Well I just had my S550 4matic delivered today, it was very exciting, I barely slept a wink last night (sorry, it was this 22 year old's first car purchase [and no I'm not some spoiled rich kid, I was not gifted any money from parents or relatives to buy a car, just a lot of hard work], perhaps the anticipation of the delivery wears with the years...). Anyways, overall I love the car. I ended up going white with java, P2, mudflaps and chrome door inserts which surprisingly I think really set the car off. Its funny because I was dead seat on AMG kit with Pano sunroof, but the more I looked at the AMG kit, the less classy looking it became in my eye...seriously, why did MB choose that black plastic mesh grill in the front bumper instead of the nice metal mesh they use in their AMG styled coupes! So I chose to avoid the "plastic fantastic" (just my opinion though I know a lot of you love the AMG styling, so no offense, different cars for different tastes!) in the end. A long drawn out decision, but I couldn't be happier.
So anyways, the point of all this, I have two mussings. One is fairly minor and could perhaps be fixed in a future Command Software Update...and that has to do with the iPod control. It works ok from the steering wheel, but it sort of seems clunky compared to the Command system, I'd really love to see Mercedes integrate playlists and track lists onto the Command screen.
The second, and major, complaint for me, and I think those of you from NE will agree here, is the lack of Dunkin Donut POI's in the Nav system. Seriously, when I'm driving somewhere unknown, the java urge kicks in, I need my Dunkin fix! Sigh, I guess we can't have it all. I'm tempted to get the Tele-aid luxury concierge service just so they can look a DD up for me! (BTW, anyone who has the luxury Teleaid have any comments or feedback?)

 

congrats..

but u need some 20s & drop asap

 

Congrats on the new S550....

Been getting new AMG CLs since my early 20s....and dozens of new AMG/F/P's later, still more enthralled at prospect of getting another new AMG CL (am awaiting '09 CL65 in ?Aug) than any other new car on planet, no matter price....and still look fwd to the charismatic sound of my CL63 030 every time I start it, even for my mundane, daily 2-3mi urban commute....

The iPod interface of S/CL is so screwed up b/c MB decided late in development process to incl iPod functionality, so it's clearly a sloppily pasted-on function...would presume in mid-cycle update (?Spr09) MB will more elegantly integrate iPod function into Comand....

Don't recall much about the POI functionality of the nav system (I've almost never used my nav system after quickly scanning/testing its latest features when I took deliv of my latest CL)....

BTW, no need to be defensive about who paid for car.....know many moronic, self-proclaimed "self-made" guys, as well as moronic trust fund guys....as well as many smart, high-achieving examples of both categories.....IMO, if I choose to have kids, wouldn't ever transport them in anything less safe than a new S63/65, nor would I give a kid anything less safe than a new S63 as a first car (obviously after doing my best to instill excellent driving skills/judgment....and, if the kid screws up or some other driver causes a collision, I'd want latest AMG active/passive safety tech protecting him to minimize odds of life-long, post-crash disabilities)....

 

An S550 at 22? But where do you go from here for the rest of your life? Congratulations on your purchase!

Agreed that the iPod interface is clunky.. definitely first generation.. my main irritant is its slowness... I flip though my playlists so quickly that I often end up selecting the wrong song because it can't keep up... You do get used to it though... a insignificant blemish on an otherwise superlative vehicle...

It was (is) my hope that car manufacturers can increasingly integrate this type of functionality into a generic software interface which can be updated periodically with dot versions... How do you feel about driving an S550.3.1?

I would suggest that any money spent on Teleaid Luxury Conicege Service is money wasted... You will probably rarely use it as the navigation is fine for most destinations (DD aside) .. and if DD is that vital list them out in mapquest and download into your palm device or something...

Chris

 

Your in Luck. My wife is the Western US marketing manager for Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Donuts. I will pass your info to her and see what they can do to update all Mercedes software. This will make the car complete.

 

Congratulations and best of luck.

NAVTEQ Map Reporter
http://navteq.com –> Map Reporter link -> POI

 

NAVTEQ Business Support
http://www.navteq.com/support/direct.html

 

Congrats on the new vehicle -- very gorgeous indeed! ...and I know exactly how you feel. I didn't sleep at all the night before I picked up my new baby and since I'm currently in grad school, my classes took a one week back-burner while I worked out the financing and played with all of the new features.

Nice to meet another DD addict ;-)

Best of luck and MANY MANY happy years/miles of driving!

 

beautiful car
congrats

 

congrats..you chose very well with this color combo!

the mudflaps actually tell us that you are not the average 22 year old

 

Gross. Going for a class act.

 

My dad asked me the same question! I test drove a Bentley a few weeks back just to see what they were all about, nice car and all, but as a daily driver, I'll probably stick to S classes for life now! I'm not a sports car kid or anything. Maybe a CL for a weekender or something. But for the next 5 years I'll just be enjoying this one!

The updated iPod interface looks better, itching at the bit for that. I would take a dot version, as long as I can put the dotted numerals on the back of the car, lol!

The T.C. service...I sprung for, and I have to say I love it. I use it at least twice a day just for traffic info, I find it easier than entering nav destinations by hand, yes I'm getting THAT lazy haha, and they can look up DD too!



vonbeeler, thanks for passing on the word!


dalazernet, congrats on teh C, looks great! I think if I had gotten her before grad school finished, I probably wouldn't have finished, haha, gave me something to reach for!


F_Porsche: lol!

 

so what is it that you're doing that you are purchasing (not leasing) a $9x,xxx vehicle at 22?

 

What ever he is doing he is doing it correctly and the money is coming in . Congrats on your S550 purchase you will enjoy the vehicle have fun!

 

The first year of Tele-Aid is free. More convenient than the Concierge feature is the Send to Car feature on both google and yahoo maps.

http://www.searchandsend.com

I use that facility all the time to download directions into the Nav in the car.

 

Interesting, CEO of my company just turned 25. He already made about $20M. He started at 22 delivering software system for lead generation. So age means nothing for successful business.