SW20S

That’s why if you want that “true luxury” you should buy something that you truly can build bespoke, like a Rolls Royce or Bentley. The S Class is still a mass produced vehicle and it’s never going to be totally customizable.

S_W222

I don't understand how come Mbenz was still producing cars (at least the S-class) this year or even last year without UWB for the Phone as a Key feature, when even some other entry model brands have that now? I know it's a minor thing, but having keys on you all the time nowadays is troublesome especially when you get used to not holding keys anymore or all your other cars have UWB. BMW has recently stopped waiting 4 years for a facelift or LCI to introduce new/minor technological features, and they have been consistently making changes year over year (upgraded hardware, hands-free highway driving capability, newer LED headlight options, etc.) during the 4-years lifetime of a given generation or facelift (at least that's what I have seen for the X7 and X5 from 2023-to-2024 even though both years were for the same LCI "facelift" generation). Also noticed the same comparing the 2019 X7 to the 2020 X7 (newer engine, updated blacked out trim options, revised cluster layout configuration for auto lane changes, 1st gen phone as key-card, etc)

These things don't require a whole bunch of re-engineering to be added to a car that by now must at least have something like phone as a key! I get that in 2021 there were issues due to COVID and it wasn't a priority, but I have no idea why they haven't added it later in 2023 or 2024!

SW20S

All brands do things at their own speed. Lots of brands don’t yet support phone as key.

crabman

Don't forget the Chinese angle: Only a few of their android devices have UWB, which makes it a factor in the EU and other markets where they have significant penetration. Even in the US it's only supported on iPhone, and newer high-end android devices. In any event, there are complaints about the lack of cell phones offering UWB over on the BMW forums.

As with a lot of new tech and the standards that accompany it; you're looking at reaching a critical mass that makes adopting the feature worth doing on both sides of the equation. There is little reason for cell phone manufactures to include a feature few can use, and the same applies to auto OEMs on the other side of the coin. This is why you see these features hit premium products first, you need the bullet points, even if few can use the feature. Meanwhile, there isn't much of a payoff for including little used features in mass market devices at scale, so they go without until such time as adoption increases.

I'd say we're there, that it's past time, but that's how it usually works with new tech and standards, it first hits on the higher end with availability tending to lag the market. It's just another profit angle playing out.

Frenetic

Not for the 500 unfortunately. Hopefully they unlock it for all models in the refresh.

ajm0623

my 'list' is simple: just one item. and i am indeed ordering one when able (~this time next year?)
1/ i want everything to work as designed. first time. all the time. like all my benzos of the 80s and 90s (and my current 222). confidence in my equipment is job 1. give me that. i'll pay full msrp. done.

SW20S

In cars this complex you’re just going to have to accept that you will have some glitches here and there. You just hope they are infrequent.

S_W222

Well that’s logical but still shouldn’t be true for something at the level of an S-class. Neither of my former W222s had any glitches. I also had three cars with IDrive 7 from BMW, without any glitches that I recall and they were all “complex” by design. MBUX (from what I read) and ID8 now (from personal experience) both seem to bring glitches yet without much technological advancement that I’d refer to as that much complex compared to their predecessors. Nowadays you need to take the car back to service, find an appointment, etc, only to clear codes caused by silly unbroken things! Germans are having a hard time sticking to their original “standards”.

crabman

Yep, I've got a few things the S class doesn't, with it having a few things I don't. Probably a push as far as tech load. Glitches = Zero over here. I do not accept the idea that complex systems can't be debugged. It should not be forgotten that nearly all the problems encountered here were known before the car hit the street, that they were not fixed wasn't because they couldn't be fixed, it wasn't inadvertent, they weren't unavoidable, and it was not an accident. It was a choice.