W213 - six months on... mixed feelings

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EnEm

Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2016
Messages
39
Car
E-Class W213
I have a new shape E-class 220D and have to say it is the best car I have driven in terms or drive dynamics, fuel consumption and driving pleasure, and I am not really much of a driver. Previous cars were the two previous E-class models.

But... the secondary controls are nothing short of poor, and possibly dangerous when you are trying to drive the car. Almost nothing is available on a button directly.Eeverything is nested away in the interface, often several "layers" down, and the widescreen COMAND has a terrible map compared to the COMAND on the previous E-class, and the live traffic signification on the map is a major backward step.

I think the oveall interface is bad for a car of this type. No show stoppers but many small interfwce glitches. Not possible to see the total mileage on permanent display, except when the car is switched off. Once you are on low fuel warning the remaining range is no longer displayed (yikes). Just when this info is highly relevant to the driver... actually I exagerate. If you pull over, stop the car, and restart, the range is displayed momentarily before the low fuel warning and pretty picture of a petrol pump is put back. Try dialling a phone number (not when driving obviously) - no keypad. etc etc. To be fair the linguatronic is much improved. It doesnt need to be "trained" although it is sluggish in its response.

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like this? And is this the shape of things to come? I wonder how older drivers will manage?

EnEm
 
"I wonder how older drivers will manage?"

My dad god bless him was good with tech. He had a W221 before he passed and had no issues with working it, To be fair he was only 58 when he left us so he was pretty up to date on all things with his car.

Now, the tech on the latest W222 is similar to yours and, is a minefield to the majority age group that can actually buy an SClass. My uncle says in jest, "give me a knob to turn or some buttons to press anyday "
 
That's progress.:fail So many driver aids these days that you can't look at the road ahead because you're too busy scrolling through countless menus to see if going the right way.
 
....Not possible to see the total mileage on permanent display, except when the car is switched off. Once you are on low fuel warning the remaining range is no longer displayed (yikes).
.....
Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like this? And is this the shape of things to come? I wonder how older drivers will manage?
Do you have a Home button on your steering wheel that gives you options on the display directly behind the steering wheel? If so, then you can access Trip and other info which may have total mileage and range. If so, this should be accessible without having to restart the car.

I'd envisage the new older people will have grown up with all these tech changes and it'll be as natural as buttons to current old-timers

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk
 
I completely agree with the OP's comments regarding the need to access functions by the use of interactive, visually based, menus rather than tactile buttons. It's a serious retrograde step when it comes to monitoring the road and operating elements of the car concurrently.

Regarding the other reported quirks of the instrument cluster display, I fancy that a few minutes reading the manual will have them resolved.
 
my W212 does the same thing. Stops displaying range on low fuel warning. Its really annoying. Some numpty at Mercedes designed it to do that. Wonder if its due to some HSE perceived risk of a lawsuit if a car runs out while still displaying x miles available.
 
my W212 does the same thing. Stops displaying range on low fuel warning. Its really annoying. Some numpty at Mercedes designed it to do that. Wonder if its due to some HSE perceived risk of a lawsuit if a car runs out while still displaying x miles available.

Our 212 does this too, and the B Class we had before that (IIRC)

I expect it's designed that way to make you fill up sooner rather than later (instead of waiting until it shows a few miles to go.) TBH it really doesn't bother me at all. I fill up as soon as the light comes on anyhow.

Ant.
 
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And is this the shape of things to come? I wonder how older drivers will manage?

We have a couple of Honda Jazz in the family - the 2009-15 mk2 version - so I monitor one of the relevant forums.

Average age of Jazz owners is something like 64 and it's interesting reading forum comments about the recent mk3 model, with its flakey touch screen controls and lights that are auto only etc etc - the old people absolutely hate it to such an extent that some of them are getting shut after a few months.
 
Regarding the other reported quirks of the instrument cluster display, I fancy that a few minutes reading the manual will have them resolved.

Ah yes, the manual. That poorly structured, set of bullet points that barely explains anything in adequate detail. (Not new for this car).

No, these points arent (clearly) set out in the printed manual. And my broadly competent MB dealer can't help with them either. As far as I can tell they are part of the functional design. I won't say faults, because I have no doubt that the car is designed to work like this.

