The Stock Market and Investing

fintail

Gorgeous. I like those new style triple spoke wheels. You also have the cool virtual gauges that debuted with the W220. I've sat in an S63 - you also have the seats where the seat bottom extends for thigh support - wish my car had that!

My car has the adaptive lighting too. I leave it auto mode (on both the light switch and the adaptive high beam stalk) all the time - fun to drive on dark roads and see the lights react, then go back down when there are streetlights again. I don't know what to suggest about your issue, or if I understand - I'd stop by the dealer if you are close though, they are probably used to questions. I even went back to ask a COMAND question I couldn't find online.

houdini1

ljflx, what a beauty !! A new car is a good thing !

I also have no clue about the headlight issue, but I know you will figure it out.

Are you coming out of an LS and if so, what year was it? I can't imagine a car being smoother or quieter than my 2010 LS, but I guess it could be accomplished in a car costing $40,000. more. Enjoy !

ljflx

I'm coming out of the 2010 LS 460L. I also thought nothing could be smoother than that car but this car is on another level and yet it handles much better than the LS. The new 2013 LS I test drove is an improvement in both ride and handling but falls well short of the S550. On the highway I put the S550 in cruise a lot. I'm afraid I'll hit 100mph in this car without having a clue. It's that effortless and that quiet and smooth.

The trunk on the LS is a bit roomier and the rear seat is more cavernous than the S. But the S is also very roomy in the back. I don't know if the iPhone has it for Lexus but they have an app for the MB Embrace system that you can download and you can then use your phone to unlock the car or set the nav system in advance of a drive plus other things I haven't tried yet. This is for any MB not just the S. The voice commands on MB are very good. But it lacks the speed dials that the LS has in the touch control if you got used to using them.

anthonyp

That really looks dignified . and the color is pleasing....I`v been studying about leasing....They`v made it complex for a layman, but I think this is what I am going to do....My wife just signed me up for the two year iPhone thing, so she seems to think I will make it that far so I might just take a chance on myself and go three years--if I can figure it out.....Maybe two like you and think
of the next car after that optimist I am I am Tony ps thanks for sharing

ljflx

MB is doing a $1,149 S class (4matic) lease right now with $4K down. If you want 0 down they just amortize the 4K into the lease payment so maybe $1,279 on a $98K car. That's cheaper than an $88K Lexus LS 460L lease deal. The regular $95K car is leasing at $1,099. The interest rate in the lease is 1.99%. It's a fabulous deal on that car right now. Most 4matics sticker at $103K and $109K if they have the AMG sport package. So figure 5-10% over the prices I noted for the options.

I'm also in love with the CLS and the CL coupe. Don't be shocked if I take one of those as a third car sometime this year. Business is great right now.

cyclone4

What an awesome looking car, Len. I love everything about your S. I especially like the seats that cushion your sides when the car is making a turn.

If AAPL ever makes it back to $650-700 level, I will likely join you with a new car (very possibly an S550). I'm sure you all heard the rumor that caused the sudden spike in AAPL today after being $3-4 lower much of the session. Rumor has it that Apple will announce a stock split during the shareholders meeting along with a possibility of an increase in the dividend. We'll see. It has come to the point where I expect the bad news to persist these days.

anthonyp

Well Charlie I wish us both good luck tomorrow.....For me how they handle this is going to be the deciding factor if I am to buy more stock....I definitely am a product user and supporter....but what they do is going to be my deciding factor....I care nothing about a stock split or some other meaningless action....I want to see management not only improve their share holder relationship but also reward long term holders...A year from now I would becoming a longer term person, and three years , an even longer term guy, but I expect to be rewarded along the way----every three months.....with expectations of of further rewards if management continues their winning ways......I don`t think I will sell what I have `no matter what` but I sure am not going to be around with this type of volatility......Tony

gagrice

I expect to be rewarded along the way----every three months.

