Curlytoons

Is Distronic Plus *vaporware* or does it really exist?

Thanks,

Curly

akburton

It's like the lochness monster. Something you hear about, have seen fuzzy pictures of, and have eyewitness testimony for. But you just can't get your hands on it.

///MB

We have it on our S600. I think it's one of the best options. I would take it over the night vision any day. What else would you like to know about it?

Nevada Jack

I gave this up when my build date slid...can you tell us if it works as advertised and have you found the automatic braking on highway driving at all bothersome, etc.

Thanks

///MB

I believe it does work as advertised.
I've never found the braking to be annoying. The only time I find it awkward is when you close the following gap by manually accelerating, thereby going into distronic "passive mode," and as soon as you let off the gas, distronic will hit the brakes. I hope that makes sense. I think it's a great feature for slow moving traffic. You just set the max speed and the following distance and let it go. Once you get used to how the system operates and reacts to the car is following, it's very convenient.

akburton

So with Distronic engaged can you totally remove your feet from the pedals and just steer? If so, when my lease is up I'm definitely going to give back my LE and get one with this feature. I really wish my LE had the distronic on it.

Curlytoons

[QUOTE=///MB]I believe it does work as advertised.
QUOTE]


Thanks for the reply ///MB. I am personally holding out for this option on the S when 4matic is released.

If I can hijack my own thread a little, how awkward is the night vision to use? At this time I have this option low on my list as I want ABC instead. Do you use night vision regularly, occassionally, or not at all? Is it helpful to use or is it more a fun thing?

Thanks,

Curly

///MB

akburton: Yes... all you have to do is steer and just make sure no one cuts you off suddenly. I find in moderate traffic, the distronic works best, since it can slow the car down itself almost all the time and I end up looking and playing around with the COMAND more than watching the road. hehe. Another nice feature that comes with the distronic is the radar distance warning. When distronic is off, the radar is always on and if the car in front of you comes to an abrupt stop or slows down and you don't react fast enough, it will beep to tell you to slow down.

Curlytoons: hmm... personally I think night vision is more of a fun thing. Living in the city, most the streets are well lit. However, if you live in an area with little to no street lights, it might be more useful. With the night vision, you can see beyond the normal headlights and it brightens up what's on the road ahead. It helps see stuff that is on the road ahead that you can't see with the normal headlights. It's not awkward to use at all and works great, but again, it's more of a toy for me.

Hope that helps. =)

AnotherSL

That Distronic beep saved my *** (actually the one on the car in front of me) a few months ago. I was driving in a tight pack of cars at about 50 or 60 mph. Something distracted me and as I looked over to my left, I heard the "beep-beep" even though the cruise control wasn't active.

I instantly hit the brakes without looking first. That extra fraction of a second saved me from rear ending the guy in front of me who had hit his brakes for some reason at exactly the same time that I looked away.

So Distronic, YES! I used it a lot on my previous SL and miss it a lot on my current SL. You will spend the first couple of weeks with your left foot hovering just above the brake pedal while it's active, then you'll get used to it and love it.

Nevada Jack

Thanks for the input...still happy I got the car I did but would have liked the Distronic Plus...

Wolfgang

Here's what the supplier of Distronic Plus put out when it was released last year. Includes some pictures..

http://www.conti-online.com/generato..._class_en.html

Jayhawk

Any data on brake wear and gas milage w/ and w/out DT?

Kar don

distronic plus does work as advertised... it is amazing. It is a scarey feeling when doing 100+ on the hwy with traffic ahead and letting the car brake itself without touching any pedals. I did have one instance where i was in traffic and all of a sudden the gap was closing then all of a sudden it said Distronic Off and it stopped braking and I almost hit the person in front of me. Might have been my fault but it only happened once in the 600+ miles I drove it.

konigstiger

What following distance range is offered? And what distance do you find the safest coordinating with traffic flow and dealing with the maniacs who are always trying to cut in?

konigstiger

Jack

Do you loose the corning light function with the AMG bumper? I see that the standard S550 bumper has corning lights built in beside the fog lamps but the AMG bumper only has singular fog lamps. In as much as these singular fog lamps seem to be the same as used in the standard CLS bumper (which does has the corner illuminating feature) and therefore I would think you do have it, can you please confirm. Thanks.

///MB

There's a small dial on the stalk that you can turn to adjust the following distance. I think the minimum is 100 feet, then it goes up by either 25 or 50 foot increments to 300 feet I believe. I'll have to double check for you next time I'm in the car, but you get the general idea. In moderate to heavy traffic, I leave it on the minimum following distance. Otherwise, the gap between you and the front car is just too much and people will constantly cut in front of you. Even with the minimum distance, there's still a lot of room between you and the car ahead, so it is still safe and you will have time to react should someone cut in. I use the longer following distances as the speed increases.

Can Drive 55

I would think the following distance function of my distronic is the same as the distronic II. Mine is adjustable from one second to two seconds of distance between my car and the one in front. The computer calculates the distance based on the current speed. So, faster speeds mean more following distance.

Nevada Jack

The cornering light is not in the Fog Light area...the bulb is located in the main light complex at the most inboard part next to the grille. I have really not even noticed whether it works or not to tell the truth...I drive very little at night and just have not seen it operate. I am sure it does since the manual has a page or two on how it works and when. Page 622 of the manual shows the location of the bulb.

konigstiger

Oh I see... BTW it operates when making turns at slow speed and illuminates the area inside the turn (i.e.: driveway). Thanks.

konigstiger

Thanks - I'm liking this option.