Becker Map Pilot or Comand on W204 ?

[DancSL450]

Hi
Don't know if this helps , but I have just sold a 2008 w204 and the first thing that a potential buyer or dealer asked me is does it have comand?

Which it did - apparently makes the car worth second hand extra £1000

Not sure if the Becker diet sat nav system will be as popular.....only time will tell but most dealers up the price if it's got comand......

 

[Superspec]

Harmon Kardon is great. I love Comand too. I had a courtesy car that didn't have HK sound and it really bugged me.....That said if I'd never had it not sure I would miss it....

 

[DancSL450]

Mine had harmon karden with comand it was excellent anybody getting into the car was amazed by the sound quality and the motorised display unit ...does the new shape c class still do that with comand ?
Wouldn't go for the 6 cd as you can use memory cards to play your music.

 

[Mazman]

Mine had harmon karden with comand it was excellent anybody getting into the car was amazed by the sound quality and the motorised display unit ...does the new shape c class still do that with comand ?
Wouldn't go for the 6 cd as you can use memory cards to play your music.

I have the new shape and I paid extra for 6 cd changer. Its comes with a aux socket and usb in the arm rest.
Can also connect my ipod touch via bluetooth, although it doesnt display the track details on the screen, sounds great though.

 

[Goldfish11]

That's interesting because my dealer told me today the Audio 20 with media interface is still not available to order. He claims he's seen any e-mail to the contrary.

Placed order Friday for new C Class for delivery in September handed over £1000 to dealer and got call Monday saying Audio 20 is "restricted" when they tried to put order on system for September delivery

So Fozzie it seems you are right, they also told me to take an additional person on "Personal Collection" was £40. (I fancied a long weekend picking up the car with my wife) I telephoned the personal collection people on website and they say it is £350

So currently I am not happy with dealer do wonder if they are just telling me what I want to hear. I do dislike "Sales" good job you only have to talk to them every few years. Get more sense from "Service".

Anyway back to Comand. Dealer tried to persuade me to go for Comand but that is an extra £950 so said it was not worth it and would only pay an extra £600 to £700, have not had a response yet to this

They have booked a build slot for my vehicle but it needs the spec confirming in June so I am going to wait and hope the Audio 20 becomes available if it does not there will be some hard negotiation going on with the dealer to get a discounted Comand. I will keep you informed.

Also one thing worth knowing is you can easily get between 9 and 10% discount off list on the C Class currently, with an additional £500 off the price due to the free Becker or a discount off Comand so you can get a great deal.

 

[Goldfish11]

Mine had harmon karden with comand it was excellent anybody getting into the car was amazed by the sound quality and the motorised display unit ...does the new shape c class still do that with comand ?
Wouldn't go for the 6 cd as you can use memory cards to play your music.

New C Class has the 7 inch Comand display embedded in the dash. So no motors required. Very similar to E and S Class. It seems MB are rolling out this dash layout across the range.

 

[Fozzie]

Becker Map Pilot

My dealer has told me today that due to production issues the BMP will not available for the foreseeable future.

 

[The_Taffinch]

I have been told similar, i.e that due to the tsunami in Japan there are problems supplying the Map Pilot...and that MB may temporarily be offering the COMAND system for the same price as the Map Pilot.

 

[Fozzie]

Comand

I have been told similar, i.e that due to the tsunami in Japan there are problems supplying the Map Pilot...and that MB may temporarily be offering the COMAND system for the same price as the Map Pilot.

My dealer told me today that Comand will shortly be on offer £500 - announcement due soon.

 

[Goldfish11]

My dealer told me today that Comand will shortly be on offer £500 - announcement due soon.

Heard from Dealer that they can give me comand instead of Audio 20 plus Media interface for an additional £750 (comand has the media interface as standard so really it is a comand unit for £1200). This is now £200 off, the dealer however is taking the hit. If they can get my additional to £600 i.e. comand for just over £1000 I may jump.

He went to MB and asked for a discount as apparently "each case is being looked at on its own merits" and they refused to discount. Hence the dealer taking the hit.

If I go for comand and then MB drops the price before the build will I get the saving?

 

[Goldfish11]

Comand now available at subsidised rate of £500

Fozzie you are right.

Just placed order Comand at £500 that is just £50 more than Media interface on Audio 20. :bannana:

Thats 3 years of free map updates plus Comand, plus speed limit assist, plus online, plus Linguatronic, 10GB music register, full media interface, SD card slot - all for £50.

 

[jk037]

I've been trying - for the last month - to get a W204 ordered via Inchcape on a company car scheme. To say it's been a ballache would be an understatement.