That's me as well. I will not buy any stock from here on out that does not pay a regular dividend.

ljflx

I have to file a small part of my income in California because we have an office out there. How on earth does anyone live in that sick tax environment. No wonder people are leaving the state in droves. ESOP's must be popping up all over the place out there. And Obama wants higher taxes? Before much longer 2/3rds of income will go to the government.

gagrice

How on earth does anyone live in that sick tax environment.

I think I posted an article where a U-Haul Truck from SF to Austin TX costs $3500. From Austin to SF it costs $399 and they are sending drivers all over the country to drive their trucks back to CA. We have 35% of the welfare recipients in the whole USA. And only 12% of the people. We have the very affluent and the very poor as our population growth is mostly immigrants. Some cities have unemployment as high as 30%. The state pension fund CALPers is the largest in the USA and is underfunded by about 30%. Three fairly large cities have filed bankruptcy. We are losing 5.4 businesses per week. Other than that things are great. :sick:

http://www.calwatchdog.com/2013/02/27/everyone-is-moving-out-of-california/?utm_- source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook

If you are retired with a good income and have owned your home a long time, cost of living is not too bad. There are places with higher property taxes, though not many because of the high cost of housing. A total fixer in my area is still $350k.

anthonyp

That`s what I was thinking as I have to pay N Y taxes....N Y is very tricky, as when you figure the tax and pay it , they always come back and say you owe (say two hundred forty five dollars) knowing full well it will cost you more to appeal that un substantiated amount....I did appeal it once , and they immediately dropped it, as it would cost them even more to argue it out ( I had the goods) sure enough the next year they did the same thing.....:-) This stuff is getting down right un-ethical...Ga is equally poor...They figure you owe them say a couple of thousand, don`t even send the letter,then turn it over to a collection agency, who posts it so you find out when you go to finance a zero percent four year purchase....:( Tony

fintail

Simple investment suggestion wanted:

I now have the check from the trade in remainder on my old car (~10K), and want to invest it in something that at least beats inflation and will not lose value, as I want to make it into a future car fund. I don't demand double digit returns, just something that will be accessible, and that I can kind of "set and forget" for at a couple years. I am far from an expert - what would you do?

dieselone

I don't think I'd put it one stock, but might think about a few stocks with a decent dividend or an index fund might be better. I've been thinking about the same thing. I currently have to much sitting in cash.

kyfdx

Procter and Gamble
Altria

100 shares of each will be about $11K..

About 4% dividend return, with decent chance of capital appreciation.

( off the top of my head.. didn't run the numbers)

EDIT: 3.2% blended dividend yield

ljflx

If it was 4-6 months ago I'd tell you to put it into FRVLX (one of my favorites) or OPSMX or some other small cap fund. They've had a heck of a run. Could well still be a good time but a lot of run up has happened. We're in a takeover atmosphere so small caps is a nice place to be. I've had a great run with them. I'm not even thinking of checking out at this point.

fintail

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.

Virtually all of my investments in securities are in 401K/IRA - how would I go about buying into a fund? Just open an account online somewhere?

gagrice

My 401K was in a Telco Fidelity fund. When I retired it was transferred to an IRA. With Fidelity I have been able to buy and sell on line. I like them. Plan to keep my IRA in Fidelity as I am required to start drawing out this year.

kyfdx

If you want to buy funds, Vanguard is very good.. just open a retail acccount... You can also trade stocks...

Schwab is easy, if you think you'll want to invest more in individual stocks.. no maintenance fees on accounts and trades are $9... You can set it up over the phone.... they'll even give you a checking account for easy access to your money..

EDIT: as Gary mentioned above, Fidelity has a full suite of on-line services, as well... with lots of mutual funds..

dieselone

Fin,

Yeah, just open a online brokerage account. I use Fidelity for both my wife's company stock options and my retail trading account. Fidelity's online research tools are pretty good. The only thing I don't like about Fidelity is their requirements for trading options are ridiculous.

I've also used Scotttrade. I liked Scottrade, except at the time you couldn't electronically transfer funds out of the account. That was 5+ years ago, so I don't know if it's still that way.

