Telephone Prewire New SLK200 R171

[chapo]

Hi there,

Newbie to this site having purchased a SLK last week. I managed to get one from a dealer within a week, but it had 3k miles on the clock. Looks brand new. One of the compromises were that it only has 16" alloys and no telephone prewire, I think???

Does anyone know how I could tell if it the prewire has been fitted?

I have been told that the rearview mirror should have a microphone fitted in it. It has a small hole in teh centre. Plus when I press any telephone functions they do change the display on the audio system "States no telephone" and on the dashboard. Guess I am just clutching at staws here!

The dealer seemed unsure. I understand its over a grand to retro fit. Seems such a wasted option not to have functioning. Any guidence here would be great. Plus maybe a good dealer for some upgrade to 17" or 18" wheels.

Well impressed with the car overall.

Thanks
Lee

 

[jberks]

given all the problems people have when they do have the pre-wire, I wouldn't bother. Changing your phone becomes a very expensive project and people seem to have trouble even then. You often need a new module and cradle at several hundred pounds, then discoverer that some function or other isn't supported. Its a nice gadget but not worth the fortune it costs, just so you can dial from your steering wheel. Especially when you think how easy a standard system is anyway. To call home, I reach across to the edge of the centre console where by phone is mounted and hold 2 for 1 second, the phone bleeps, the stereo mutes and I speak to the wife. When she hangs up the cd starts up again -simple and it didn't cost a grand!. Total time with one hand off the wheel 2 seconds. Just get yourself a decent (nokia etc) bluetooth kit instead - £1-200 and job done.

 

[chapo]

Get your point fully. Was thinking of another type of car kit. Its just so neat being in the armrest. Considering space is limited in the cabin that all. Cants see why the cost is so high to retro fit.

I still wonder if it has been pre wired already.. :?

Cheers
Lee

 

[SLinKyjoe]

piece of cake to work out.

have you got , a, the secondary cubby hole in the arm rest. this requires you to press the button in where the normal grip is and lift either left or right. it swivels to which ever side of which button you have pressed. If this is the case then, you have the phone section fitted so we are halfway there! If you dont know what i mean open up the centre arm rest by pulling it up towards rear of vehicle. have you got the card holders in the lid? or a big box that takes up a third of the centre console space?
B, when you look in the phone section you should see a plastic cover in the base of it towards the instrument panel. you pop this off backwards and you see the connections for the phone cradle. you then need to buy a phone cradle that suits your phone. £133.


so go check.

if you have one, a bluetooth headset will work with it. But what happens is when you dial/answer the phone cuts off the cd/radio etc, you press the mike button and it transfers to bluetooth and the cd/radio/dvd comes back on again and the person next to you only hears your half of your secret conversation.

personaly i cannot stand people who wear bluetooth headsets unless they are in their car.


your text messages come up on screen as well. but be careful as they preview when you select the sent from, menu so those with you get to see the first half of the message. Does make it interesting when my mother gets to read one of those messages from a colleague that starts with 4 profanities....

 

[chapo]

Thanks for all that info.. just what I was after... off to take a look, got my doubts now :sad:

I guess from your response that you find it a good bit of kit to use then yeah?

Maybe not worth a retro fit of over 1k????

Cheers....Checking car now.....

 

[chapo]

errr no.... Just got one compartment on the main centre console :sad: never mind, maybe there is someone out there at some point that will retro fit it and the costs may come down.

cheers for all your help.

 

[SLinKyjoe]

its good when fitted at order as it works well. in fact i would probably not order a car without it. i hate the bluetooth stuff (sorry to those who like it).

but it is never ever worth over a£1k to have retro fitted.

if you dont have COMAND. then maybe a decent phone person coould sort out something that keeps the phone out of sight and use the sound system speakers! or the bluetooth system for your phone will work.

i am happy with mine as i didnt have a phone as an accessory to my jewellry/wallpaper colour/dogs rug shape/ipodradiocdmp3iridiumgpsearring so the phone i had for use of text and making/receiving calls (am old and remember what they are really for) was of a generation that you could buy the cradle for. the new breed of G3 and them other all siniging and dancing horrendous ring tone jobs that you need to buy every week, dont have cradles that fit. so it does have a down side. and this is because we lead the way in phone tech. so our phones come first then the rest of the world catches up.

 

[chapo]

No don't have command, but have been looking at those here:-

http://www.mbenznl.com/products/r171comand.shtml

don't know if its a good move or not. Main reason would be to add sat nav afterwards.

 

[SLinKyjoe]

COMAND is £1900 extra...it isnt worth aftermarket fitting unless you can get the whole lot done for less than that. The dvd and navigation option is excellent. dont know how i managed all those years with my map.

i will be getting it again. but thats me.

