Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!

High End Luxury Cars

1268269271273274463

Comments

  • docnukemdocnukem Member Posts: 485
    You could probably get into a bunch of psychology, too.

    A large S class is probably going to be driven by a middle-aged or older married male. Such a person may have a wife who would not appreciate a sexy female voice.

    Now take a Z4, G35 coupe, or any Porsche, and the driver would probably expect a sexy voice.

    Other vehicles would probably split the difference.

    The real question of sexism, though, is why are all these voices female? Most people who anthropomorphize (is that a word?) their cars will make them female, so that is probably the number one reason. I also believe that most people consider a female voice more calming/less bossy (now there's a setup for any married individual with an axe to grind). What do people think? I am curious as to whether there is a gender bias here. That is, am I right in assuming that both men and women would prefer a female voice, or would women be more evenly split or favor a male voice for their car?
  • aggie76aggie76 Member Posts: 266
    While its not anywhere near being a HELM, my wife's Ody has the option of selecting either male or female voice on its Nav. She's got it set for the male, and she refers to him as James.

    My LS430 only uses female voice.
  • lexusguylexusguy Member Posts: 6,419
    I think it has to do with Sci-Fi movies. With the big exception of HAL, most computer voices have been female. Speaking of HAL, I'm not sure I would want my NAV system to have a male voice.
  • docnukemdocnukem Member Posts: 485
    "Open the pod bay doors", I mean "Navigate home"....

    "I'm sorry, Dave. I can't do that..."
  • blkhemiblkhemi Member Posts: 1,717
    Thanks for the info. I've always been a fan of the E-Class Benz. It seems to be a great value. And with added option of 4-Matic on the CDI, it will be even more of a bargain.
  • blkhemiblkhemi Member Posts: 1,717
    I finally saw the S550 in another shade, other than black. It was a brilliant white/tan combo with optional Merc chrome wheels. The white actually made the car look better than the black, no easy feat seeing how I think all cars look better in black.

    I'm still not completely sold on the S's styling. But hey, in '02 I thought that Bangle was the anti-Christ when he ruined my beloved 7, then the 5. But look what happened: I purchased a 760il. I'm sure the S's styling will grow on me over time. It's just a huge departure from the M-B conservative yet stately norm, which is no bad thing.

    Can't wait to see the 600/AMG models!
  • hpowdershpowders Member Posts: 4,330
    Chris Bangle so ruined the 5 series, that since its introduction in 2004, it has absolutely creamed the competition.

    The used to be fashionable Bangle-bashing has grown old and tired and is in complete disconnect with reality.

    I am the proud lessee of a 2005 545 and it is absolutely one of the boldest, sleekest, sexiest cars on the road, IMO.
  • blkhemiblkhemi Member Posts: 1,717
    "Chris Bangle so ruined the 5 series, that since its introduction in 2004, it has absolutely creamed the competition."

    Nice assumption, albeit a little far-fetched. The Infiniti M35/45 and M-B E-Class are very formidable 5-Series opponents. The M35/45's are more stylish IMO. The "flame- surface" technique that BMW applied to the otherwise class benchmark just "ruins" the whole apparatus.

    The 5-Series may still have the "crown", but with competition like the E55 going against the M5, and the E55 is faster still, the crown is up for grabs.
  • ljflxljflx Member Posts: 4,690
    In reality the 5-series may still be the leader but on a marketshare basis others are taking a larger incremental share of an expanding market. If the 5-series were a stock instead of a car shareholders would be bailing. A smaller share (even if it is the leader) of an expanding market is viewed as a weakening position.
  • sysweisyswei Member Posts: 1,804
    HAL was a rather sinister computer, as was the computer Colossus (as in Colossus the Forbin Project), also a male voice. So maybe people came to associate male computer voices as sinister...hence the carryover into modern day computer voices.
  • hpowdershpowders Member Posts: 4,330
    No doubt it is highly competitive out there on the LPS and HELM circuits.

