- Joined
- Nov 6, 2007
- Messages
- 12,750
- Location
- North Oxfordshire
- Car
- His - Denim Blue A220 AMG Line Premium / Hers - Obsidian Black R172 SLK55
For reasons that aren't entirely clear, since the introduction of the W204 in 2007 Merecedes-Benz UK seem to have adopted a policy of providing restricted option choices on new cars, and of packaging the options that do exist which has the effect of further limiting choice.
An example is Parameter Steering that used to be an option on the W204 in SE and Elegance form. For the facelift car this is now only available on the Sport model in the UK. In Germany it's still an option on the pricelist, so its lack of availability in the UK is down to a policy decision, not an engineering one. It's a similar state of affairs on the W212 E-Class: Direct Steering is standard on the Sport model and on all the V6 & V8 engined cars but is unavailable on the 4-pot Avantgarde or SE cars. Equally irritating is that on the W212 if you go for the Sport then the headlining is black, like it or lump it, unless you specify the Luxury Pack in which case you get a colour choice.
One of the joys of buying a new Mercedes-Benz is that you can tailor it to your personal preferences. For whatever reason, MB-UK seem hell-bent on eliminating that pleasure and dumbing down the options list. I can understand it for a market like the USA where buyers expect to walk into a dealership and drive out in a new car within an hour or two. Under those circumstances, packaging the options and reducing the variability makes massive sense as cars need to be held in stock. However, the UK market isn't like that: we're used to placing factory orders and specifying just what we want, so why spoil it?
An example is Parameter Steering that used to be an option on the W204 in SE and Elegance form. For the facelift car this is now only available on the Sport model in the UK. In Germany it's still an option on the pricelist, so its lack of availability in the UK is down to a policy decision, not an engineering one. It's a similar state of affairs on the W212 E-Class: Direct Steering is standard on the Sport model and on all the V6 & V8 engined cars but is unavailable on the 4-pot Avantgarde or SE cars. Equally irritating is that on the W212 if you go for the Sport then the headlining is black, like it or lump it, unless you specify the Luxury Pack in which case you get a colour choice.
One of the joys of buying a new Mercedes-Benz is that you can tailor it to your personal preferences. For whatever reason, MB-UK seem hell-bent on eliminating that pleasure and dumbing down the options list. I can understand it for a market like the USA where buyers expect to walk into a dealership and drive out in a new car within an hour or two. Under those circumstances, packaging the options and reducing the variability makes massive sense as cars need to be held in stock. However, the UK market isn't like that: we're used to placing factory orders and specifying just what we want, so why spoil it?