as17

Hello everyone,

Mercedes doesn't offer the Driver's Assistance Package in my country on the 2020 S Class models (S450, S560) except for the Maybach variants which comes fully loaded with everything.

Budget isn't an issue for me, so i could go either way. How often do you use the driver's assitance features on a daily basis? My daily commute will be around 100km (60 miles) highway and city mixed

Although the Maybach has overall better drive quality and comfort by far, is the DAP significant enough for me to get the Maybach variant or stick with the normal S Class without DAP?

Thank You

superswiss

I'm answering this from a general perspective as MB offers the driver's assistance package in pretty much all their models. I have it in my 2019 C63S Coupe and it's the same system as in the W222. MB updated it with the 2019 FL. I can honestly tell you that I wouldn't wanna give it up. While an AMG is primarily supposed to be a driver's car, I do a lot of grand touring. Sometimes I'm on the road for up to 12 hours in a single day and it makes long distance driving so much more relaxing and less fatiguing. It's like having a co-driver who takes over some of the mundane driving. The system works very well. I also love how I can just tap the turn signal and the car will automatically accelerate and change lanes to pass other cars if the adjacent lane is free. Really makes for a very relaxed driving. Fortunately, I don't have a commute, so I don't find myself in traffic all that much, but when I do it's again great to have the driver's assistance. Letting the car follow the stop&go traffic keeps me more sane. As opposed to some of MB's competitors, the MB system stays ready for up to 30 seconds if traffic comes to a full stop and automatically resumes. It's actually intelligent and knows what kind of road you are driving on. On divided highways as said it stays ready for up to 30 seconds and also allows hands free driving for up to 30 seconds. On surface streets, it is more conservative due to the higher risk of potentially running over a pedestrian, but I don't really use the system on surface streets anyway.

So to answer your question, I use it all the time on long distance journeys and the moment I hit traffic, but I thought it was interesting that during the height of the COVID lockdown I hadn't touched it for several weeks, because a) I wasn't doing any long distance trips, and b) there was no traffic on the roads, but now that things have opened up, I have been going on some road trips and traffic around here has pretty much gone back to normal, so I'm back to using the system regularly.

Mitch Alsup

If you enjoy being at the controls of your car and in command of every little movement of the car, Driver's assistance package is annoying.

If you just want to get from point A to point B with as little thought as possible, Driver's assistance package is a necessity.

I have mine turned of since about day 4.

Katie22

I have a 2016 Maybach and the drivers assistance is awesome. I will take issue with you though. ONE the Maybach does NOT come with everything, there are several options you can choose to add to the Maybach.


Two I have driven an S550 and I can honestly say that from the front seats there is NOT a big difference between the cars. Especially if you take a 550 and load it up you have essentially everything the Maybach has except for extra room for the rear seats. I will say one thing when you load up a s550 you are over 150K easy and the V8 Maybach is just sooo sooo close to that price and if your like me you splurge on the V12 because its not that much more..............

Donnymac

This^^^^^. I find DAP to be more of an irritation than value especially at higher speeds. To each his own. Mine, too, is turned off.

Good luck.

OnlyGerman

Yes

Lanzz

I am with Superswiss on this topic - Driver Assistance features are a game-changer for long drives. I just did an 800 mile round trip from NC to NY to see family (I couldn't stomach flying right now...) and was able to drive alone each way in a single day - about 13 hours from door to door. The only way I could do that safely is the Driver Assistance features - having the additional support to manage the space between you and the car in front of you and to remain in your lane really reduces fatigue. Of course you still need to pay close attention and actually drive the car, but I am amazing how much less fatigue there is with those features. I would not attempt more than 800 miles in a day, but I will be driving back to NY in August and I am not dreading it, given my experience on the most recent drive.

Heisenberg

I wouldn't want a car without it. It has to be the most common option so there are plenty to choose from that have it.

On short trips it can get annoying but the individual functions can be turned off. On the other hand, it can offer a significant safety net if you're being distracted by passengers, phone, etc.