 

[piestore]

pre wire

the dealer can tell in two minutes bygoing on FDOK and checking the data card

 

[jdl]

All

Just a quick question on the pre-wire, my wife has just ordered her SLK 200 with the pre-wire and cradle however she has not upgraded the standard audio. Will the standard CD20 show the caller display/text message or is this only the case with the COMMAND upgrade ?

Thanks

John

 

[SLinKyjoe]

the display should show it all. COMAND adds DVD and sat nav. doesn't add anything for the phone. the key pad is still there for it.

 

[jdl]

Many thanks for the prompt reply.

Another question on the pre-wire I remember reading a previous post about people having problems with it and that it wasn't realy worth the £600 odd it is but could never find any details of the problems they encountered. - I am new to the forum so apologies in advance if I have missed an obvious step !!

The bottom line is do you consider the pre-wire is worth it or would you spend the cash on a good hands-free installation from carphone warehouse etc?

Cheers

John

 

[SLinKyjoe]

the pre-wire is the way to go as it uses the steering wheel buttons and you hide the phone in the centre arm rest.

i have never had trouble with my pre wire in the r171 and it works okay.

if however, you have the car already it is certainly cheaper to retro fit with other after market companies. Merc charge in excess of £1000 for it.

 

[jdl]

Cheers,

We are safe on the installation as the delaer is quoting late October for delivery at the moment! t least that gives me plenty of time to try and persuade the wife to go for the airscarft and that the brabus kompressor kit is an 'essential upgrade'

No doubt more questions will follow, in the meantime thanks for the advice !

John

 

[jberks]

Hi,
my two penneth. If I had the prewire I'm sure I'd be very happy with it, but my view is that it's seriously overpriced as an option and I doubt I'd specify it myself. Perhaps I'm being a bit tight here, but a top of the line bluetooth Nokia setup is £200 fitted, so its a £400 premium for the privelidge of having caller id on the dash and the phone in the armrest rather than the whole lot in an easier to reach cradle on the centre console or better still, no cradle and keep the phone your pocket - or handbag- (Is the Merc system bluetooth?). I never leave my phone in the car (else why have a mobile if you don't carry it) so the 'hidden' feature isn't that useful. True you don't get to use the steering wheel buttons, but I can't say moving my hand to the phone and hitting 1 button has ever caused me any problems. The other downside is that you are stuck with 1 phone. If your wife changes her mobile half as often as mine, (seems like every other week!) you are in for £100-200 per time to keep the car in step, assuming Merc have an appropriate cradle - which they often don't, especially if its a new model, so you end up with a very expensive car kit that doesn't fit your shiny new phone.

I'm not saying don't get one, its a great gadget, but there are downsides too.

 

[SLinKyjoe]

Hi,
my two penneth. If I had the prewire I'm sure I'd be very happy with it, but my view is that it's seriously overpriced as an option and I doubt I'd specify it myself. Perhaps I'm being a bit tight here, but a top of the line bluetooth Nokia setup is £200 fitted, so its a £400 premium for the privelidge of having caller id on the dash and the phone in the armrest rather than the whole lot in an easier to reach cradle on the centre console or better still, no cradle and keep the phone your pocket - or handbag- (Is the Merc system bluetooth?). I never leave my phone in the car (else why have a mobile if you don't carry it) so the 'hidden' feature isn't that useful. True you don't get to use the steering wheel buttons, but I can't say moving my hand to the phone and hitting 1 button has ever caused me any problems. The other downside is that you are stuck with 1 phone. If your wife changes her mobile half as often as mine, (seems like every other week!) you are in for £100-200 per time to keep the car in step, assuming Merc have an appropriate cradle - which they often don't, especially if its a new model, so you end up with a very expensive car kit that doesn't fit your shiny new phone.

I'm not saying don't get one, its a great gadget, but there are downsides too.

this is a different view

......the merc system is bluetooth. is you have a bluetooth headset then you get the stereo to stay on when a call comes thru..but you still look daft in your headset....

the different phones is a good point. i dont get a new accessory every week like my 16yr old niece does....so my works okay and will for at least the life of the car.....

 

[BarryJ75]

My 2nd hand 220 CDI Estate came with the prewire and I bought a 2nd hand phone to fit the cradle. I'm disappointed with the results and it does not compare well with an externally mounted unit I had nstalled in my previous car. The other unit muted the phone etc when calls were in progress. The whole installation was around £200
Primarily I miss voice dialling which meant real hands free rather than partial. I'd certainly not pay that kind of maoney for something that's average at best

 

[jberks]

Not sure what you mean by the mute - the prewire does this too, muting the radio and pausing the cd.
Not sure if there's a way to do voice dial - possibly not.
It's nice to have the details of an incoming call on the dash but as you say, hardly worth the £500+ price tag. (mine was used too!)