may be able to pick up the MY2013 as CPO, right?

I have also considered the 2014 E350, as I absolutely LOVE the aggressive look of the front end.

iamgort

Has MB published anything regarding IOS in the car? I know they were one of the manufacturers listed during the WWDC presentation that are "on board" but I haven't found anything regarding timeline. From the demo that apple gave at WWDC it seemed to be a pretty sizeable hardware piece that had a home button and its own screen. I am doubtful we will see it in MY2014 vehicles since they are arriving end of August I believe? We know that iOS 7 won't be out until fall, I'm running the beta now on my iPhone and it's fun.

bud.jones

All I can go on is what Apple presented. I really can't believe that Apple would announce this for so many car manufacturers without them having already planned it for at least some of their MY2014 vehicles. The MY2014 E class sedans are already out, and the MY2014 M class will follow, like you said, around the end of August/beginning of September. I'm not sure which specific Mercedes models will have this, but the vehicle picture you provided is not from a Mercedes (I think it's from a Chevy, but I'm not sure). It is likely that this can be done with the existing COMAND module, perhaps raising the possibility of it also being able to be retrofit (for a price, or course ). I've attached a screen capture of the slide with the car manufacturers, as announced by Apple.

I'm also in the developer program, but I have a little bit of work to do to make my apps ready for iOS 7. I still have a love/hate relationship with it. Some of the colors are simply garish, and I don't like it when we're given UI elements to use in our GUI, only to see Apple replace them, or simply take them away. There's quite a bit of change in this OS, but once all the developers embrace the change I think it'll get better. At least now we know the direction Apple wants to take, one that I don't see changing for the foreseeable future.

bud.jones

Well, my wife answered my main question today. She's a little bit superstitious and told me that we can't get a MY2013 ML, as it ends in 13. She also took my father's words to heart when he said that buying a used car only serves to own someone else's problems, so the CPO option is also not on the table.

That means we'll be purchasing the MY2014 ML 350, albeit we'll be buying one on the lot. She's really excited about making the purchase, and doesn't want to wait for an order to be placed. We'll still be waiting until the end of the year, but we'll get one of the ones on the lot here.

I've read several reports on what NOT to do when negotiating with the salesman on a new car, and accepting what's on the lot is one of the many-mentioned mistakes. Here on Oahu, we only have one Mercedes dealership (the one on Maui has the same owner), so while I can't pit the dealerships against each other, I can always see the inventory on Maui if I don't see exactly what I want here in Honolulu

fabbrisd1

1st - there will not be any 2013 ML's "on the lot" in December - MY2014 ML's are already in production now.

In August I would suggest you get to Honolulu and work out a order for a MY14 for December delivery in HI that meets your exact specification.. "best ML for you" should be the objective..

bud.jones

I wasn't aware that all of the MY2013 MLs would be gone by then. My wife and I aren't going to be ready to make a purchase until then, but it won't matter as she's already told me that we're going to get a MY2014 ML 350. The ones on the lot here are pretty nice and have some good packages on them already, so I expect the MY2014 MLs to be the same. I'm a fairly simple guy and only really need the Premium 1 package and keyless-go, although it would be nice if the lane tracking package was also installed.

iamgort

http://www.macrumors.com/2013/07/23/...the-ecosystem/

Latest update on IOS in the car. Seems we won't see it in cars until actual year 2014, not model year 2014 for cars. I'd expect to see it no earlier than model year 2015 for cars and I'd bet a payment on my new MY13 ML350 I just bought it won't be able to be retrofitted to previous model years!

bud.jones

I fear that you're correct on that last assumption. I remember seeing, on macrumors, another thread indicated that iOS in the Car can be implemented using Air Play, showing a screenshot of the settings screen from an iPhone, but specific hardware may still be required to achieve that functionality. There's really no "real" information to be had, and if the Mercedes salespeople know anything, they've probably been told not to discuss it. At least, anytime I speak with a salesperson, they do their best Sgt. Schultz imitation - "I know nothing!"

I'll have to listen to the podcast of the WWDC announcement again, to determine if he said model year 2014 or simply 2014 when referring to actual introduction in the car itself. One can only hope that a retrofit is possible, but this would be an excellent way to not only sell cars, but iOS devices as well. As it is, I'll take the MY2014 ML 350 and just use a Lightning to 30-pin adapter cable with the built-in center console cable. I've heard that approach works, and that the sound quality is better using the wired, versus BT, approach.

iamgort

Yep the adapter works. I bought a 2013 ML350 two days ago.

Sadly there's no real convenient place to put the phone when it's plugged in unless you want to keep it inside the console and not be able to see/use it.

I've been using it over bluetooth and mounted using a kenu airframe to mount it. (www.kenu.com). Great since waze is far superior to the GPS in the car.

bud.jones

Yeah, that's kind of the point, isn't it? Keep it hidden away, but still be able to access the music on it and answer phone calls via BT, while you're driving, that is. I mean, you CAN still access your music by song/artist/playlist via the COMAND system, right? I'll check out the Kenu airframe as well. Thanks for the link.

iamgort

Yes you can control it via command, but I was just saying there's no convenient place to put it in view to use anything else. I'll probably start using my iPod again in the console.

bud.jones

Well, one way to look at it is that without iOS in the Car (assuming you have the Premium 1 package), you'll be using the navigation provided by Mercedes. Should you be able to retrofit iOS in the Car, you still won't need to see your iPhone, as you'll be seeing iOS maps in the COMAND screen. Either way, you won't need to actually interact with your iPhone.

I'm stoked about my upcoming purchase. We're going to wait until the MY2014 MLs get here to Hawaii, which looks like very late August/early September at the earliest. I'm a little jealous of my home town of Tampa, as they're reportedly getting their new MLs as early as next week

I'm going to do all my research before I even go for a test drive. I can use Edmunds to see the packages and options on each vehicle (my local Honolulu Mercedes dealership doesn't list them, for some odd reason) and pick out a few that meet my parameters, then see how nice they are in person. I also plan on arranging financing for the remainder of what I will target as a "fair" price, but I'd like to see what I can do with my iPhone and the ML when I'm on the test drive(s). I may also look at the new E350, however, as I'm still kind of torn between it and the ML350.

Anyway, thanks for the information. I'll post some pics once I make my purchase.

stas2007

Why not just get the Drive Kit Plus and call it a day?
They already make iphone 4/s version for 2013 ML. (part number A1668200100)
Iphone 5 version is coming in a few months.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-GENUINE-MERCEDES-BENZ-DRIVE-KIT-PLUS-FOR-IPHONE-13-14-GL-ML-SL-/251302573383?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a82ccf547&vxp=mtr