What extras do you really need

[Mercator]

I bought my car used with a lot more extras than I would have specified.

Having done so I find the keyless go and television really nice although annoying the TV goes off over 5mph.

It also has a towbar hidden under the back. I would like that taken off as the franchised servicer insisted that it had to be got out and greased as part of a service, even though I have no intention of using it.

 

[gIzzE]

For me there are only a few things I have to have, they are....

1. Auto gearbox.
2. Arm rest. (amazing some cars still don't have them).
3. Auto Dimming Mirrors or Tinted windows. (Our X1 came without either and it was horrid! lasted 5 nights before having to buy an auto dimming mirror).
4. Radio which I can listen to my music on, which means MP3 capable or an aux input.
5. Bluetooth.

That's really about it.
Things I like....

Decent media system that allows full control of ipod.
Stereo Upgrade, if the stock system is not warm and nice sounding I will upgrade it.
Sat Nav, I can live with a messy dash and a TomTom or similar, but a built in one gets used constantly.
Heated Seats, always nice to have.
Xenons. Really do make driving at night so much less tiring.



Things that I would like taken away include....

Electric seats. If there isn't memory don't bother, we both use my car and having to sit and wait 30 seconds for a chair to slide back is just annoying!!

Electric tail gate. Again, let me just open it quickly, very annoying to have to wait while it slowly opens. Open manually and close via a button is fine.

 

[Dieselman]

It also has a towbar hidden under the back. I would like that taken off as the franchised servicer insisted that it had to be got out and greased as part of a service,

That's only to ram it up your backside instead of the hand they normally use to ream you at service time.

 

[st4]

For me there are only a few things I have to have, they are....

1. Auto gearbox.
2. Arm rest. (amazing some cars still don't have them).
3. Auto Dimming Mirrors or Tinted windows. (Our X1 came without either and it was horrid! lasted 5 nights before having to buy an auto dimming mirror).
4. Radio which I can listen to my music on, which means MP3 capable or an aux input.
5. Bluetooth.

That's really about it.
Things I like....

Decent media system that allows full control of ipod.
Stereo Upgrade, if the stock system is not warm and nice sounding I will upgrade it.
Sat Nav, I can live with a messy dash and a TomTom or similar, but a built in one gets used constantly.
Heated Seats, always nice to have.
Xenons. Really do make driving at night so much less tiring.

Yours and mine are quite closely alined for must haves and can do withouts. AFter having paddles in the 211 and 204, I'd find it hard not have them, I use them a fair bit.

The 204s armrest reaches further into the cabin so I do tend to use it more than in the 211.

 

[MOCAŠ]

Electric roof operation's essential on the SLK - wouldn't want to have to move it manually. Seat/wheel adjustment goes without saying. And I need sat nav if I'm going anywhere unfamiliar.

As for everything else, so long as the car meets Construction and Use regs, I'd be happy.

 

[Mercy1]

Silver paint is the correct colour option on those cars

Sorry, I forgot...

Strangely no one on here has mentioned kit they have they'd like to have taken away.

I can gladly do without auto-wipers. I hate wipers scraunching across a dirty midge-eaten screen at the first spot of rain...I'm quite capable of noticing when rain is starting!

I can also do without keyless go - utterly pointless IMHO. You have to keep a key fob somewhere - may as well be in the dash where you can keep an eye on it...

I do like power-memory-seats - I'm fiddling with mine all the time depending on the journey and SWMBO has totally different positions...(driving positions I mean!!)

 

[Dieselman]

And I need sat nav if I'm going anywhere unfamiliar.

Don't you just follow the Police escort?

 

[st4]

Electric roof operation's essential on the SLK - wouldn't want to have to move it manually. Seat/wheel adjustment goes without saying. And I need sat nav if I'm going anywhere unfamiliar.

As for everything else, so long as the car meets Construction and Use regs, I'd be happy.

You'd be amazed how many cars don't have reach adjusting wheels, and seats that don't adjust the tilt of the seat base. Some aren't even height adjustable.

Clarify the sat nav thing. Is that COMAND?

Could you be better served with a Tom Tom thats a lot cheaper and only whip it out when you need to use it. Most peoples journeys are to familiar places.

I guess Mercedes pamper us.

Would you be able to forgoe an automatic box, and leather seats, or do you feel these are also must haves.

 

[MOCAŠ]

Don't you just follow the Police escort?

Escort? They're in Hyundais now...

 

[Dieselman]

I'm fiddling with mine all the time depending on the journey and SWMBO has totally different positions...(driving positions I mean!!

Not sure that sounds any better.