The latest story is that MB can't get hold of the Audio 20 units thanks to the Japanese earthquake/tsunami taking the factory out, and so Comand is going to be discounted to £500 (inc VAT). Which (touch wood) should make the lease price only a little higher than that of the car with the free Map Pilot fitted (and means I can have DAB too - no more Pure Highway stuck to the windscreen with wires every-bleedin'-where! ).

(This seems to tally with what other have said here; other tales I've heard are that Audio 20 is no problem and it's just the Map Pilot units that are unavailable, and that there are no problems at all with audio systems, but certain metallic colours require a pigment which is only produced in a factory which is now under 6ft of water... personally, I think it's all because of Daleks. Big, angry Daleks. Possibly on the payroll for TomTom. )

Anyway, all I need now are CAP to get their collective finger out and put together the data for the Comand-equipped cars, then Inchcape can generate me a quote based on the CAP data, then I can finally place an order and, er, wait 6 months plus for my shiny new C220 CDi!

Incidentally, I had a facelifted C220 CDi SE on demo this week and can answer two questions regarding the Audio 20 system:
(1) It DOES display album art
(2) It does NOT play DVDs - I tried it with a genuine Region 2 disc (Family Guy) and it gave an error message along the lines of "disc not recognised".

 

[black stig]

I've recently taken delivery of a facelifted C with the Audio 20/Media Interface/Becker combo.

Audio 20 will display art (although I've not seen it) via USB sourced media. It doesn't display via my iPhone (grrrr).

I picked up a Becker unit on delivery from the dealer (10th June). They seemed to have plenty in.

The Becker is a dog to update - had to try several PCs, which is a problem because I've only got Apple gear and Becker doesn't go near it. Eventually got it sorted and it does the job. Bit of an issue with the random selection of miles/km, but apart from that I'm happy.

 

[craig1912]

I've recently taken delivery of a facelifted C with the Audio 20/Media Interface/Becker combo.

Audio 20 will display art (although I've not seen it) via USB sourced media. It doesn't display via my iPhone (grrrr).

I picked up a Becker unit on delivery from the dealer (10th June). They seemed to have plenty in.

The Becker is a dog to update - had to try several PCs, which is a problem because I've only got Apple gear and Becker doesn't go near it. Eventually got it sorted and it does the job. Bit of an issue with the random selection of miles/km, but apart from that I'm happy.

I hae the same and agree with whats said. I found the whole upgrade was much quicker once I'd removed the European maps and freed up some capacity. Download was still slow but upgrade much quicker.

 

[Mercy1]

Sorry guys, I for one can't get excited aboutComand. Perhaps it's been updated, but my 2010 model has a lot of shortcomings and the choice of routes sometimes leaves a lot to be desired.
In Devon yesterday, Comand took me down a lane so narrow that my bleepers had a nervous breakdown. In an ML, I think I would have smashed the wing mirrors. I wouldn't have minded, but I subsequently found that 100 yards further on there was a perfectly acceptable route.
Last week, turning out of the entrance of the MB dealer I had visited, I didn't know whether to go left or right. So I tried left, and got the message - Please do a U turn. So I did, and after 100 yds. got another command - Please do a U turn. Dooogh...
Comand still doesn't let you enter post codes, which is a real pain when you are looking for large commercial premises rather than house numbers.
I thought Comand would enable me to get rid of my Garmin - but no way, there are so many additional features on Garmin that puts Comand in the shade.

 

[npuk]

Comand doesnt let you enter postcodes? Yes it does, think you need to read your manual.

 

[NISFAN]

Comand doesnt let you enter postcodes? Yes it does, think you need to read your manual.

Only 5 Digit.

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Sounds like the TMC on the BMP is as bad as the old Audio 20 with Nav 20 upgrade. Apparently it does not have the ability to scan multiple fequencies that is neccesary in the UK.

The TMC on COMAND is exceptional, so would make me want that over the BMP.

 

[artyman]

Sounds like the TMC on the BMP is as bad as the old Audio 20 with Nav 20 upgrade. Apparently it does not have the ability to scan multiple fequencies that is neccesary in the UK.

Aah that would explain why the TMC is greyed out on my UMI which upgraded to Nav20 when I did a map update, does take 7 digit postcodes though.

 

[st13phil]

Only 5 Digit.

Depends on the version of COMAND...

Both my wife's 2009 SLK & my 2011 W212 have full 7-digit postcode capability.

 

[Mercy1]

Comand doesnt let you enter postcodes? Yes it does, think you need to read your manual.

Def only five digits in my manual which is worse than useless, since you might as well just enter the town and then key in street, etc. I cannot believe that such a sophisticated system costing a ridiculous two thousand quid from a premium brand car maker does not accept a full postcode. It's not as if postcodes are new!