I'm sure you'll get several other suggestions from others. I'd evaluate several of the leading online brokerages and find one you're most comfortable with.

cyclone4

Well Tony.... I'm not sure how you felt about the Shareholders meeting yesterday, but I was actually pleased. I'm glad that Tim Cook basically stuck it to David Einhorn. He repeated that Einhorn's tactic was a "silly sideshow". However, he also said that they are very seriously thinking about the shareholders and what to do with the $137 billion in cash. I bet we get an announcement in the near future about a dividend increase. There is a Board of Directors meeting coming up in a week or so and it could be at that time that we get the news.

You knew that Tim Cook was not going to give any details about new products but he did say we have great products that will be coming out. I think the iTV, among a few other things is inevitable.

Here is a good interview from Bloomberg TV this morning. I love this guy's take on AAPL. Listen to what he says about Apple being held to a much higher standard than any stock in history.

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/ward-apple-a-good-bet-for-second-half-of-the-year- - -dC0mmsZsR~yBKNyYx9Q05A.html?cmpid=yhoo

anthonyp

Hi Charlie

I don`t know how to feel about what happened yesterday, as it appeared to me it wasn`t covered by the news media......I`m afraid that is what is wrong about the management, which includes the board of directors....I would have expected the board to give Mr Cook the leeway to announce something positive, and to be a better media manager....

Remember there is no other `game` in town but aapl, so the traders will continue to whip it around to a` fairthewell`, which is fun to gamble on with a small amount of money, but not for a serious long term investor, who expects to be rewarded if he/she is right----and not a year from now.....I think this the way a privately held company has the right to do, not a publicly held one....

I don`t think Mr Cook handled the guy Eirnhorn (sp) at all, in fact if it wern`t for Eirnhorn (sp) it is possible there would be no attention spent on the accumulated earnings.....We all have spent alot of attention to aapl, with the intention of possibly making worthy investments, and I personally am losing interest as aapl has consumes a person, to the degree that other opportunities are lost...

I think Len had a nice suggestion for the member wondering what to do with his ten thousand dollar kitty....as did the moderator.....I don`t think either you or I would recommend aapl, although we both think it will advance sometimes.....I wouldn`t wish this situation on anyone----What is something worth if the company refuses to reward shareholders regularly as they wait to see if their judgement is correct?? Maybe they will increase the dividend---then again maybe not....Who does a person trust? and why would a board of directors just ignore a thirty percent decline in the stock? and not try and lend a helping hand? maybe this is what they want----not I--- Tony

ljflx

Another thing to do is look up the top 10 holdings of some mutuals, particularly small and mid cap funds and see which are performing well both in share price & financials (make sure to look at Balance Sheet strength too) and play them. I especially like to see which would be strategic to someone in the S&P 100 as anything that fits that bill is ripe to be taken over. Even if they are not chances are the multiple will be greater on companies like that.

fintail

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I will look into opening an account soon. I have a tasty check sitting on my desk waiting to be put to use :shades:

I don't want anything I have to actively "play" or manage (I know this gives me less ROI), I just want to stash the money away and let time do its work. I am a pretty hands-off investor, which is probably why I only use 401K/IRA kind of stuff with automatic contributions, and maybe a yearly check up or rebalance by myself. I'd like to just buy into a fund or something that requires minimal seperate purchases, and let it ferment.

cyclone4

Tony, all I can say is that I have not lost faith in Apple. Did you watch that short video I posted? I think that video tells all. I strongly believe that I/we will be rewarded handsomely if we wait it out.

gagrice

Just an observation. I have watched over the last several days as Apple keeps heading down and Google keeps going up. Evidently Tim Cook did not say anything the buyers of AAPL wanted to hear. While the head of Google said they are keeping their $48 billion stash ready to jump on any companies that will make them money. Maybe that gives investors the feeling Google is growing and Apple is stagnant. Any other takes on this rivalry???

anthonyp

Charlie, I`m sticking with aapl....I just think management is not leading.....the entire company.....great products, probably capturing the hundred million who are loyal, who will continue to buy and immerse themselves in the operating system....What they aren`t doing is caring for the stockholders....Sure they may announce something at the next board meeting, and the stock may improve in price....This is a mature giant company, and the shareholders are being ignored.....It reminds me of a very wealthy individual who doesn`t care a `whit` for the people who are in his employ that make his life a luxury...You know the types......