EnEm
 
my W212 does the same thing. Stops displaying range on low fuel warning. Its really annoying. Some numpty at Mercedes designed it to do that. Wonder if its due to some HSE perceived risk of a lawsuit if a car runs out while still displaying x miles available.

My W211 is the same.
 
Do you have a Home button on your steering wheel that gives you options on the display directly behind the steering wheel? If so, then you can access Trip and other info which may have total mileage and range. If so, this should be accessible without having to restart the car.

Yes, agreed, the Home button is helpful with the central display. But it doesn't show the range when the low fuel warning is on, and it is quite a hassle (and distraction) to scroll through the endless options when in motion.

EnEm
 
Our 212 does this too, and the B Class we had before that (IIRC)

I expect it's designed that way to make you fill up sooner rather than later (instead of waiting until it shows a few miles to go.)

I guessed as much. Paternalistic design choices becuase MB knows best :mad:

EnEm
 
It does feel a backwards step for several features, especially mapping. Before they updated (or actually included) free search on the w213 it was diabolical but voice search is now reasonably pain free.

Selecting text with any of the various wheels or buttons is slow and oh my god why bother with handwriting recognition when it's so slow AND has to then speak out the letter/number just to slow it down further. If it wasn't for voice command i genuinely think I'd have bought a tomtom to stick on the windscreen.

My main gripes are lack of route summary when planning new route (difficult to tell which roads the car wants you take), lack of clarity about what diversion you've been offered by dynamic route changes, appalling traffic display trying to ape Google maps which itself is hard to work out on a 2d static map held right in front of your face but becomes next to useless in 3d on a screen in the centre console. Mercedes, bring back the amber and red car icons!

The screen is massive so why can i only see what the very next turn is going to be and why only show me that shortly before the turn? There is space aplenty to see next turn and turn after that permanently.

Why does the system take so long to boot up to the point a new destination can be navigated to? I'm usually a couple streets away from home before the system is responsive. Several seconds lag to go between media and nav pages just shows how overloaded the CPU or maybe GPU is on they system. It's embarrassingly slow.

It's truly a Zoolander system. All about looks but dumb as ditch water.

Loss of dial pad is a pain. I gave up trying to dial a new number as it's so clunky.

I do like the favorites though, it's handy to have home and work as the first icons along with a few direct shortcuts to some of the audio or vehicle pages. The manual is terrible though, I'm not sure mine even talks about favorites let alone how you set them. I just discovered how to operate the car by going in to each and every menu and fiddling with every setting i could find! I'm glad i had drive pilot so it wasn't overly dangerous spending so much time staring at the displays.
 
Politely, why do you need to see the total mileage of the car as you drive?
If you scroll through the trip computer then it should display the mileage as you drive but it will be at the detriment of other information such as MPG.
 
Oh, the joy of driving a 2008 w211 without Command or any SatNav
 
My W211 is the same.

My W212 shows the range.
When the low fuel warning comes on, I press okay with my thumb on the steering wheel, and it then reverts to show my range.
It only shows a "car with a petrol pump" after the available range has reduced to below 25km. (It starts at 60km).

No issues with that for me..:D
 
Politely, why do you need to see the total mileage of the car as you drive?

A fair question..:D I want to write down the mileage on the receipt after filling up. An old habit. If I am the passenger, the mileage is gone, before I get a chance.

Also, in the old car the button to mute the speakers or turn off the irritating spoken instructions was accessible to dirve ans passenger. Not it ison the right hand odd of the steering wheel.

This is not just a dislike of change. I think overall it is genuinely worst (not the drive of the car but everything else).
 
My W212 shows the range.
When the low fuel warning comes on, I press okay with my thumb on the steering wheel, and it then reverts to show my range.

OK thanks, will double check but I think they have "improved" the software on the W213 to make sure the driver. has no idea how much range is left!
 
You can see total mileage on the screen and the first of the trip/reset mileage. Then scroll to the second trip/reset using the right hand side swipe pad. Then scroll to this journey/recent use trip or have I misunderstood what you are looking for?
I have the eco screen shown in the drivers display.
 

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