The need to put the car in park before you could remove the key completely foxed me in a VW recently! Couldn’t work out why the key wouldn’t come out of the ignition..
That got me the first time I drove to work in my first C43 in 2003. I was sitting in the carpark wondering what to do when a colleague walked past. He used to work in an MB dealership and pointed out what to do. Embarssing.
I was in two minds about the column shifter on my E-class but now I love it and miss it when driving other cars. E.g. the ease of flicking the car into reverse without letting go of the wheel when parking.
It works really well and frees up loads of space in the centre console. I was familar with the idea from US hire cars so fell in with it straight awayin the Merc,
Although having said that I the first time I came across one was when I'd hired a Chevvy Lumina in 1990 or to get me from DC to New Orleans and it totally floored me.
Before that I'd only seen column shifts in 60's barges and never actually used one.