I would bet that Jobs had in mind something to do with Disney.....I know he got involved from his ownership in Pixar (sp) or some company (maybe dream works)
but I would bet that he envisioned entertainment in a vast way, and Disney would be a big part of it....It would take a huge `war chest` to do such imaginative things, and it would take a visionary to pull it off...Sorrowfully now that is wishful thinking....I think the `Peter Principal` is now at work ( hadn`t heard that name in a long time--I bet ya) and they need a good PR team to try and control , and get in front of the coming events.....I`l make my investment when I see some progress along those lines----and in the meantime maintain what I have----and believe me I am sorry as I`v put alot of effort into this situation.....

On the ending note, it is cold here on the coast, and it should be getting warmer....I guess I have no more control over this situation than the above Tony

anthonyp

I think you `nailed` it......Apple is growing though and so is Google.....who do you think has a PR team? Tony

ljflx

The market has common sense that Apple has almost triple the cash pile Google has and can use it the same way. Saying it is like saying there'll be daylight tomorrow. There is something very different going on here. It's kind of sick that the market will pay $3200+ dollars for a dollar of Amazon earnings and pay $6 for a dollar of Apple's earnings even though Apple makes $50 for every dollar Amazon makes. It's even worse when you realize that Amazon has moved into a loss position recently, is a retailer with vey low margins, will probably lose market share if it tries to raise prices and has steadily declined for years but the market just totally ignores it. Re Google = they will get a certain multiple because for all intent and purposes they are a monopoly. But other than search they've monopolized almost none of their assets. So the market is being very nice there too. The market is like a boat that is too topsized in one area now. Everyone is piling into the same stocks and ignoring common sense right now. It's only a matter of time before there's some huge exits in those stocks. Apple is so oversold that it's absurd. By now cash is probably 38% of it's share price and given a mint of $40bln a year post dividends they will add $45 per share annually. The price of the stock at some point has to massively correct given that type of cash earnings. If it doesn't Apple earnings will have no value at all and the cash will eventually outstrip the market cap. I've never seen anything like this. Dell is going private because of things like this and I'd hardly rule it out for Apple.

anthonyp

I think we both have seen things like this before, but only with hind sight......I owned what turned out to be Wachovia for maybe fifteen plus years...It was considered the blues of blue chips, and had in depth earnings and stellar reports....It started to go down from the mid fifties, and when around thirty five , the analysts and management reported all was well and it was a great buy.....eventually it was purchased buy Wells Fargo at say five dollars a share...

Today none of us can figure out why Apple has declined so much, and is earning so much...Good products, but continues to decline.....Just a strange thing for such a blue chip company to do.....I hope in hind sight we don`t have another banking story to tell....

Did you get the headlight glitch figured out? and are you planning a trip down here soon? Tony

