Opinion on the Mercedes S-Class: Too bad, Mr. Källenius
Now you have a car that can be updated remotely over the air via the built-in LTE module. But the flaws of the Mercedes S-Class remain.
(Image: Mercedes)
- Detlef Grell
When you read the following, you might think, my God, it's all small stuff. You're right. But my way of looking at it is: damn it, these are all easily rectifiable faults. Is Mercedes too ignorant or too arrogant to accept bug reports from outside? Where are the bug report channels, where can I officially express my displeasure with solutions? In my opinion, the Mercedes S-Class was actually one of the best cars in the world up to the W222, but the current W223 version is not. Unfortunately, I don't see any serious efforts by Mercedes to change this. Feedback from customers can be very useful for improving products in the face of growing competition. Especially if you don't dismiss customers who want to criticize constructively as whiners and cranks. Oh yes, I mean German customers. They should be considered again.
Questions
When I made inquiries about the intrusive collision avoidance system, there were no qualified answers, just empty phrases. At least there was a significant update a few months later. It could simply have been pointed out. I offered to submit some concept criticism on usability as a whole and a bug report for the MBUX area (now MBUGS in my parlance), which I struggle with daily – Wouldn't something like that be great for the facelift aka Mopf?
The reaction was cool. "We're missing one important piece of information: Which branch are you serviced by?" Well, after I mentioned it, nothing more happened. Aha, I thought, so I must have been labeled as unimportant and probably as a whiner. You can do that, but is it useful? I deliberately only identified myself as a customer and not as a journalist. I saved work – until my colleagues thought I could publish it.
It's actually good, but ...
I went to the car wash today. Very nice, this car wash mode, which I discovered by chance in the menus after just one year. Folding mirrors, protecting cameras, silencing beeps and other things I wouldn't have thought of – very useful. But I get the pimples every time I have to set "N" when I reach the conveyor belt. There is no real, explicit N position on the Mercedes selector lever. Actually, nothing can go wrong if you push the lever from D or R to neutral center because you can't accidentally reach R or D without stepping on the brake. But you don't roll in front of the car wash, you stand on the brake. Accidentally slipping from D to R on the conveyor belt – oh, that can be embarrassing ... How could you change that? Well, by moving the shift lever forwards or backwards. Like the high beam. I can also think of the new dual-function switches for raising and lowering the windows in the W223. If you want to check whether all the windows are really closed, the blinds go up first.
Mercedes S-Klasse Teil 1 (5 Bilder)
Hello, it's me!
Logging in as a user is usually done via facial recognition. The only camera capable of doing this is located in the speedometer display and is often covered by a steering wheel bar at the start. In this case, the large screen is initially annoyed by a login display that covers everything. So quickly put your finger on the sensor so that you can enter a destination. Before that, you have to wait for the warning about unqualified MBUX use, which I have now had to ignore more than 1000 times. MBUX knows it's me. After all, it greets me with "Hello, Detlef!". I'm the only driver at home. The complicated log-in process is simply annoying and completely superfluous. Isn't it enough if I just tell the system who I am once? Alternatively, I can also accept being recognized by my cell phone. Just ask the driver how he would like it via the menu.
No alternative: starting in comfort mode
When I can finally drive off and have to look left-right, the "Tap here for ECO mode" banner appears, previously hidden by the parking camera display or warning banner. This only appears if it was also selected during the previous start, i.e. also for the 100 meters from the house to the garage. This is an annoyance that has been a feature of various generations of Mercedes vehicles: Comfort mode is always set when starting. If you ask the garage, they say it's God-given. Because of homologation. Required by law.
Mr. Källenius: You can also homologate the Eco mode, and quite crazy – even several modes! Let Audi explain that to you. I would actually have to bill you for several hundred liters of fuel, because according to my observations, there is a difference of one liter per 100 km between Comfort and Eco mode. That's what happens every time you forget to switch. This is probably even more efficient than the complex cylinder deactivation in the V8.
Settings – all half
A look at the speedometer variants – One is more confusing than the other, none of the details can be changed. I actually used the silver edition (exclusive) once. After a few engine starts, the standard "classic" was there again. If I want to keep an eye on the tire pressure because there might be a nail in the tire, I used to be able to show the pressure display separately. Now I have to activate all the service displays at the same time and the speed only appears as a number. What happened to the clock under the speedometer – ah, the hold button is just stuck over it (do I actually need it?) when I'm at the traffic lights. There's still a clock in the large display on the far right – but there really wasn't any other space on the speedometer? You always find something like that.
The playlist says a quiet goodbye
Enjoying music is important to me. That's why I paid a lot of money to Burmester. MBUX can now also process FLAC files, i.e. play lossless compressed music in CD quality. MBUX is blessed with two USB-C ports and the operating instructions explicitly mention the term SSD –, which usually fits a bit more than a flash drive.
But if you want to have access to virtually your entire music collection as FLAC files – in my case almost 500 GB –, oh well. In two years, MBUX has never once managed to play a playlist with almost 100 entries to the end. Not even from the iPhone via Bluetooth, by the way. Sometimes the playlist was drastically shortened without my intervention. Often, the SSD simply restarts at the beginning, but then continues to run across folder boundaries. I would very much welcome an explicitly selectable mode. But it doesn't run endlessly here.
Suddenly Poser
Instead, MBUX sometimes switches to random mode without being asked – somewhat bizarre when individual movements from Beethoven symphonies alternate with Rage Against the Machine or Lana del Rey. That's why I would never voluntarily switch to this mode. But. I probably did it involuntarily. It took a while for the message in the picture to enlighten me.
(Image:Â Detlef Grell)
I was unwrapping candy above the center console for the drive. As a result, this screen appeared – and the music program switched to random mode. There is ultimately only the V-Pose aka gesture that can call up a(!) favorite, which I must have done while unwrapping. But why was it linked to a function that I would never use? And how do I get rid of it? And what color is the mode icon when it is active, blue or white? Check the manual. Haha. That's exactly what it says in black and white – so not ...
Seek and ye shall curse
Even navigating to the music selection is bumpy. As I have a lot of classical music with me, it is, of course, not sorted by artist, but by composer in individual folders. Their works, in turn, are divided into album folders. Playlists are a reasonably useful means of organizing across album boundaries. With so much material, however, a playlist selection is only offered on special days (i.e. when a small temporary index has already been created); normally you first have to type in a few characters. It works better with folders.
A great solution for my mixed situation would be to navigate to the desired music at folder level to be able to start the playlist located there at the destination. This usually spans several albums or subfolders. What does MBUX do? The playlist is available, is displayed as a playlist – but if you click on it, the search is canceled without comment.
Yes, I can see the "smiling down from above" in my mind's eye: "Then just use Spotify or Apple Music, you diehard." Sure, not an issue for pop. Classical music? Can I get any artist I want there? In Burmester quality? The last time I tried it, it was rather sparse. I don't really care. I have a music collection that I've put together with a lot of love, effort and money, and my car has an expensive music system. I simply expect it to know the basics.