Luddites unite!

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Auto -wipers and lights on cars i've driven have been useless.
Dual mass flywheels-add nothing but expense
Massage seats - no thanks, just feel weird
Touch screen systems i'm okay with - but i do like physical heater controls.Mercs have combo of both - but tbh i find the physical ones very poor and fiddly on all german cars


meanwhile, here's an old bloke struggling with tech
nintchdbpict000345546129.jpg

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/4236...ing-lost-on-the-way-to-his-sons-footie-match/


Yep, he'd struggle with Linguatronic just like Druk. :D
 
Reading this im wondering what some peope are doing whilst they're driving. I set everything before I set off including Sat Nav ... i can't think of anything id need to touch on the centre console, touch screen or not. The steering controls answer the phone and change radio station/track and the info is a glance down between the dials. I thought newer cars were the same? My auto lights and auto wipers work almost perfectly (the odd time when the sun is directly in front and low the wipers come on but thats very rare).

Must clarify not having a pop at anyone. Being its text on the internet this might come across wrong :D
 
I adjust the radio volume/station and other stuff via my 12 buttons on the wheel, but the climate control temperature, I have to reach down for. I don't have to look, I know where the dials are. One thing I would have to glance down for is if the dual zone seems to be having a fight and I need to see the Mono button to hit that (if previous passenger has messed with their side).
 
I'd second that. Actually the Air is amazing in terms of levelling the car out at high speed with four passengers and a packed boot.

All great - until it goes expensively wrong , as many W220 owners find to their cost .
 
Maybe, just maybe, people have money to fix problems? Not everyone is living on a shoestring and if you're driving an S Class and are, then you've clearly bought the wrong car.

All this talk of things going wrong, I'd rather have the features and take the risk than live without them. Also, clearly, so would the vast majority which is why the general public aren't all trying to get their hands on nasty old tin cans that have no power, no safety systems, and not much else.

Londonscottish was talking about his S212, not a 220, a car that ended production 5 years before the 212 began, and the airmatic on the 212 is considered very reliable by all accounts, including the one posted here a few posts up.
 
I adjust the radio volume/station and other stuff via my 12 buttons on the wheel, but the climate control temperature, I have to reach down for. I don't have to look, I know where the dials are. One thing I would have to glance down for is if the dual zone seems to be having a fight and I need to see the Mono button to hit that (if previous passenger has messed with their side).

The only 'button' on my steering wheel sounds the horn .

Mercedes were the original masters of ergonomics , being the first to realise that rows of similar buttons or switches are a bad idea , and developed the idea of dissimilar controls , many of which are multi functional , with each operating in different ways , hence falling easily to hand and without confusion .

The MB light switch , with turns clockwise for sidelights and headlights , anti-clockwise for parking lights , and pull out for fog lights , goes all the way back to the 1950's . Other controls , like the multi function stalk , which combines indicator , high/low beam and flashing , with multi speed wipers and washers evolved over a few decades , with the dip switch being taken from the floor into the stalk ; then after the floor switch was used for the washers for a while , and a little rocker switch built into the stalk for different speeds , someone thought to add twist and press in movements to add different functions . The stalk itself , of course , was originally only for flashing headlamps , with one position for momentary flashing , and another for continuous flashing ( very useful on the autobahn to leave the headlamps constantly flashing to warn slower traffic to get out of the way ) and indicators back then were actuated by rotating the horn ring . 1950's MB also had such things as a knob to advance/retard the ignition ( twist operation ) , choke knob ( pull out ) and push button for the starter . Gear change was , of course , on the steering column - either manual , clutchless manual ( Hydrak ) , or if you were seriously wealthy and could afford an Adenauer , then you could have automatic .

While MB have had separate heater zones since the 50's too , and the controls have always been tactile , they moved from simple levers for hot/cold and up/down on each side , with always available cold air to the face , and optional heat everywhere else , to knobs or thumb wheels for temperature and air direction controls from the early 70's - arguably the earlier controls were more intuitive - but all could become familiar and used without looking away from the road .

Becker had one of the first self seeking radios , which would find the stations for you , so gadgets were around even then ; and several decades later Sony offered multi function remote controls ( such as the RM-X4S I have in each of my cars ) which like the MB multi function stalk offers each function in a different way and can be operated purely by touch .
 
