S550: It's the Little Things - The Steering Wheel


That two-spoke, leather-and-wood steering wheel. With real, clickable buttons (not touch pads!). Such a pleasure to touch, and so perfect for the relaxed vibe of the car. 

While we will never again get those narrow, wood steering wheels from the classic 1970s Benzes, this one evokes those wheels for me. Clean, relatively uncluttered, with "shift paddles" laid in as discreet buttons that you can easily ignore (face it, you'll never use them). 

Compared to the steering wheel in both the older and newer generations of S Class, I think this one has the edge. In the W221, the four-spoke wheel hasn't aged well, giving a frumpy, old-man vibe. And the latest three-spoke W223 wheel ... well, the whole thing is now a giant touch panel, which loses the tactile feedback and is hard to use without looking. The high gloss finish also is a fingerprint magnet. But then again, I'm biased. :-)


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fixing the clock in a C2 Corvette

Image
After fixing the radio in the Corvette, it was time to tackle the clock. We tried mightily to revive the patient, but in the end, a heart transplant was necessary. The clocks in the "midyear" Corvettes (1963-67) are electro-mechanical units made by Borg Instruments. They were used in a bunch of other GM cars of the period, in addition to the Corvette. This article gives a nice description of the clock and what commonly goes wrong with it. These are analog, spring-wound clocks with an electric winder that is supposed to reset the spring mechanism every 3 minutes or so. To see how it's supposed to work, check out this video (currently at 460 views, many of which are from me!). The design doesn't exactly inspire confidence, as it depends on a set of 12 volt contact points reliably closing every 3 minutes or so, pretty much forever. Those contact points build up corrosion over time, which will kill the rewinding mechanism. Thanks to a bunch of threads on the
Read more

S550: 12 Month Cost of Ownership

Image
Everyone knows that a Mercedes S Class is an expensive car to own. That's partly why they depreciate so quickly. Well, this car more than lived up to that reputation, proving to be far and away the most expensive car to own of those I've discussed on this blog (compare 2018 Mazda Miata , 2010 Honda Fit , 2002 Porsche 911 Turbo , 1965 Chevy Corvette ).  Deep breath. Total one-year cost of ownership = $27,853. Holy smokes. $2,321/month. I could have (maybe should have) leased a new one for that (although the shortest leases are 24 months, so I'd have ended up spending a lot more total).  The inflated pandemic used car market certainly accounts for a bunch of this. Yes, I knew it was a bad time to buy, and yes I overpaid to get the car I wanted , but I didn't count on another $10k of depreciation in one year. The problem with selling an S550 is the plethora of cheap, minimally optioned cars out there. If you want to get above those prices, you need to find someone who valu
Read more

Four Hour Drive: 2021 Volvo XC40 Recharge

Image
  I borrowed a 2021 Volvo XC40 Recharge for a few hours (thanks Rob!), which I used to drive from San Francisco to Sonoma and back. Overall, I really liked it -- comfortable, easy to drive, excellent audio system, and plenty of power (perhaps too much, see below). It also has the advantage of actually fitting in our garage (made possible by power folding wing mirrors), which is something that neither the Tesla Model Y nor the Ford Mach-e can say.  Here are some impressions, in no particular order:  It feels like a regular car.  Some EVs (see, e.g., Tesla) seem committed to making the EV experience feel very different from regular ICE cars, leaning into huge screens and new interface conventions. This Volvo is not like that. It all feels very familiar. There's a screen, but there's also the familiar window buttons, steering wheel buttons (real buttons, not touch/swipe, thank god), buttons for defrost. Nor have they departed from familiar digital dash cluster design (speedometer
Read more