    But don't sell BMW short quite yet (pun intended.) You may get burned. ;)

    I can't wait to get back out there in 2.5 years and test the best from Infiniti, Lexus, and BMW all over again!

    All I think about is cars and HDTV's.
    There's gotta be a cure! :)
  • ljflxljflx Member Posts: 4,690
    I'm not selling BMW short. But creaming competition as you state and having less market share than 5 years ago are opposite extremeties and both can't be right. If you have a 60% share of a 10,000 unit market but a 50% share of a 20,000 unit market, you are still strong but any business investor will view that as a weakening position and a sign that the competition will keep eroding your position. Hence my point that if the car was a stock investors would be bailing as growth is occurring elsewhere.
  • lexusguylexusguy Member Posts: 6,419
    "All I think about is cars and HDTV's.
    There's gotta be a cure!"

    Hah. I have the same disease. Unfortunately, there is no cure.
  • hpowdershpowders Member Posts: 4,330
    Just got the new Bravia KDL-V32" XBR LCD for the bedroom.
    Impressive blacks for an LCD.
    Having it professionally calibrated this Sunday.
    The guy is coming from Maine down to Tampa to do it.
    Can't wait!
  • lexusguylexusguy Member Posts: 6,419
    Nice work! Our bedroom set is now a 27" Toshiba LCD, and I finally have a proper sound system to go with it, thanks to tiny Mirage Omnisats mounted on the walls. (For some reason the wife wasn't impressed with the idea of giant tower speakers in the bedroom).

    Let me know what happens with your ISF video calibration, I'm curious to know if that really does make a big difference. So far I've just done the calibrations myself, with the help of a D.V.E. disc.
  • hpowdershpowders Member Posts: 4,330
    Thanks!
    I have it adjusted pretty well on my own but from what I've read on the different video threads, people are absolutely ecstatic after the calibration.
    The guy I'm using is supposedly one of the best ISF guys.
    It will take 4-5 hours.
    The new Sony is about as good as an LCD picture can be: quite breathtaking. Not plasma, but getting pretty close.
    I will let you know if I feel it was truly worth it.
  • blkhemiblkhemi Member Posts: 1,717
    After having my day made better by the sight of a new S550, I managed to drive crosstown to the M-B dealer for closer scruinty of the S.

    The Interior: As some may know, I'm a self-proclaimed Audi nut, so I look at interiors very closely. My intitial close-up of a '07 S early in the year revealed that Mercedes shorted the S yet again of overtaking Audi in the interiors department. BUT, I saw the interior in a different color scheme and WOW. The graining and seaming of the upholstery is top-notch. The choice of materials inside are appropiate for the class. But I'm still out on the switchgear. I wonder why M-B chose to use those 70's style window switches? Retro maybe? But it throws off this otherwise classy interior, albeit not Audi classy.

    The Exterior: The panel gap tolorances are within millimeters. I don't think you could stick a quarter in the gap. The painting process on the cars seem to be of more good quality than before; absolutely no runs. The Bangled-trunk isn't so Bangled in person. The dreaded wheelflares aren't quite as big as they appear on print.

    The Drivetrain: That 7-G tranny is one miracle piece of machinery as it is able to squeeze every once of the 362-hp hidden in that 5.5L motor and get the car 0-60 in under 6 seconds(wonder if M-B will one-up Lexus with their upcoming 8-Speed Autobox in favor of a 10-Speed?). That's no easy feat considering the cars mass at 21/2 tons. The suspension is the M-B norm, plush yet compliant and firm when need be.

    Summation: M-B has built another car worthy if the 3-pointed star.
  • merc1merc1 Member Posts: 6,081
    That says a lot about the durability of those cars. I'd prefer the 4 Matic option, but I've heard those old I-6 Diesels go on forever. Is there any reason to believe the new Diesel engine won't be as durable?