ljflx

Headlight glitch is an MB glitch at least with respect to the S550 as far as I'm concerned. The highbeams don't work in auto mode. But guess what. The lights work automatically in off mode. MB has three ways of making your headlights work. There is a direct turn on of lights and they always work in this mode, day, night or if you shut the engine. In this mode the high beams always work if you turn them on. Then there is off. But off isn't off. It's a default auto mode. In off mode the car's headlights will shut off in too much ambient light and only the daytime running lights work (if you enable them to in the control system), they will come on automatically if there's too little ambient light and they will shut off after whatever setting you choose (0, 15 secs, 30 secs etc) when you shut the car down. In auto mode the same thing happens but the high beams don't work period. This is an MB greed issue. On a car like the S550 the adaptive high beams should be standard. Instead they are part of a package and most S class cars don't come with them equiped with that package from Germany. So the high beams will only work in auto mode if you have the adaptive highbeams that go on and off automaticaly if they detect lights coming at you. My car doesn't have this option so the default is simply that a headlamp indicator comes on on the dash to indicate the highbeams are enabled. But they don't work unless you hold the steering column switch back toward you. So in non-adaptive high beam cars the auto switch is useless. I'm actually glad I don't have this feature. I had it in the Lexus and it drove me nuts. Where I live there are no street lights and it's pitch black. The adaptive headlights worked great if they detected a car coming at you. But they also switched off if they detected house lights at a door around a curve or weak driveway lights near the street or even a runner on the road wearing something lighted. Sometimes they switched off for no reason I could ever figure out. I found them often shutting off at the worst possible time and they would take too long to come back on. When I was shopping for cars three weeks ago I told the Lexus dealer he'd better figure out a way to disable them as they were included in an option package just about every LWB LS came with. On my old LS there was no way to disable them. On MB you can easily disable them if you have them and they annoy you.

ljflx

Tony - We've never seen it with a company that mints $50bln a year, can reach its market cap in cash in 4 or 5 years, has stores that are perpetually mobbed and has lines that form for new products a week before their release date. I look at this as momentum gone wrong and frankly I never thought a company trading at a pretty good discount to the market in its high flying times was a bubble stock. But what it tells me is the hedge funds are simply momentum buyers, ignore strong Balance Sheets and solid fundamentals and when they pull out of stocks like Amazon or anything with too high a multiple the drop is going to be way more severe. Just look how Netflix lost 75% of its value literally overnight. I also think there is a phenomenal amount of collusion that goes on. Over the course of 5 or 10 years this drop may well be a little spike but when you missed the chance to sell high it seems like an eternity and is very painful. For me it's a small part of my investments and of course the most important investment is in my own business. And that has a strategic value to a buyer that is higher than Apple's EBITDA multiple believe it or not.

ljflx

It may be finally setting in to people on how delusional Wall street is on Apple. The stats are almost incomprehensible. Maybe time to buy? I'm going to watch this real closely Monday morning. The stock may be about to take an abrupt turn. If not, no matter how incomprehensible it may seem for Apple to take itself back private the numbers on the valuation are even more incomprehensible and they allow such a thing to happen. The company is making more money than any company on earth and is priced as if it is going bankrupt.

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/03/02/apple-shares-blodget-cheap/?source=yahoo_- - - quote

anthonyp

Well I sure hope it does take a abrupt turn upward....This is such an awkward moment in time..Apple just defies any reason or logic, which all of us have to use to make decisions.....Maybe it is just momentum , as you say..

I don`t know about you, but one of my investment strategies is if I really am `taken` with a produce, I like to then invest in the stock....If they just paid the same attention to the stock, and how it works, as they do the products, this sort of gyrations would not happen.....Poor the Board of Directors don`t treat Cook with any leeway....

The car sounds wonderful.....Makes me think about myself getting a new car.....The lease makes so much sense for me, therefore it paves the way to get serious......Charlie had a lease that he paid the entire amount of the lease in one payment..Does that make sense to you ? :-) Tony

ljflx

The car sounds wonderful.....Makes me think about myself getting a new car.....The lease makes so much sense for me, therefore it paves the way to get serious......Charlie had a lease that he paid the entire amount of the lease in one payment..Does that make sense to you ?