 

[st4]

I do like power-memory-seats - I'm fiddling with mine all the time depending on the journey and SWMBO has totally different positions...(driving positions I mean!!)

Good post.

I would agree memory seats are good for sharing cars.

However, I used to have them on a BMW and I just fiddled with them as was never happy with the seating position despite being comfortable. It fueled a "can I be even more comfortable" OCD with constantly adjusting the seats.

I have a solution for non mem seats. set seat position and ensure comfortable. I sit in the lowest one anyway with the base fully tilted, adjust everything, once comfy drive about and only move it if you are not. Just before service time, make a mark on the seat runner. When get car back, move runner back into position (the mark helps).

Adjust evetything else and hey presto, comfy in 2 mins without the OCD about the mem seats.

Borrowing my old mans car, nightmare, mem seats and infinately adjustable. I adjusted about 5 times. In my car, since I had it, I've done it twice.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Escort? They're in Hyundais now...

I was overtaken the other day by a Met Police Skoda Octavia. Probably JBR driving fast to avoid the shame of being seen. Either that or out of doughnuts.

 

[davidjpowell]

Essentials that are not options are comfortable and refined at motorway speeds.

options that I require are AC, Cruise, and ipod connectivity. I like a sunroof, leather and heated seats.

Hating COMAND aps and 6 cd's. Need ipod connectivity and phone kit which is on order but taking it's sweet time to get to me.

 

[smillion]

I have made surprisingly good use of the ability to change the headlights for driving abroad from the dashboard, as opposed to rummaging around in a far too small gap under the bonnet at Dover, especially if the car engine is hot (This was my E270and the E55 ) where you had to move across a spring clip......

 

[MOCAŠ]

You'd be amazed how many cars don't have reach adjusting wheels, and seats that don't adjust the tilt of the seat base. Some aren't even height adjustable.

Yeah, on second thoughts scrap the wheel adjustment. I've been spoiled by the SLK and Fabia having both height and reach adjustment for steering and seats. Yet a third of my cars have non-adjustable steering columns, and two-thirds have no height adjustment on the seats.

Clarify the sat nav thing. Is that COMAND?

COMAND in the SLK, and I've just ordered a TomTom for the Fabia as a stop-gap until I decide which double-DIN unit to go for.

Would you be able to forgo an automatic box, and leather seats, or do you feel these are also must haves.

I can live with a manual - the SLK is the first auto I've ever owned. Leather seats preferred, but I don't much like the leather in the SLK. I have two other leather-trimmed cars an in both the leather is nicer. I also quite like the cloth in the Fabia - very tastefully patterned - but I suspect it's really plastic, so it will be going in the near future.

 

[st4]

Really interesting posts here with quite a range of responses and opinions to whats needed and whats not.

Mocas, I'd tend to lean to the adjustable seats but I'm carrying a back injury that might lead me down that way. Intergrated nav, I tend to drive in the country and go purely on memory. I guess you use your cars differently to me.

One thing I've found is every Mercedes I've had and driven has had a very good performing stereo. Way better than those in VAGS and BMWs unless you add an expensive logic 7 etc system. And that big central speedo and trip within, I am mad for that.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I wouldn't want to go back to Halogen after Bi-xenon headlamps, they make a night and day difference (pardon the pun). I also wouldn't want to forego cruise control, and for us a towbar is a must-have on our family car.

I would prefer not to have leather but that's incredibley difficult these days, and not possible on the AMG models without a silly-money retrim. I would also prefer not to have tinted glass - cars without it just seem to blend in more and I like that subtlety - but finding a car without is getting difficult these days, especially on SUVs and estates.

I prefer having a sunroof in cars with plenty of headroom, and if specifiying new would go for panoramic, but on a saloon I would probably skip both.

 

[st4]

Yay, another one who realises leather ain't all that....

I do miss Xenons, but the halogens are ok and you cannot dazzel yourself with road signs with them, plus the bulbs are cheap....LOL

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Leather is great the day you buy, and the day you sell. On every day in between it's a right pain in the 4R53...

...literally

 

[Mercy1]

I sit in the lowest one anyway with the base fully tilted, adjust everything, once comfy drive about and only move it if you are not.

Thing is though, a low position might be right for driving but not, for example, for getting in and out.

Memory 1 for me is my default setting for getting in and out - seat fully back and at highest position to give plenty of room to step down and out rather than push up (my back's creaking a lot these days)...

Memory 2 is a more comfortable driving position, slightly lower and further forward. Even so I do adjust from time to time - I can't fathom why. What seems comfy one day, seems slightly wrong on another especially alternating between light and heavy clothing...power seating enables easy adjustment!

(sorry to slightly digress...welcome back by the way )