    No there isn't. I must say that all this talk about MB diesels lasting forever is pretty interesting. Other than the engine itself (which their gas engines aren't one of Mercedes' reliability problems) the diesels are the same as any other Benz yet the diesels have the rep for lasting till the end of time, when I see plenty of old gasoline beater Benzes still on the road today. That said the April issue of C&D has story about diesel beaters which I guess will further perpetuate the myth about not being able to kill a diesel Benz.

    I see you're getting acquainted with the S430, how wonderful. You'll find that Benz is full of little, sometimes odd details!

    M
  • merc1merc1 Member Posts: 6,081
    Speaking of MB diesels, I frienD of mine just bought an R class, nice people mover but I wonder why no diesel option?

    This fall there will be a R320 CDI, once the low sulphur diesel is widely available. Also a ML320 in OCT.

    The reason why the newer diesels can't run on the older blend is partly because of what you stated about what comes out the other end. They can't pass emissions on the old blend of diesel we get here and they aren't designed to run on it. The old Benz I6 can run on nearly anything but the new V6 can't, but it is much cleaner than the I6 too. There there is the issue of engine damage.

    M
  • merc1merc1 Member Posts: 6,081
    Give it time the styling will grown on you I'm sure. I'm sold on the S having seen it on the road a few times now, especially in AMG trim the car is killer.

    M
  • merc1merc1 Member Posts: 6,081
    Once the E gets it mid-life adjustments I expect it to re-claim its traditional position in the LPS segment. See you in June/July and again in Dec. ;)

    M
  • blckislandguyblckislandguy Member Posts: 1,150
    I picked ours up at BestBuy, took it home on the ferry and the cable guy hooked it up when he came with the new box you need. Looks fine. Where do I find these video threads you referenced and who has the disc you can buy to adjust it?
  • sysweisyswei Member Posts: 1,804
    A great video site is avsforum, a direct link to their forums is here.
  • hpowdershpowders Member Posts: 4,330
    I second the "avsforum" recommendation.
    There are great discussions there of every popular HDTV model and an entire discussion alone of how to calibrate the new Sony Bravia XBR LCD with and without professional help. Posters discuss their complete settings. Excellent!

    The Avia Guide To Home Theater, a fine calibration DVD, can be purchased at Circuit City, Best Buy, Tower Records, J & R, in person or through their websites and at Amazon.com.
    Hope this helps.

    I apologize profusely for the divergence.
  • ljflxljflx Member Posts: 4,690
    The knock on the LCD sets in the past has been their inability to handle motion, particularly fast sports motion as they left a blur motion behind at times. I noticed that liability in football once while I was watching a game on an LCD set in Best Buy but that was 2 yeras ago. Supposedly the next generation sets were going to reduce or eliminate that problem. If they have corrected that than these sets should start to dominate over plasmas and prices should fall. As for me - my decision, at least for my family room is, unfortunately, tied to what can fit in my family room cabinet and it's a custom made one that had to be fit between two load bearing columns. I've got a 46" latest generation DLP and am very happy with it. Many people have mistaken it for a plasma.
  • hpowdershpowders Member Posts: 4,330
    The new Sony XBR LCD has made motion blurring a thing of the past.
    The picture quality approaches plasma. Excellent blacks.
    Note that Sony has given up on plasma and is concentrating their HD efforts on LCD.
  • benzsterbenzster Member Posts: 152
    An answer to the issue of speakers being heard and not seen:
    There is a screen product that is paintable. It is mudded into the wall like a piece of sheetrock and painted over. Depth is an issue on an outside wall of course. Then there is the possibility of 2x6 offset wall studs for soundproofing (new const.) to gain .... whew whoa. sry ADD kickin in.
  • bobw3bobw3 Member Posts: 2,989
    The Freestyle, while interesting, doesn't quite have the get-up-and-go and smoothness that's necessary

    As an owner with 25K miles on my Freestyle, I'd have to disagree. I just drove last weekend from the coast of Virginia to Ohio over the Appalachian mountains. No problems with power, and I averaged 24mpg driving in the 70s. I put the car on cruise at 70mph, and even when going up the mountains it was smooth. The only time the engine RPM noise is really rough sounding is when you floor it, and I've never found the need to do that. And I've passed trucks on two lane roads as well.

