2007 Mercedes-Benz S550
2007 Mercedes-Benz S550
That rainy day I mentioned was also a good test of the rain-sensitive wipers, which worked extraordinarily well. Once drops started hitting the windshield, I turned the wiper knob to its first position. During the course of my drive, the rain varied from heavy to none (all within the space of an hour), and the wipers always acted appropriately. As for the car's systems interface, Mercedes-Benz uses what it calls COMAND, a single knob on the center console with associated hard buttons. COMAND is what iDrive should have been. I found it in every way much more intuitive than iDrive, while still offering the same types of motion. The knob can be turned or pushed around like a joystick, as with the iDrive knob, which suggests the software part of the interface is better with COMAND. The LCD, set into the center dash, has the usual functions, such as navigation, climate, entertainment, and telephone. But Mercedes-Benz continues to be stubborn in its cell phone integration; the car has Bluetooth, but you can't use it to make calls. Bluetooth is only used to transfer address entries from a laptop or phone to the car's database. Phone integration requires a cradle specific to the model of phone, which sits in the center console. This system offers better security but less convenience since you have to take the phone out of your pocket and put it in the cradle.
Other niceties on this car include a display between the tach and speedo, controlled from the steering wheel, which shows information about navigation, trip info, telephone, and entertainment. The stereo in this car sounds very good. The speakers produce a crisp sound that retains its quality into the upper volumes. I adjusted the DSP to put the sweet spot right on the driver's seat but wasn't impressed as the driver's door speakers took up most of the volume duties and sounded blaring. It was better with the DSP oriented to the center of the car. A six-disc CD changer is hidden under a panel in the center stack, but I saw no evidence of an auxiliary audio or iPod jack. Mercedes-Benz can be a bit proprietary when it comes to interacting with other devices. For the last word in luxury, this car has massage units built into the front seats, with the practical idea that they will keep drivers from getting sore over long road trips. Leave it to the Germans to make decadence sound practical.