I love my S-Class... but nothing in life is perfect... Though extremely insignificant and minor there are 3 things that keep me thinking "why did they design it that way". I am sure others have more

(1) The gap between the seat cushion and back means that whenever I put papers on the passenger seat they keep slipping through the gap onto the floor behind.

(2) The gymnastics you have to do to get the Nav out of full screen mode... either a rapid double click on the wheel or hit the "back" button. Occasionally the birds eye view switches to the standard view. Probably have not quite got my wrist action quite right here...

(3) That I can't close the trunk lid automatically from my remote key... though I can do so by hiting that button on the inside! Even my wife's RX330 has a remote trunk closer!

But on the upside....

(1) The stretch of polished burl on the upper central console just above the air vents... Maybe its just the angle it always catches the light on the polish but it always looks so classy offset against the aluminum...

(2) The plushness of the Alcantara around the mirrors and between the forward sun-roof and the pano... so soft it is like a cushion...

(3) That close the trunk AND lock the car button inside the trunk lid. So handy when you are carrying 3 bags of shopping and 3 gallons of milk!

Heck... I am entitled to a 4th like...

(4) That flip down double hook inside the trunk to hang the shopping on... What a brilliant idea... do you really have to buy a $100K+ car just to get this?

It's the small things in life that often count!

Chris

 

Okay, here are mine:

Three things I dislike:
1) I agree on the gap between the seat bottom and seat back - annoying!
2) Losing the big storage compartment in the console, because I have the rear-seat package.
3) The seat massage that shuts itself off after 15 - 20 minutes, so you have to restart it all the time.

Three things I like:
1) The most amazing combination of a comfortable ride, sport handling and amazing throttle response in any 4-door car I have ever owned or driven.
2) The ability to have my passenger program the nav system while the car is in motion, instead of shutting off the input controls, like almost every other manufacturer.
3) The seat massage that makes long drives as comfortable as an evening in my lazy boy recliner.

 

LMAO about #1. I have thought the same thing. I have many times wondered what the heck happened to my bills or papers I laid in the seat earlier in the day!! Later I find them in the floorboard behind the seat. I also wish MB had continued to place that little section of cushion between the seats and the center console to keep trash from falling down between the seat and the console. It would help keep coins, pens, business cards and things from falling down into that impossible-to-get-to area. Seems they stopped that with the W140.


As far as #4 above, I keep my umbrella stashed in that hook.

 

Hey - I DO have that section of cushion between my seat and the center console in my car. I forgot that - and love it! It is definitely worth adding to my list... I have probably saved at least 37 pens that way already....

Perhaps we have discovered another difference between the 2007 and 2008 model years?

Chris

 

YOU DO????!!!!! Dang. I'll have to trade up tomorrow. I was at the dealer today. I'll be there tomorrow too. Maybe I can take a look at that. Bummer. I wish mine had that.

 

Get pictures of the cushion too. I've never seen this before.

 

Here it is... (Perhaps it came with the new style seats)

You can turn green now...

Ah ha... I just spotted my missing gym membership card tucked away by the seat belt socket in that picture.. it must have slid down the side cushion. See it works - thanks for prompting me to take that picture!

 

hahahah nice play of words with gymnastics. that really made me laugh. anyways im a w220 owner and hope to get a 221 within the next 2 years. the car surpassingly amazing

 

(1) Would the gap close if you adjust the seat cushion to be shorter? I don't think I've had this problem, could it be because I have the passenger seat adjusted differently?

(2) I would have to go to the car to test this but I never double-click the wheel for any purpose (I thought the manual does not even talk about double-click, just click and long press, but I may well be wrong, just have not used it). But I don't remember how do I usually get out of the full screen mode, it is too natural and does not bother me (this must be why I don't remember it, a good excuse at least ). Isn't single click enough to bring the menu bars visible? Anyway you probably have to find a new way to use it.

(3) I agree with this one but I accept it as part of the MB safety principles. Should not be a big issue but I'm sure they disable the closure feature from the remote key because some American would sue them when a person (probably a thief) got hit by the trunk lid while the car owner had forgotten the lid open and closed it from distance without seeing the car.

 

I have the cushion too. First time I've seen that in a car.
J

 

I never noticed that hook! I will have to check it out. Did you guys get a warning triangle. I notice it is missing from my car.

J

 

Things I love:

1) At night, one can see the fake spindle on the speedo needle. The fact that they even bothered to replicate this and that it looks like the real needs is unreal.

2) Fit and finish of the rear package shelf with rear blind. Unreal.

3) Ride quality.

4) Distronic plus. Unbelievable in stop and go traffic.

J

 

As far as I can tell in the EPC (MBUSA Electronic Parts Catalog), the passenger seat “rest” (separate from upholstery cushion) part numbers for the 07 S550, 07 S600, and 08 S550 are the same. However, the 08 S600 rest is different. Therefore, if you really want this they may be able to order and install part number A2219104650 (only available for ventilated and heated seat).

 

Regarding your three -

(1) I agree that it happens, but would suggest it is engineered that way to prevent unwanted noises and smoother operation of the seat. Suggest you place an "outbox" on the floor behind the passenger seat.

(2) The problem here is that you need to first press "Down" on the vault tumbler when you are in full screen mode to get out. If you push it any other way, it goes into position mode. Agree it's annoying, but it does make sense once you understand it.

(3) Agree 100% - would love to know why this doesn't work.

I would add to the list –

· Heat and ventilation settings for the seats should be stored in memory when the car is turned off. They should resume their settings when the car is started again.

· The indicator light for the heated steering wheel is in a ridicules location.