On long trips or when you're tired, it's pretty much invaluable.

bkdc

It’s so useful if you’re a little tired on longer trips. Like Heisenberg said. Safety first. It should be standard.

whoover

It's the first cruise control I find worth using. I'm a pretty "active" driver and was skeptical but on my first long roadtrip I was sold. No matter your route, you can't have ONLY great curvy, empty roads that are joys to drive. Between those, there will be congested highway driving. Being able to switch on the radar cruise control makes highway traffic much less frustrating. Regular cruise control is almost useless at these times. Constant tapping on the brake and then restoring it when traffic moves is as bad as not having cruise control. With Distronic, it's all the autonomous driving I want. (I do turn off the auto-steering stuff, which doesn't work as well, in my opinion). But Distronic is a game changer.

E300-18

It sounds counter-intuitive, but I found that it helped me to stay MORE alert on a long trip. The automated steering is not quite the same as how I would steer the car. The steering wheel movements catch my attention and make me think about whether I want to override the automatic steering. At the same time, the end result is a more relaxing trip.

I read that Mercedes purposely made their steering drift a little within the lane, compared to a Tesla that will drive arrow straight. The idea is that perfect steering is more apt to lull a driver to sleep.

Jet007

You should be able to get all the features with the S600 as well as the drive comfort.

Lou B

As you have seen above, you pays your money and makes your choice, based on your needs.

When my '18 S560 was new, I drove it 65 miles on two lane and four lane roads, and then turned off the assisted steering/passing and have never turned it back on in 33,000 miles. Late abrupt turning really bothered me.
I use cruise control and distancing all the time.

Tom in Austin

I think the Distronic cruise control is excellent, and Blind Spot assist is invaluable. The automatic emergency braking works and really came in handy once in traffic.

The 'lane keeping' and 'steering assist' are annoying and I never use them.

Caveat ... these comments refer to my 2016. The features in the package may be different or work better in other models.

BenzV12

Blind Spot and automatic braking are both excellent systems and namely the latter should be mandatory just like ABS and ESP . I like to drive the car myself though but those systems are very handy in general

Streamliner

I use the Distronic Plus CONSTANTLY when on the freeway and sometimes on busy highways. It’s like having another set of eyes watching the road. You get distracted and turn your head for a split second and the guy in front of you slams on the brakes. Distronic Plus will save the day! Honestly, the Driver’s Assistance Pkg. Should be standard equipment on EVERY new MB, in my opinion.

will_atl

I use DA on road trips, I used to use it in my daily commute, but I found that went through brakes doing so. Interestingly I drove 7 of 9 hours yesterday and didn’t use it, but my wife who normally doesn’t use it did use it during the 2 hour stint that she drove. Maybe I’ll use it on the way home tomorrow!

Lou B

So. From the replies it seems the posters each figure out what works best.

Streamliner

Yes, the adaptive cruise control (Distronic Plus) will eat up brake pads, but I find that to be a low price to pay for the comfort & peace of mind it provides. I use it in bumper to bumper freeway traffic (I live in LaLa Land California) and it prevents me from having to hit the brakes hard even one time, which always causes Mrs. Stream to YELP and that alone is worth a set of brake pads.

carlosinseattle

LKA eats up the rear brake pads because it's the system that uses the brakes to steer the car. Distronic plus uses the steering wheel to steer the car without using the brakes, so no brake pad usage. I use distronic plus all the time, but only use LKA when I really "need" it. For my situation, best times for using both systems is in moderately busy highway driving when I don't want to change lanes and just let the traffic gods play things out. That way I can travel along without any inputs into the car so it reduces fatigue, and attention can "also" be used for other things.
This video explains how LKA works:

badq45t

My 16' systems is not nearly as good as my wifes 21' Nissan Leaf but that is pre-face lift. But that said I use it all the same and wouldn't own a car without it. As stated doesn't eat brakes