That's a present value calculation. Depends on the interest rate used to determine the one lump sum up front payment. I stay away from that. The whole notion of leasing is to spread payments so I go for zero down all the time. You can just see the lease deals on the cars. Jaguar has an $899 deal for 42 months on an $87K car in todays NY Times. They've been advertisinbg that for weeks. But its $3600 down. Thats about another $80 a month if you don't do the down payment. Add in tax and here in NJ that's about $1,057 a month. Change it to 12K miles a year from 10K and it's probably $1100 a month. Lexus on the LS is about $1375 for a 36 month lease on an $88K car with 12K miles per year. Clearly Lexus is not a car to lease. Jag is probably much better to lease than buy. It all depends on the car and the promotions. Lexus is acting like the new LS is in hot demand and is a virtually new model vs a car that simply was refreshed. The new grille does not make it a new car, but some are paying up as if it is right now.

gagrice

Even with the facelift on the LS, they were outsold by the MB "S" last month. Mercedes is leading the pack for total sales also. BMW is second and Lexus kind of a distant 3rd. About 11k behind MB for 2013. Will Lexus try to catch up with attractive leases?

cyclone4

It's very tempting to buy more Monday, Len. One would think that the folks that are shorting this stock are going get hurt in a big way real soon. Your statement that AAPL is "priced like its bankrupt when they are making more money than any company on earth" really hits the nail on the head. This has to change and change very soon. I wish I had the guts to invest about $20K more and buy another 40-50 additional shares Monday, but I don't think I do.

anthonyp

I thought the six series bmw to be attractive on the outside--haven`t seen the inside....I like the Audi 8, and the new Mercedes s, to be, will be my deciding factor..For me I didn`t care for the grill on just the LS---strangely it looks better on some of the other models....and in a photograph the Cadillac dash look better than any of them, but I know in real life if won`t measure up...I am going to look just to see, but the exterior of the car leaves me cold , so looking will just be out of curiosity.....Man I am `pumped` on the idea of a lease---never before have considered it---but at this point in life it makes alot of sense.....I think three years, but maybe two, with the thought of another :-) Tony

ljflx

Tony - the new Mercedes S is going to be a uber car in V8 form. My feeling is this car is going even further upmarket to fill some of the void left by the Maybach shutdown. I think they'll be a V6 or smaller V8 in the 90K+ range then you move to $110K plus for the current type of V8 and probably $180K+ for the V12. The car I may be very interested in as a toy car if everything goes great in business is the coming S coupe that replaces the CL coupe. I love the CL coupe as it is plus I love the CLS. The Audi A7 and the BMW 6 also interest me. I'm losing interest in the SL. I like the previous version a lot more. In fact the MB dealer by me has a stunning used one at a great price. It's tempting me and my wife.

anthonyp

If the pictures I have seen of the S are accurate,I think you were smart to get the current S....As you know you just have to see something and touch, before making any decision....The bmw has uses (I think) a rather poor backed leather that doesn`t feel like leather to me....My current a8 leather also is backed, but it does feel fairly good....Some leathers really are wonderful, so I hope the new cars have improved in that department.....I rarely use any of the fancy gadgets, other than when they are new, so I will be able to discipline myself in that regard....This is getting exciting Tony ps` lead on`

gagrice

Having a lot of cash and not making it work for you seems to be where more than one company finds themselves.

"When the partnership I ran took control of Berkshire in 1965, I could never have dreamed that a year in which we had a gain of $24.1 billion would be subpar," Mr. Buffett, Berkshire's chairman and chief executive, said. "But subpar it was."

The lagging performance is just the company's ninth in the 48 years that Mr. Buffett has steered the company, but the third in four years. If the stock market continues to advance in 2013, it could jeopardize his streak of beating the S&P on a rolling five-year basis, as Mr. Buffett said Berkshire's relative performance is stronger when the market is down or flat.

Not landing a large deal in 2012 was another disappointment, Mr. Buffett said: "I pursued a couple of elephants, but came up empty-handed."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324662404578334641466859124.html?m- od=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

anthonyp

The wonderful thing about Mr Buffet is his regard for his shareholders...He treats everyone to one good through analysis each year, and treats them as partners...He further re-deploys the build up of earnings regularly, and emphasizes `elephants`, and occasionally bags one....Over my `business` life I have tried to follow that philosophy in treating all I am involved with as `partners`....Never have done anything so successfully as he, but we all have done fine....