· The window switches are hard to identify by feel which causes you to sometimes open the wrong window or have to look to find the button

 

Have too many likes of my CL63 to easily narrow to only 3 favorite ones....

But only recently gained a new appreciation for CL63 in a different context....drove my silver CL63 030 behind/alongside/ahead of a colleague's maj blk CL63 030 as we separately left a mtg in SiliconValley....had a 40mi drive back to SF on the brisk, tq-stress-test 280 fwy....

Sadly, jaded drivers of these great cars prob don't fully appreciate how much visual/aural road presence these cars have, esp as seen/heard by other drivers on a high-speed fwy....IMO, CL63 030, esp w/its advcd headlts blazing, is the most elegantly intimidating car on road today....simply a sleek, yet brutal imperial presence that screams "leading tech" (quite the quintessential car for SiliconValley)...

63 exhaust note is just epic; was driving (as usual) w/windows/roof closed but my colleague's CL63's exhaust note was amazing, esp during mid-range accel bursts.....sounded louder/more compelling, as heard from inside my sealed car (following several car lengths behind his CL63) than my own car's impressive exhaust note as heard from inside my car (would guess the downstream exhaust acoustics are more interesting)....also, the sight of 030 wheels in-motion, esp in context of CL63 brake calipers, is quite remarkable.....and the sight of a "lit-up" CL63 in one's rear view mirror is quite interesting....

3 improvements....
1. Fine-grained 600-quality leather throughout, incl sport steering wheel rim and airbag cover....

2. More customizable central flat screen of instrument panel...would want large central tach w/easy-to-read central digital readout of speed and gear selected as my default setting....the current, massive analog-look speedo (and smaller periph tach) is a silly use of valuable real estate, esp in a car w/paddleshifters and a more aggressive Manual mode....

3. More precise computerized oil level readout in dash (not just "low oil" as in 63 or "oil level OK" as in 600).....

 

Likes

1. Ride and Handling compromise
2. Faultless Sat-Nav, Phone - the whole gadget package
3. Build quality much better than I expected

Dislikes

1. Didn't get the door closing aid
2. Didn't get the memory seats (!)
3. Spent £500 on Ipod integration when should have got the six disc DVD stacker as 6 DL DVD's makes 48 GB storage with instant access. The Ipod works and you can get it loud with tweaking, it's just far to slow to navigate if you've got a few hundred albums.

ha ha, if that's all I can come up with it's pretty amazing. The only reason I didn't get those was down to wanting a car ASAP and therefore picked a car in stock. Still, I did get 10% off so not too bad eh?

The W221 is a fabulous car. Just love mine and I'm a die hard sports car fan.

 

3+1 additional minor likes I have to get out of my system:

(1) The S221 heated seats are the best ever. (My old E55 heated seats were feeble in comparison) You could toast a sandwich on the S221 seats.

(2) That button that allows you to completely control the front passenger seat position from the drivers side! (And you can do it from the rear right seat also!) Especially fun when my wife is sitting next to me....

(3) The distronics plus warning beep when it detects the closing speed with the vehicle in front is too fast.

.... and one from my teenage sons... they love to change radio channels and raise/lower the volume from the back seat rear console. (Only in our S600 alas) Only problem - they keep leaning on the + button!

Chris

 

Where are the buttons for the radio? I only see seat controls on the rear consoles of the s600's I've seen?

 

I too have this - the difference may be it's in the higher end W221's (63,65 and 600) or also with the drive dynamic seats.

 

I don't have RSE, I thought it was only for the seats and for the RSE would have been independent from the front but the user guide tells it does more, but is it only TV, the rest seem to be related to the rear DVD and AUX etc?

Rear seat entertainment system*

Quick Access
Components Control elements below the screen Control elements on the rear seat armrest CD/DVD drive in the rear seat armrest Disc menu TV menu* AUX menu System settings Multiple users
Components

• Screens behind the front-seat head restraints
• Controls below the screen
• Controls on the rear seat armrest
• CD / DVD drive in the rear seat armrest
• Headphones in the rear seat armrest

You will see the currently selected main functions and the associated menus on the screens. The menus are divided into several areas, in the same way as the COMAND display.
The controls on the rear seat armrest allow you to navigate within the menus on the screen.

• Disc (audio CD, MP3, audio DVD and video DVD)
• TV*
• AUX
• System settings

Here about the TV

TV menu*

In the TV menu, you can call up the same functions as you can on COMAND.
Select TV.
Press .
The television picture appears.

For operating the TV functions, see more.
Navigation menu

To show/hide: slide .

Menu system

To show: press .
To hide: press while the main area is selected.

 

My rear console has all the seat controls, 2 massage functions, but also +/- volume controls and |> and <| buttons to step through CD tracks and radio stations. (Though curiously it does not seem to work stepping through SIRIUS stations) This is in the S600 only.

I assume they assume that many S600 owners like to spend more time controlling things from the back... no way for me!

Chris

 

The radio station control is interesting, did you find it from your user guide? I was not able to locate it from the on-line manual. Or is it with the rear volume control switch (inside the rear seat armrest stowage compartment)?

 

You know I have just spotted what must be another difference between the (USA) 2007 and 2998 600's. Looking at the picture of an S600 rear arm rest in this earlier thread...

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w221/225350-walnut-keypad-cover.html

...I notice there are no volume or channel changing controls... My rear armrest has the left/right seat/massage controls just as in the picture, but inset into the wood surface underneath on the left hand side I have +/- volume controls and |> and <| channel changing controls on the other side. I can post a picture later...

Chris

 

Here are the controls on my rear 2008 S600 amrest...

Chris

 

Interesting, thanks for posting the info.