    The CVT is great in that going up or down the mountains you don't have to downshift in a manual or put in Low gear in an automatic. I would put the cruise at 70mph and going down the mountains on pretty curvey roads, the car kept going the constant 70mph without the need of any shifting and I never had to touch the brakes once. The signs said to slow down to 60mph on some of the steeper and curvey downhills, but the Freestyle was plenty steady that I kept the cruise on 70mph. And my wife and baby were sleeping in the second row the whole time during this part of the drive, so I consider that a pretty good test of smoothness and refinement.

    I'm not sure what "refinement" issues you're talking about, but the only unrefined sounds I've ever heard was when I did floor the engine just to see what it would do. It jumped forward fast, but it did sound pretty unrefined; however, in an emergency situation (which is the only situation where you need to floor the engine), I'm not too concerned with how the engine sounds! Plus I only paid $24K for my Freestyle, so for that money, I'm not expecting all of the qualities of a $40K car.
  • bobw3bobw3 Member Posts: 2,989
    I just realized I'm in the High End Luxury Marques forum, which isn't where I'd expect to see the Freestyle. I guess if you're comparing the Freestyle in terms of refinement in this category, then I can see how you can say it's unrefined. But you have to compare vehicles in a similar price range.
  • patpat Member Posts: 10,421
    I'm kinda thinkin' there are other places where conversations about the Freestyle and, um, home electronics would fit better. ;)
  • blkhemiblkhemi Member Posts: 1,717
    I'm glad to see that you enjoy your beloved Freestyle. Too bad not many other people are or will ever be able to "enjoy" the Freestyle, what with Ford having it on the chopping block.
  • rayngrayng Member Posts: 70
    What are the planned upgrades to the E? When I drove it for about a month while my car was in the shop, here's what I think needs improvement:
    1. Better leather seating. The '05 e320 I drove had rough, cheap, leatherette-feeling seats in the back. Why not upgrade to the soft (lamb) skin leather on the departing S?
    2. Crappy climate control cluster design. I really hated having to push the mode up button several times to cycle the vent directions. What's up with the preprinted temperature settings on the dials? What if I wanted a temperature setting not on the dial?
    3. Sticky rubber steering wheel. No matter how many times I cleaned the steering wheel, it still felt gummy and sticky. It's not me. All 3 e-class rentals (2 e320, 1 e350) had the same problem.
    4. While I'm sure this is not a problem on more fully equipped cars, the cars I drove do not have navigation. Since I'm not fond of the MB navigation system and prefer to use the voice navigation on my phone, I hope MB improves the design of the radio/command system. Many buttons were not functional (nav, map, tel, sat). I also disliked the joystick below the keypad. Why they don't use touchscreen for the numbers and letters, I don't know.
    5. A pet-peeve of mine is the speaker baffles. I love high quality speaker baffles as this is frequently an place where scratches and dents occur. The tweeter baffle on the e is cheap looking.
    6. Another pet peeeve is the steering wheel controls. Perhaps I don't know how to change stations, but up and down switch to change channels would not go to the next preset. Instead, it seeked/searched the next strongest channel in the airwaves.
    7. Please don't let the center cupholders take up all the room in the center storage compartment between the front seats? These are cheap, removable, POS cupholders that need a redesign and relocation. The side-by-side position is much better on the new S.

    Needless to say, the ergomonics on the car really bothered me, so much so I convinced a friend to purchase the S instead.