I think he has paid taxes on everything each year, and yes I would like a dividend, but fully understand he can better re-invest than pay out....Possibly that run is coming to an end, and after he `retires` they may begin to pay a dividend....If so that would be a wonderful investment for a very long time.....Thanks for the article Tony

ljflx

Tony - sounds like a sleeping giant woke up to leasing. Enjoy life my friend. The new S - from what I saw which may or may not be accurate looks a bit like a bigger E-class. I like it but prefer the current styling. But who knows. At first I didn't think the current S was all that great. Now I think its stunning. It really grew on me and the ride is far superior to the S500 it replaced. MB really raised the bar with this car.

BTW - I've put aside $25K for Apple on Monday morning. Just transferred it into my Schwab account. Don't know if it has a little more to fall or not but I think it's going to run soon, very soon.

fintail

I am shocked something as expensive as your S doesn't have adaptive lights as standard. My E, which has P2, has them, and I think they are amusing, albeit pretty useless. As you say, they are thrown off by very small amounts of light. But, I have it, so I am going to use it.

I wonder if the Germans have weighed a possible sales increase via making most things standard (like Lexus) vs what they gain from charging for options.

ljflx

I would turn them off if I had them. I'd use them on dark highways where the interference is less. On the Lexus you could adjust the sensitivity but I never saw much difference in how they worked even in the low sensitivity range. They drove me crazy because they'd constantly shut off when I needed them most. They took too long to turn back on and around here you are deer loaded so you want them working almost all the time. A reflector at someone's mail box would shut them down for 20-30 seconds.

On the S they come packaged with distronic plus, and I saw had no S class cars in inventory or inbound with that package. Distronic plus gives you the laser cruise, lane changing alert, auto braking and the adaptive high beams.

ljflx

Strike everything I said about me not having the adaptive high beams. I have them. They are part of the pemium 1 package and the S550 comes with the premium 1 and 2 packages standard. So now I wonder if they are turned off in the command system programming. I'll check tomorrow. Maybe on the MB they'll work better but I doubt it.

This car has so much radio. It's got 20 presets for AM, 20 for FM and 20 more for satellite. Plus it has a huge hard drive to download music to. The Harmon Kardon radio is 600 watts (vs 450 watts in the LS Mark Levinson system). The Bang Olufsen option is a whopping and unnecessary 1200 watts. The Harmon Kardon sounds more than glorious enough for me. I find it superior to the ML in the Lexus. I can imagine what 1200 watts of perfection must sound like but it's not worth the cost.

fintail

That makes sense. If my car that costs less than 60% of the price has them, so should yours :shades:

Have you tried activating them with the stalk? I know my car has a different cluster than yours - but if I tilt the light stalk to the correct position, a light symbol with "A" appears in the cluster, and that way I know the adaptive lights are activated. When the high beams switch on and off, the dash indicator shows this, so I know it is working. Are you close to the dealer? I've taken my car back a couple times for questions and fiddling, and they were receptive and helpful.

My car has the 600 watt HK Logic 7 stereo too. Tomorrow I am going to try loading some mp3s to the hard drive.

anthonyp

You two are `killing` Charlie and me Nice to participate with two happy fellows......Tony

fintail

If you want a new MB, this might be the time to deal - I think they will eventually be giving away the 13 E and S. Both other Bluetecs had by my local dealer have now sold.

Kind of irked at the HDD music system in my car, as it will only take mp3s from CDs - not from a SD card or from the ipod. What is it, 1996? I don't have many CDs anymore. I think I will probably just use the SD card for my own music. I set up the telematics today, pretty cool - now I can talk to the car and it does what I say (this is really new tech to me)

gagrice

as it will only take mp3s from CDs - not from a SD card or from the ipod. What is it, 1996?

That is why you got such a deal. You could put a lot of MP3s you like on a cd and just leave it in the player. It does seem strange. Does it have an SD card slot? If so what is it used for?

anthonyp

How you mean `telematics`? and talk to the car? Tony