No outdoor temp gauge? In a £50k car???

[m0nkfish]

Hi all,

I've just bought my first Merc (a 2008 ML 420 cdi) and have been delighted with it so far.... Except for the utterly dumb km/h display and the lack of outdoor temp reading. I've read previous threads relating to this and understand that a) its a UK legislation thing, and b) STAR diags can get around this as long as you are very au fait with it - which apparently the indie dealers aren't; not to the required level of STAR sub-menus written in German anyway.

The MBclub thread I read was an old one: So my question to you good people is this - are any of you able to put me in touch with a Benz genius who knows how to change km/h to mph on the main display, or even get it to display the temperature!

Any help or advice would be massively appreciated,

Tim

 

[Dieselman]

I know someone, but they are in the outer Hebradies. Is that any good for you?

 

[mw_C32]

And if you don't live near the Outer Hebrides there is always Alfie at comand online...

Mercedes Comand Navigation and Audio Specialists

He did mine and many others

M

 

[npuk]

You can also see outside temp in the main display where you see the mileage etc.

 

[renault12ts]

£50k for a 5 year old ML!!!

 

[markjay]

Alfie did mine as well.

Just to say that no one seems to know for certain where MB's 'UK Mode' originated from....

It is evidently not UK legislation because many other cars sold in the UK don't have it.

My Renault could display either MPH or KPH but not both at the same time, and as far as I am aware this is the case with other cars as well, all perfectly legal in the UK...

 

[effbee584]

My Indie recently tried, at my suggestion, to change the small permanent kph to oat, as we know Alfie can do; however, although the display did change, using STAR, it would not stay that way when STAR was disconnected. They reckoned there must be some link to MB required that they had not got access to. I am a long way from Alfie so will live with it.
By now we should have electronic VDU speedos that can easily be changed at the push of a button or in a menu, between mph and kph, especially on the top of range Mercedes.

 

[markjay]

...or we can just use a freebie GPS speed app on iPhone/Android to see the car's speed in any units we want.

Or Torque with OBDII to see what the ECU thinks our speed is.

Or have a slot for tablet PC or iPad instead on the instrument cluster?

 

[m0nkfish]

Thanks all for your replies - I'll seek out the legendary Alfie (its a bit inconvenient to drive to the outer hebrides from Maidenhead lol!) its such a strange issue.
I'd love an android tablet for a display, that would be ace just being able to add functionality... I have a feeling a couple of car makers already do this in an albeit limited way.
And finally... Rest assured red baron, I didn't pay £50k lol
Tim

 

[nigel cross]

That handy Alfie is only in Lightwater / Camberly

 

[Rory]

I'm not that bothered about the temp display, but I do find myself calculating MPH from the KPH display all the time - not always easy (for me!) to do the maths with some KPH speeds and I really ought to be concentrating on driving.

I set the cruise control by the KPH reading too.

 

[peter49]

By now we should have electronic VDU speedos that can easily be changed at the push of a button or in a menu, between mph and kph, especially on the top of range Mercedes.

Totally agree. These facilities are standard on my wife's Yaris at the press of a button!