    Ergonomics is important, especially to a customer demographic in the 60s. Generally, I think the bigger buttons on the Lexus dash do a much better job at putting the most important functions at or near one's fingertips. The notable exception is the silly flip panel that can scrap knees and ruin stockings on the Lexus GS.
  • blkhemiblkhemi Member Posts: 1,717
    Sorry to hear about your "terrible" experience in your rental E. However, just to let you know, ergonomics are not the strong point of European luxo cars. In fact on most luxury cars, ergonomics are just plain suck.

    In the E's defense, the Premium-pkg, equipped E350 and just about all E430/55's are top notch. The same can be said about a "stripped" 3, in fact it's worser still.
    The speaker baffles, cupholder, and steering wheel controls are all personal, in which you stated. Some like. Some don't. But overall, I'm willing to bet driving the E was much better than the ergonomics.
  • blckislandguyblckislandguy Member Posts: 1,150
    Wow. Reading this litany of complaints makes me think I just don't get it. Life can't be that difficult. No one should be this unhappy. Ergonomics? Who really cares much about where the new knobs are? You learn in a week or so and then you have it down pat. Lets not forget that a lot of us began our driving careers in TR3s with "side curtains", VW Bugs without heaters, and maybe even Jeeps with IRS (my M151 in 1965 had a Porche 911-like swing axle). All of which were a lot of fun and didn't have much in the way of "ergonomics".

    Let me ask about NAV. How many people ever even use their NAV? Or isn't most of your driving fairly routine and when in doubt you print a Mapquest before leaving? Lets turn to multizone HVAC. How many people really let the HVAC do its thing? Or more likely when the temp is not what you want, do you just crank it up to max cool (or max heat) and then constantly fiddle with it during your drive? I suspect that most of the very busy working rich who drive HELMs don't rely much on NAV and auto HVAC so complaints about them are really moot.

    YMMV
  • merc1merc1 Member Posts: 6,081
    Wow. Reading this litany of complaints makes me think I just don't get it. Life can't be that difficult. No one should be this unhappy. Ergonomics? Who really cares much about where the new knobs are?

    Yeah I was kinda thinking the same thing. Sounds like a lot of nitpicking, IMHO.

    M
  • ljflxljflx Member Posts: 4,690
    "I suspect that most of the very busy working rich who drive HELMs don't rely much on NAV and auto HVAC so complaints about them are really moot."

    Exactly the opposite particularly on the nav. It gets you around traffic jams, gets you places that you don't know quite easily and even if you know the area of a location but not its exact place you scroll that screen and easily find the street. I can't be without the nav and get great use of it. The downside of the nav sysytems is that now I have a lot of company going thru isolated back streets to the GW bridge or Holland tunnel whenever you hear those 1 hour delays on traffic reports. There's a nice back way in to the GW bridge that takes all of 10-15 minutes in heavy rush hour traffic. Pre nav systems it used to take 5-10 minutes. I can tell easily it's the navs that have lengthened the time because of the cars being driven.
  • bobw3bobw3 Member Posts: 2,989
    Too bad not many other people are or will ever be able to "enjoy" the Freestyle, what with Ford having it on the chopping block.

    Not true...Ford changed their mind and is keeping the Freestyle:
    http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060123/SUB/60120098/1003

    BTW...I use the automatic climate control all the time.
  • benzsterbenzster Member Posts: 152
    Ans:

    1. Nappa leather would drive the cost out of the price point/ if it was a wagon it may have been MB tex and not leather/ E Class buyers are more abusive and own longer (durability).
    2. Push auto and let it work/ if it ain't on the dial it can't get there. Go to the club for a sauna, turning the A/C down will not make it cool better or faster, but opening the roof at the start and putting it on recirc. when it cools will improve the systems ability to cool. Germany is not hot. Use the remote to open windows and roof when unlocking vehicle.
    3. Hand lotion and skin type/body chemistry does that. Some cleaners make it worse. I have seen armrests do that as well and fully distort the leather.
    4.The COMAND system offers the consumer the choice of upgrading system and adding a phone navi etc at a later date. There is only so much room. The more demands the smaller the buttons (bifocals?)I am not fond of the joy stick either.
    5.Open the door with your hand and not your foot. The doors on a MB open much wider than other cars and maybe the substantial protection in the doors make it heavier or maybe your sleeve length is short DK.
    6. Use the buttons that look like index cards and scroll to the settings screen in the instrument cluster. Use the up and down arrows to find the setting for audio preferences "seek to favorite" or "next station" and select it with the + or - button.
    7. MB does not ask you to put a steering wheel on your dinner table so why would you want to eat in their car ;) JK they do suck but the R's are great and have a bottle opener so you can pop a 40 and rock on. Use your purse to hold all that stuff instead.

