The complexities of my 2005 reg C220 CDI.

[ARoosterinaRoadster]

Hi to you all out there.

Am I imagining things but is Mercedes Benz aiming their current breed of cars at the younger element of society ?
I am 75 years young and struggling with the menu's and sub menu's in the owner manual and the Audio 20 manual.

I am beginning to think that the older owner/driver is being side-lined at the expense of the younger drivers that seemingly have very deep pockets and no end of monies when it comes to buying bling on wheels.

I have longed for a Mercedes Benz C220 CDI for quite a while and came across one some 168 miles away in Durham.
A very very nice car in Iridium Silver with Nappa Leather with a great many factory order only options.

The once simple task of resetting the trip mileage is bordering on a Computer Course Exam and the radio/audio that was once ever so simple by pressing a few buttons and the holding the selected station/wave length setting down until the confirmation bleep is heard is a mind boggling exercise in utter confusion.

By comparison my 2004 R170 SLK 230 was a piece of Easy Peasy.

 

[DSK]

I'm 41, got a 2007 CLS with all that bullsh!t on the steering wheel.

Using the steering wheel buttons to go through the menu/sub menu is just disgraceful. Who even remembers how do it or where to find something. Never been left wanting when I drive my far older cars and to be honest, much prefer them in every way.

 

[ajlsl600]

We older ones just want simple quality so we are not in my view the market thats what I call the iphone brigade market people who expect all the gimmicks and dont think ahead. Or worry about replacing a 1200 £ headlight. I on the other hand know I can find a decent. Car,runabout for the same cost of the damn phone or headlight !!!!!!

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

I think it’s down to evolution and will settle down to a more user friendly driver interface eventually. Reminds me of the 1970s/80s when car stereos were being produced with hundreds of buttons it was almost laughable the technology has moved on now to where we are with COMAND, the next stage of course is voice activation

 

[ajlsl600]

Linguatronic been here long time.

 

[umblecumbuz]

"All controls to manual ... All controls to manual."

 

[grahamcol]

I emphasise with the op. I've got a CLK 07 reg which has a very similar interface etc. Had it nearly 12 months now and only recently decided to explore the computer / operating system functions. Boy l started to wish l hadn't. Got there in the end by referring to the manual but it sure ain't intuitive. By contrast my R170 SLK is much simpler and with less "features" to go wrong, l trust it much more.

 

[ARoosterinaRoadster]

I think it’s down to evolution and will settle down to a more user friendly driver interface eventually. Reminds me of the 1970s/80s when car stereos were being produced with hundreds of buttons it was almost laughable the technology has moved on now to where we are with COMAND, the next stage of course is voice activation

Hi Malcolm. As ajlsl600 has pointed out :-- "Linguatronic been here long time". I would appear to have that as an option on my late December 2005 55plate/2006 model C220 CDI Avantgarde SE Auto - I have not gone there yet with Linguatronic or COMAND !! I am still familiarising myself with with changing the trip meter display and getting to grips with the front/rear wiper/wash choices.
We have just upgraded our Sky to the 'Q' box - the menu's with their multiple sub-menu's have also not made it quick when searching the channels - the saving grace is the search by voice is just brilliant - I suppose this is a development on the Alexa system !!

 

[A.J.]

Hi Malcolm. As ajlsl600 has pointed out :-- "Linguatronic been here long time". I would appear to have that as an option on my late December 2005 55plate/2006 model C220 CDI Avantgarde SE Auto - I have not gone there yet with Linguatronic or COMAND !! I am still familiarising myself with with changing the trip meter display and getting to grips with the front/rear wiper/wash choices.
We have just upgraded our Sky to the 'Q' box - the menu's with their multiple sub-menu's have also not made it quick when searching the channels - the saving grace is the search by voice is just brilliant - I suppose this is a development on the Alexa system !!

Just stick with it, I have had my 17 plate C200 for just about six months now and only just getting my head around it all

 

[mioba]

car evolution is great isnt it. When I got my w220 years ago stepping up from the w124 i actually preferred the w124 as ot was just simple.
Looking at the vids for new s class is just mind boggling how far car tech / user interaction has come.

as noted above voice activation is old hat, the next thing is gestures. ppl will be waving around in the cars, looking silly to onlookers, yet just trying to open a window.

 

[ARoosterinaRoadster]

Just stick with it, I have had my 17 plate C200 for just about six months now and only just getting my head around it all

Hi Andy. The old constantly offering with computers is that you cannot bust anything by searching and jumping in and out of the various pages/settings - that said there is no mention of busting ones head/mind.

 

[ARoosterinaRoadster]

Well after doing some searches and finding a YouTube short Video on the Head Unit I actually found the unit that was fitted into the pre-face lift C Class and the variants including the C220 CDI and the C200 and doubtless other models and variants within the MB ranges.
It really does beg the question behind why MB stopped fitting the much more simplistic head unit with a row of buttons down each side of the unit right next to the screen on each side - the simple answer is surely so that the interchangeability of head units from salvaged cars becomes severely curtailed and forces owners that need replacement head units because of technical failures into buying from the dealerships.

At the rate of depreciation that some of the older MB models can suffer it will not be long before buying a new head unit from the dealerships could well cost more than the cars are worth at auction.

 

[rifiki]

I think it’s down to evolution and will settle down to a more user friendly driver interface eventually. Reminds me of the 1970s/80s when car stereos were being produced with hundreds of buttons it was almost laughable the technology has moved on now to where we are with COMAND, the next stage of course is voice activation

Most newish cars seam to have useless gimmicks, eg-- door handle lights. have been driving cars since mid 1950s never had a problem in finding car door handles.
The Ford Sierra speaker fader was operated via a small joist stick. simple and easy to use no diving into some over complicated menu.

 

[peterws1957]

I agree that most newish stuff has become over complicated, and I wonder after the initial enthusiasm and fiddling, what proportion of the elecktrickery bits are actually used to any degree. Massaging seats, lane and park assist etc - really what is the point? Obviously an age thing

 

[s5tuart]

I love the new tech!
Distronic, active Lane assist, active parking assist, hold function, emergency calling, active steering assist, active brake assist.
I admit I can never remember which menu to look in to adjust stuff but I'm very happy with all the functions that keep this dopey old git from crashing into something else!
I'm 76

 

[ajlsl600]

The issue for me, I busy enough. Spending a yr tryin to get familiar with all the iPhone style gimmicks takes up to much time effort. And just when one gets familiar some of it stops working. Or I don't use it for a while then waste half day trying to get familiar with it again.

 

[umblecumbuz]

... and becoming distracted from the business of actually safely driving the car.
That's probably the biggest hidden danger.

 

[ARoosterinaRoadster]

... and becoming distracted from the business of actually safely driving the car.
That's probably the biggest hidden danger.

The issue of negotiating the menus and sub-menus in some of the current cars and not least of all the ones in the variants of Mercedes Benz offerings should be on par with using a mobile phone for any reason including using the SAT NAV menu whilst behind the wheel of a car.
The screens are not sufficiently large enough or clear enough and almost certainly will require taking ones eyes (both of them) off of the task in hand - controlling ones vehicle.

Even the use of the 'Intelligent Steering Wheel' is not the answer because it involves reading the illuminated display.