Last night I had the opportunity to drive the '06 Mercedes-Benz R500. I'd rather not say too much about it. Suffice to say, I wouldn't want to own one. It's huge, ungainly, and funny-looking. Handles better than the Tahoe, but that hardly says anything...
But I digress. As musician and music-lover, pretty much the first thing I do when I get in a car is throw in a CD, in this case, Led Zeppelin's Presence. Confound it! Where's the bloody CD player?
I drove home, content to listen to the radio. But I thought about it for awhile. A Benz without a CD player? More to the point, an Edmunds long-term Benz without a CD player? We write stereo system reviews, we all listen to music, some of us even work with headphones on. Clearly something's up. There couldn't be a changer mounted in the trunk, because there is no trunk. Hmm. What about here? Nope. Here? Nope. Damn. So I did what every man does when he doesn't feel like looking for the manual. I started pushing buttons, and prayed that the R500 doesn't come with an ejector seat. A-HA!!!! (not the band). What about that cute little "Eject" button in the middle?
Coooooool. The screen folded down and out on little runners, and the CD slot was revealed. I'm not one for groovy gizmos, but that's some pretty trick stuff. The CD went in, Jimmy Page rocked "For Your Life" and "Royal Orleans," and peace reigned across the land.
Doug Lloyd, Copy Editor, at 17,717 miles
banhugh says:
01:41 PM, 01/10/07
This proves that the eject button in the middle of the console is not 100% fool proof.
funkymunky says:
01:59 PM, 01/10/07
Exactly. Because I think an important part of car design should be intuitiveness. You shouldn't have to read a manual to get a car going. Obviously it helps, but certain things should be intuitive and obvious from car to car. That's just good design.
banhugh says:
04:48 PM, 01/10/07
The first comment was not referring to the design of the car. No matter if the button is in the middle of the console or somewhere else, there is always someone complaining about the design.
And the position of the eject button in the middle of the console is a big clue. Anyone familiar with sliding display CD-radios is also familiar with this idea of pressing a button to access the CD slot. It is the standard in every CD stereo with sliding display.
If some people do not know that does not mean that the best console design should not include sliding displays for access to the CD slots, or big chunky toy-like tasteless buttons.
desmolicious says:
11:21 AM, 01/11/07
I think it is naieve to think that in this day and age, with all the new electronic wizadry that is demanded and comes with cars, that they should be usable without cracking open the owner's manual. That's just plain lazy. Want stone age simple? By a stripper model Kia or a previous generation Wrangler.
heffling says:
11:50 AM, 01/11/07
I think in this day and age, that expecting a high dollar vehicle to be easy to use should be standard.
funkymunky says:
12:04 PM, 01/11/07
I was writing about how cool and high-tech the slide-out CD player was, having never seen one. And frankly, since we are often thrown the keys to a car and sent home, and these blog posts are not intended to be full-scale reviews, then the first impression includes how user-friendly a car should be, without needing to read a manual every night. Good design involves intuitive controls. It's a car, not the Space Shuttle. And the point was that the Eject button, clearly placed in the middle of the dash, does indeed cause the front to open for easy CD loading. Intuitive, simple, obvious even for a simpleton like me. And desmo, the word is "naive" (with kind of a double-i thing that this program does not allow me to insert). Maybe you should crack a dictionary sometime (Or as we editors say, RTFD).
steve_ says:
01:20 PM, 01/11/07
Naive is an accepted spelling for naïve, and copy/paste often works for inserting symbols.
I don't think one should have to be a valet driver to be able to figure out how to start and stop a car or turn the radio on. CD players or radio screens on rails aren't appealing to me since there are just that many more parts to break.
desmolicious says:
01:41 PM, 01/11/07
wut, I miz spelt aye wurd? Oh, dah shayme!
When a car has a gazillion electronic features (actually the correct spelling is with two "g"s, but as the first "g" is silent this has fallen by the way side), intuitive only goes so far... Maybe you should crack open the owner's manual. After all, it is yer job!
That's right bub, I spelt it "yer" !
;)
readerreader says:
02:27 PM, 01/11/07
Grow up desmo.
carlisimo says:
02:33 PM, 01/11/07
That's pretty cool that it folds down. Not a new idea (if you've spent a lot of time shopping for aftermarket decks you've probably seen it) but rare enough to be impressive. However... I'd rather have a CD slot and not have to wait for the thing to open.
Oh and for Eject to be anywhere but the top right is unintuitive.
desmolicious says:
03:32 PM, 01/11/07
hondacura4 says:
04:25 PM, 01/11/07
Our 2005 Odyssey Touring has the same feature.
LP
crazyb02 says:
06:53 PM, 01/11/07
The last generation ES300/330 had that hidden CD player feature as well.