    So in closing, I am sure the dealer thanks you for the extra profit on the S and don't go for a new E. You won't like it. I hope the ergonomics bothered the friend as much as you (they sure paid for it). My Mom always said," If you take everyone else's advise you end up owning someone else's ________" (insert kitchen, car, drapes w.e).
    Hope this helps. :thumbsup,wink:
  • patpat Member Posts: 10,421
    Here ya go. You and blkhemi and anyone else interested can meet up on the Ford Freestyle board to continue this. There are several discussions to pick from.
  • designmandesignman Member Posts: 2,129
    Ljflx, no doubt you're talking about the AM commute from Joyzee into the city. I travel in the opposite direction and it's a breeze. Suggestion: transpose your home and office.

    ;-)
  • blckislandguyblckislandguy Member Posts: 1,150
    ljflx, I don't think of a NYC commuter when I think of the busy, working rich. Rather I think of a self-employed high net worth (with perhaps a relatively low salary--maybe only just five figures) person who lives in a medium sized city that has a short commute to his concrete block plant/medical practice/warehouse distributorship/etc. He goes in early, works late, and probably goes to the same delicatessen for lunch every day. He doesn't use NAV and probably fiddles incessantly with his HVAC. Think say of a guy up in Binghampton or maybe even Glens Falls, not NYC.

    The only guy I can think of who would need NAV and really use a self regulating HVAC would be an on-the-road salesman. Few of them drive a HELM and in any case given the internet, there aren't many of them left.

    Wouldn't Bimmer and MB have saved a lot of grief if they realized that the middle aged working rich prefer buttons to mice and mapquest to NAV?
  • tagmantagman Member Posts: 8,441
    I love nav. Period. Some of you guys don't need it . . . that's fine.

    Maybe it's a California thing, maybe not, but with my lifestyle, it's awesome. In just the last few days, for example, on Sunday, I took my kids surfing to a spot I wasn't that familiar with, and the nav got me there on the fly. I even set a waypoint for a cup of Starbucks. Then on Monday and Tuesday, we let the kids stay out of school for two days and drove 2 1/2 hours to take them skiing and snowboarding at one of the ski resorts. Once again the nav was awesome, and got us exactly where we wanted. Tonight, I needed to pick up something from one of my kid's friend's house, and I really didn't know very well where they lived. I plugged in the address and bingo, I was there in short order. Tomorrow, I'm dropping my wife off at the airport, but from there I need to go to a meeting. I'll set it in my nav, and I'll get there just fine.

    Another thing about nav is that often the climate control, satellite, multi media, and phone system are all connected to the nav screen and also to a voice command system which makes things even easier.

    Like I said . . . I love nav.

    TagMan
  • ljflxljflx Member Posts: 4,690
    "ljflx, I don't think of a NYC commuter when I think of the busy, working rich. Rather I think of a self-employed high net worth (with perhaps a relatively low salary--maybe only just five figures) person who lives in a medium sized city that has a short commute to his concrete block plant/medical practice/warehouse distributorship/etc. He goes in early, works late, and probably goes to the same delicatessen for lunch every day. He doesn't use NAV and probably fiddles incessantly with his HVAC. Think say of a guy up in Binghampton or maybe even Glens Falls, not NYC."

    I think you are talking the demo group that buys 3-series, C-class, IS , A4, G35. The heavy sales of the HELM's are big city, high income, high net worth. The 7, S, LS and A8 all have $200K and up Demo profiles. If you have high net worth and sub $100K compensation than you are not buying cars that lease at $12-15K+ a year or cost $20K a year on an auto loan. The math doesn't work and if you've cumed a high networth off of a sub $100K salary it means you bought a house a long time ago. Somehow I don't see that latter group running up many home equity loans to buy these cars. Maybe a stray person here and there but not in bulk.
  • ljflxljflx Member Posts: 4,690
    Tagman - I went to the southern part of North Carolina on a day that they had a 9 car accident on I-95 a few years back. It was so bad that they closed I-95 for 5 hours and a 40mile back-up occurred with all that traffic having to use one exit. I exited at the back-end of the tie-up after hearing about the problem on the radio and the Nav took me perfectly to my destination. There must have been 30 different turnoffs and at the end I was driving west on the southern end of the outer banks to get to my destination on the coast. There aren't many east coast beaches that you drive west to get to. Anyway the Nav saved me 6-7 hours of total frustration that day. A buddy of mine was meeting us at our vacation spot and he left New Jersey at the same time as I did with my family. But I was sound asleep when he arrived more than 6 hours after I did, in his non-nav car. He now has a nav.
  • tagmantagman Member Posts: 8,441
    Great story . . . thanks. I think the case for nav is pretty clear. It might be one of those things that you have to experience to understand. But once the bug bites, there's no turning back.

    BTW, some of those beaches you visited are first-class gorgeous.

    TagMan
  • merc1merc1 Member Posts: 6,081
    Me no say that...lol! I'm innocent.

    M
  • ljflxljflx Member Posts: 4,690
    Vonzell Solomon seems to have done well. She really is a beautiful girl and I'll always remember her family in the audience really supporting her.

    http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/64033.htm
  • merc1merc1 Member Posts: 6,081
    That is good for her, but I think she and Bo Bice were robbed. I mean Carrier Underwood is the most forgettable Idol they've ever had.

    We finally got rid of Chicken Little!

    Though I like some of the folks left, I don't believe that the original group of 12 were the best they could find in all of the U.S. This is the worst group of finalist in the history of the show, IMO.

    M
  • garyh1garyh1 Member Posts: 394
    Wouldn't Bimmer and MB have saved a lot of grief if they realized that the middle aged working rich prefer buttons to mice and mapquest to NAV?

    Sorry, I have to disagree with you and agree with tagman and ljflx on this one. Before I had NAV, I thought it was a somewhat silly option. After living with it for over a year, it's very nice to have. If you live in a city where all streets are perpendicular and are numbered in one direction and alphabetically arranged in the other direction, then NAV won't be very helpful. But if you live in a large metro area, or in the 'burbs where streets start and stop, and nothing is straight from point to point, NAV is great.

    I am also starting to think that as Alzheimer's sets in, NAV will allow me to keep driving for a few extra years. I've already been amazed to more than once find myself turned around and confused not that far from home. :sick:

    On the other hand, I agree with you on buttons vs. mice!
  • benzsterbenzster Member Posts: 152
    nav=yES

    I don't have NAVI system in CLK but I do in R, so when we traveled to Gatlinburg, TN I could whip off on an exit I was told about and just "left and right" it on the map screen. I could see the traffic jam every now and then on the other side of the mountain as I weaved the back roads on the other side. When my wife asks if I will pick up a child at a friends, I get the addy and take the R. She is in real estate. She plugs in listing addys and saves them. I live 0.9 miles from work so I don't need it. I like having NAVI but don't like the R's joy stick. In addition, if you know someone that knows someone, you can add hardware to use dvd to watch a movie. ;)

    FYI:Please be advised that the Metal Workers Trade Union in Germany is initiating “warning” strikes in an effort
    to gain leverage in upcoming labor negotiations.
Sign In or Register to comment.