Maybe, just maybe, people have money to fix problems? Not everyone is living on a shoestring and if you're driving an S Class and are, then you've clearly bought the wrong car.

All this talk of things going wrong, I'd rather have the features and take the risk than live without them. Also, clearly, so would the vast majority which is why the general public aren't all trying to get their hands on nasty old tin cans that have no power, no safety systems, and not much else.

Londonscottish was talking about his S212, not a 220, a car that ended production 5 years before the 212 began, and the airmatic on the 212 is considered very reliable by all accounts, including the one posted here a few posts up.

Even when they were current , 220 owners were bemoaning airmatic failures , and when you could get bills of 2 grand a corner ( as my neighbour did with his S500 when it was less than five years old ) then even people not living on a shoestring are hardly going to be pleased .

While it is certainly true that coil springs can , and do , fail , they're a lot less costly to replace than airmatic struts .

While some people may judge cars based on toys and gadgets , others are more interested in solid engineering .
 
All great - until it goes expensively wrong , as many W220 owners find to their cost .

Agreed. Ball ache if it goes wrong. But my previous one managed 12 years and nearly 150k miles with just a (relatively cheap) pump failure.

This one's seven years old and on 56k miles so I'm feeling relaxed/complacent/dumb.

Back to the tech; it does give incredibly good control at speed. I've never driven anything like it when it comes to pitching it into really high speed bends with utter confidence. But I am wondering if I'll have some letters from the Gendarmes when I get home.....

Anyway, must dash, there's a hissing noise coming from the drive.
 
They are both pretty easy to avoid though aren't they?

It's a little like my Mum saying how much she hates FaceBook.

Yeah but I was persuaded by my family against my better wishes to buy an Alexa when they first came out.
£150 I'll never see again.....
 
Yeah but I was persuaded by my family against my better wishes to buy an Alexa when they first came out.
£150 I'll never see again.....

My daughter has one ( which is a bit of a toy as she only uses it to control her TV , nothing else ) and my sister has just ordered one , which I can't see her doing any more with .

I still have my Philips Pronto Pro remote control , which used to operate my AV system , until I tired of it and went back to my Quad Hi-FI system , these days it controls the TV , Freeview , Freesat , Blu-Ray , Laserdisc , YouView and other connected boxes . While I look after Crestron and AMX systems at work , I don't need one in the house .
 
Surely no matter what side of the fence you're on, no one would want to go back to the cars of the 70's/80's etc.

Ford Cortina's or the modern equivalent in the latest Mondeo?
 
My Mrs bought me an Echo Dot at Christmas.

I was looking for a radio to plug in to my amp in the office and she suggested one of these.

Like you two I was a sceptic at first but have become quite a fan, it was just £40 against £100+ for a radio. I can turn it on, tune to any number of stations, adjust the volume and play Spotify without leaving my desk and all from a thing about the size of a hockey puck.

I no longer ask her to tell me a joke or any of that guff but sometimes get her to replay the morning's news items from the BBC if I've missed out on the news at breakfast.

Nearly forgot, it syncs with my Outlook calendar so I can hear or add to any entries in said calendar, again from my desk without having to be disturbed from my work on the laptop.
 
Surely no matter what side of the fence you're on, no one would want to go back to the cars of the 70's/80's etc.

Ford Cortina's or the modern equivalent in the latest Mondeo?

Pontoneer would.
 
This is what I don't understand. It's like you'd rather live without the features, than risk the cost of them going wrong. It's not like classic (or is it vintage? :dk: ) cars don't have any costs to keep them on the road.

But my previous one managed 12 years and nearly 150k miles with just a (relatively cheap) pump failure.

I'd say that's pretty bombproof.

Besides, not all failures disable the car. If you've a car without air con, it's horrible in any kind of warm weather. So buy one with air con. What if the air con breaks? You've just got a car without air con until you can be bothered to have it fixed.
 
Surely no matter what side of the fence you're on, no one would want to go back to the cars of the 70's/80's etc.

Ford Cortina's or the modern equivalent in the latest Mondeo?

The current Mondeo has as much tech as a Merc I expect!
 
Next door has one, looks special, to be fair. The best Mondeo yet. I almost want one.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom