jettie1767

I will be looking at an '05 Silver SL55 at my dealer tomorrow. We've actually had a verbal agreement that I'm going to buy the 55 with my trade ('04 SL500). I know the nav is dvd-based now. Is the audio system still the same as the '04? I looked at an '04 55 a couple of months ago but decided to hold off until the '05 came out. Any other differences aside from the nav?

Thanks!

Karen//AMG

Not sure about Audio, but weren't you supposed to be getting an SL55 in a different color?

jettie1767

Yeah, supposed to be Capri Blue. But, I can't wait...LOL! So, my guy at the dealership called me when someone backed out of a Brilliant Silver/Charcoal/Berry 55. I told him I will look at the car first before I hand him a check..hehe.

FiftyFive

I just traded my 03 sl500 for 05 sl55, big difference... DVD navi is absolutely insane I love it, it has cool updated features like it show you on your dash your heading directions and the road name, sound system is much nicer then the 03.

jettie1767

Fiftyfive....you're right! The nav system is insane! It's a big step up from the '04.

Xeron

I just bought an 04 SL 55 and traded in my 03 BMW M3. The DVD nav in the BMW was far superior. I can't stand not knowing the street names now that were present on the BMW's NAV

jettie1767

Xeron, the '05 SL changed over to a dvd-based nav. It does display the streets now similar to what I have in my Lexus. I do agree with you that the '04 nav is a real stinker.

SL Boy

I dont understand these comments. I have an '03 SL55 and the nav shows heading directions and road name on my dash. The sound system is the same as current model too.

monty

i agree, in australia the do the same as SL boy commented

jettie1767

The '05 nav is now a dvd-based system. This means that the entire USA map is in one dvd instead of the 10 CDs that we used to carry around. This means no more switching CDs when we drive outside our home area. Also, almost all the streets in the map view have their names displayed instead of just the road you're on. There are also extra buttons on the side of the screen that makes the system more user-friendly. And lastly, it provides different views of the map and it's a wider screen.

OzSL55

I just bought a new '04 SL55 here in Australia. It appears I missed out on the DVD nav, which is annoying. Being as I am no stranger to car audio (just not car video) and will be installing the ADS amp and Focal Utopias from my outgoing BM 850csi, is it possible to functionally replace the factory Alpine CD changer with the compatible Alpine DVD changer. I image the video interfacing can be handled along with the a TV tuner install, but I suppose you won't get the DVD nav functionally as that would be built into the Command unit itself, yes? I'm a little miffed as it is the MB have the nerve to leave off the TV tuner in a top of the model like the 55, something at least BMW wouldn't do. But then again that didn't stop me changing camps after all these years .

Twinturbo

Hi there, good to see some people from Australia here. I'm in Perth, and I have only seen one current shape SL here, which was a 500. However in my few days in Sydney, I saw several, including a 55. So I guess thats where you from??

blueSL

Sadly for you guys in Oz, the ruinous levels of taxation on new cars and an over enthusiastic police force put the dampers on enjoying our passion. Great country otherwise though.

jettie1767

Does anyone know who will install the satellite antenna somewhere else aside from the trunk? My dealer, Ray Catena, will do the install of the kit minus the antenna. I just don't know where to go in New Jersey to have the antenna installed in a discrete spot (e.g. front grille, under hood fins, etc.).

OzSL55

Mind you'd, we'd be just as bad off if we had to convert our dollars into your pounds. A domestic GM HSV Monaro which costs $A39000 here is being sold as the new Vaxhaul Monaro in the UK for the equivent of $A93,000. Also, if you look at the converted cost of the SL55 in $A in pounds your talking £147,150 versus the UK list of £97,639 a significant difference, however IMHO there are a lot of other cost of living benefits that work in our favour compared to the UK (not to mention climate).

Sure the speed enforcement is pretty serious these days in Aust. but a lot of it is being done via the same GATSO camera system that is equally prevelent in the UK. I know you can get away with a bit more speed on a UK motorway, but I'm quite happy to travel 120-5kmh on our 110kmh freeways, which is within the allowable unwritten tolerance before you'll get booked in most states. Victoria seems in my knowledge the most '****-like' state in their approach to speeding, you may have experienced that while visiting. Personally, I get enough enjoyment being able to drive on some of the quiet roads in my region, which happens to be well outside of the metro area.

Twinturbo

In fact it probably would not even be fair to compare a monaro price. If the cost of a monaro in America is coverted into our currency, it is far cheaper than what we pay for the base model here! Plus the American version is slightly more equipped than the base model here.

About speed camera's your right, there damn annoying. Dunno about Sydney, but here you often have a chance to go on a long, wide straight highway that runs for several minutes without meeting more than a few cars. When there not traffic, you feel you could easily go over 150 without feeling unsafe. Unfortunately they may never go away even if they are proved to have no effect on road toll, as it is a major revenue raiser. $40M just for W.A rings a bell? But after time you learn where you can drive fast safely, and where you know there wont be speed camera's. Unfortunately, thats not that often.

OzSL55

I was going to throw in a more direct comparison. Let's take the very same Jeep Grand Cherokee I own, built righthand drive in europe, which costs $A65,500 here in Aust. However the same spec Jeep costs $A85,000 when you convert the UK price back to A$. On the other I'm never going to argue the fact that the Americans get huge economies of scale by comparison to us and don't have the import penalties (mind you ours have been winding down over the last 5 years) that we do. I just find it a tad hippocritical for a brit to tell us our cars are too dear.

Anyhoo, I think we've strayed a bit too far off topic here. Anyone got a comment on my original question about the DVD stacker/command system?

Twinturbo

Well Mercedes only brought out DVD nav in cars from the 05 model.
if you look at the audio foum, there are many posts about converting to DVD stackers, adding a TV tuner and so on. I think you can post the command unit and you can get it modified somehow. Don't really know much about it, but there is plenty of information in the audio forum if no one here can help.

OzSL55

Yeah thanks, I'm aware of the US '05 setup, which I'm pretty certain by our Aust. standards would make it a mid '04, as we don't sell our cars after the new fin. year as next years model year like they do in the US. Anyway thanks, I'll check out the audio forum for more info...