When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Does anyone else share my frustration with the design of the R320?
I am convinced it was designed by retards.
There are two major annoyances and two minor ones.
Annoyance No 1 - The indicator stalk/ along with wipers and other functions is hidden behind the steering wheel and cannot be seen when driving.
How dumb is this?
No matter how you alter the steering wheel, the stalk is obscured. Designed and checked by a moron.
Annoyance # 2
In the GPS mapping system, the place names of major towns are normally not displayed, only the place names of pissport little towns nearby. I recently did a trip to Sth Australia and nearly everywhere I went, I could be in a major town and the NAV system would not show the town name, yet would show 2 horse towns near by. Also after 12 years, MB Australia have not updated the map discs and I am told you cannot use later model discs in early models. Again, design fundamentals seem to have been ignored or not understood. This shows the contempt by MB for their customers.
Annoyance #3
The radio will not allow you to simply dial in or set a frequency to listen to. You must use the scan feature and hope that it will pick up the station you are seeking. I recently tried to get the ABC from Keith SA whilst I was in Keith and could not get until I had left the town.
Annoyance #4
I have a bluetooth connector for my car which (an it was expensive) will connect my Phone to the media centre, BUT NOTHING ELSE. I cannot use the bluetooth to stream music to the media unit, even after 12 years, there is no aftermarket unit that will accommodate both my phone and music via Bluetooth. I am stuck with running my ipad or Phone via a pyhsical cable to Aux input. How backward is that.
Apart from these really highly annoying things, the rest of the car seems to work good and I have had no real issues with it in the past 7 years that I have owned it.
#1 - Every Mercedes-Benz of that era has the stalks at least somewhat concealed. I actually like that design. It offers a cleaner look.
#2 - No idea what you are referring to. Perhaps, that is because I am in the United States.
#3 - It will absolutely allow you to enter a frequency. Press the * button.
#4 - Most European manufacturers did not/do not support Bluetooth music streaming. I think Mercedes-Benz first introduced it in the 2017 or 2018 model year.
For #4, look for a Mercedes Benz Media Interface Plus Adapter, Part # A2129004712 03.
It plugs into where the iPod/iPhone/iWhatever cable goes in the glove box and streams both phone and media audio with complete display and steering wheel button functionality. It's a finicky *******, I won't lie, as it needs an occasional reset. But it always recovers, and delivers fantastic streaming audio from both Android and Apple devices, using Google Play or any other app. Also very helpful for GPS guidance, as it's streamed audio as well. Waze, G-Maps, whatever.
The original stereo unit to my opinion is quite limited with functions, my car is 2007 year. So decided to swap it with the aftermarket one, which face is designed specifically to fit r-class mercedes dash. Looks close to original and it has android 5.1 system, which has got any maps you desire (the ones which can be installed on android), supports various audio formats from sd cards, cds and so on, DAB+ supported with some adapter, rear view camera supported, bluetooth connection as well, hands free setup is simple and works well. can connect to wifi as well, there is optional mobile internet dongle available. Definitely recommended.
W163 ML500 w/Kleeman headers (gone but not forgotten); R63
Originally Posted by virgisr
The original stereo unit to my opinion is quite limited with functions, my car is 2007 year. So decided to swap it with the aftermarket one,which face is designed specifically to fit r-class mercedes dash. Looks close to original and it has android 5.1 system, which has got any maps you desire (the ones which can be installed on android), supports various audio formats from sd cards, cds and so on, DAB+ supported with some adapter, rear view camera supported, bluetooth connection as well, hands free setup is simple and works well. can connect to wifi as well, there is optional mobile internet dongle available. Definitely recommended.
Care to share brand and part number? Post a pic or two installed?
wow, this one is nice!
any difficulties installing it connecting to camera and audio? do you have harman-kardon sound system?
Installation was plug and play. On the back of the radio there is same port which accepts original MB connector. Not sure what system my car has, but everything worked straight away.
The stereo has special tulip connector at the back for the camera and the activating wire to be connected to it. Simple to set up. I have aftermarket camera, which was easy to setup, but i am sure the original ones connection is pretty same.
Great write ups on the aftermarket radios.
I have the Harman Kardon on facelift 2011. I admit it is not the highest tech but it does what I need. It sounds quite good actually. the amp under the seat is quite big, the woofers in the doors have double 2 ohm voice coils each connected to its own amp, so about 50 watts each. I did replace the sub with an Alpine R10 and amp.
I have my music on either and SD card or USB stick.
MY 2005 C240 however is a differrent story! I put in RCA outputs into the radio and have a JBL MS8 processor with 3 amps. So yes I like toys too!
Great that you all like the up to date tech but to be perfectly honest, I sometimes feel that some over-prioritize gadgets over more important things in life. The executive level target market for R-Class is not supposed to be OCD on latest shiny things.
10-19-2018, 08:15 AM
