SW20S

With a heating element imbedded inside it. How do you think you heat plastic? Put a piece of wood in an oven...it will come out warm.

There is an internal core, which has a heating element and then a wooden shell is put over it.

emilner

I guess you have never had radiant heated wood floors. You can heat at different temperatures, they don't light fires under the seats when you hit the heated button...

SW20S

Another example I hadn't thought of...

DaveW68

I've always understood wood to be a very poor conductor of heat. This is just foreign stuff to me. So you're probably right about it being a thin veneer in the face-lifted cars if they are running a heating element through the wood portion too.

Wolfman

This is nothing new with other brands. Range Rover has been doing this for 6+ years and I think Bentley, etc, does too.

SW20S

That doesn't mean it can't be heated, you just have to have a different element within the wood portion than you do the leather portion.

MBNUT1

LOL

DaveW68

I honestly have no complaints with mine since about 2/3 of the wheel is heated. If I drove with my hands at 10 & 2, that might be another issue on very cold days. But I guess that's what driving gloves are for.

scb71

This is an old thread and I didn’t read all the follow ups but to add to this comparison I went from a S550 to an M series 750 4 cars back and around 5 years ago. I really enjoyed the technology, the sporty drive and that particular car was awesome for the driver and passengers - until it wasn’t. Like others have said the reliability of their V8 is atrocious. While I owned it I went through two sets of fuel rails - so the car was on its third set when I traded out of it. It was all warranty work but the bill was around $8k each time as I recall. They just tried to squeeze too much out of those engines and they burn up. I got out before my warranty ended but that’s a shame on a luxury car to feel like you have to run when the car only has about 40k miles on it.

The S class is not inexpensive to maintain and repair but is unquestionably a better engineered car as far as reliability is concerned. I also think the recent Mercedes technology appears good and current whereas there was a period there when BMW was ahead.
In summary I’d probably own a 40 series BMW but don’t think I’d ever own a V8 again and since I haven’t had anything other than a V8 in years I’m not sure if that will ever happen.

Merserybenze

7 series, 3 series and a a couple of X3. Didn’t like them. Hard seats, jerky rough rides. Had my S class for over 4 years. Never kept any car this long. If it wasn’t for the ugly W223 would have bought another one. Love my W222. Personal opinions- each to their own.

seamus2154

Could not agree more. Years ago I decided to go out of warranty on my 7 series. It was a cool car. I started using an independant BMW specialized shop. 2 owners, one was a BMW freak the other not so much. Well as the issues piled up, and I was complaining and the cool owner said to me "do you see me driving a BMW like my crazy partner"?? I said no, but what do you drive. He drove an S class. I said how can you be a BMW specialty shop and drive a Mercedes?? He said pure business. BMW's make me a fortune!! He also said as you get acquainted working on these cars, BMW's are clearly designed for the first owner, and a 3 years lease. They are not designed to be worked on and are not designed for long term ownership. He felt that was their business plan, and didnt care about the second owner. He said I own and drive a Mercedes because its purley a better car, easier to work on and maintain out of warranty. They can be owned for many years out of warranty.
So after knowing that I was driving my 7 series, blew a small coolant hose on back of the motor, overheated and warped the head. New motor out of pocket, total disaster. Seeing where that little hose was on the back of the motor in a hot spot it was clearly a design issue. I said never again. I have seen other cars with aluminum hard cooling lines in that same area. Been driving an S class ever since. Whole different world. I do most all of my own maintenance, and its easy to work on. But best of all, it just has less issues. Mercedes doesnt just build a better car, they care about their brand. So the second owner does matter to them. Their reputation does matter. Thats what made me the first owner on some..to their credit.
Now I do own a E46 M3...but its just an investment car. Very cool car too. But its not a driver that can bite me.

Merserybenze

That cooling pipe was why I sold my 7 series - read about it on bimmerfest and was worried everyday after warranty ran out.

seamus2154

So did I. The crazy part of the story is that I bought all those crazy molded, small and large coolant hoses and had them in a box in the trunk when it happened!!!! Figured I'm in Florida and the bimmers run very hot to start with so I should do it as preventive maintenance........too late...Kaboom.