Just got a '17 coupe (had a 16 previously) and will share my initial impressions comp'd to the 16.

9G trans: Shifts smoothly in comfort mode when casually driving but as the acceleration rate increases the shifts become firmer and are not always seamless or even that smooth on occasion. My car only has a couple of hundred miles so it may adapt to better all around shifting. My 16 took some time to smooth out (but was never a great gearbox). Our new '17 Audi Q7's 8 speed needed time to smooth out but appears to be better than the 9G from the get go with near imperceptible quick shifts on mod+ acceleration. I haven't tried sport mode on this coupe just yet but will report back soon.

LTE: Too early to tell, but so far so good. I will try various features that will test this for anyone that's interested.

Navi/command new software: The navi now has a banner across the top of the screen that shows the cross streets. The overall voice operation is still so-so.

Exterior Trunk Release: It was never an issue for me not having one of these before but I guess MB had many requests for it. The star looks almost the same as before but because the area around the star now moves you can see the dark open perimeter on light colored cars.

Sports Pkg: I had this on the 16, but for '17 it's now standard.

I have the desgino leather (also had this on the '16) but my '17's leather has a really nice leather aroma where the 16 had little to none.

The car feels very tight perhaps a bit more so than the 16, I am crediting this to the MY-MY ongoing improvements for rattles etc. One area so far is the lack of the seat belt retractors causing noise when going over certain bumps.

I chose the same color combo as before (see sig) but eliminated some options e.g. Sywarovski Crystal and Magic Sky (I didn't like the halo effect when the sun hits the glass on the magic sky nor that it was either full on or full off with no intermediate settings. I also didn't like that it makes the glass an unnatural looking dark blue which really distorts the color of the sky.

The '17 thankfully came with GoodYear F1's...I'm not a ROF fan but these are the best tire available from the factory on the C217's and W222's with 20's).

The super powerful M278 (true rating of 474 hp and 566 trq according to Renntech's base testing) remains a great engine...this may be the last year to get this beast.