Whenever I am tasked with driving the Mercedes-Benz R500, I am reminded of the Dennis Miller phrase, "I rant, therefore I am." I try so hard to have something nice to say about this car, but I simply can't. It drives like a building, it's as cute as a warthog, and mostly , it tries to do too much and doesn't do any of it particularly well. I have mentioned this before, but it bugged me last night. It's the damn hatch in the back...
But today's rant is of a different nature. It concerns what should be a simple item: the rearview mirror. I live in a neighborhood that requires parking permits, little plastic tags that hang off the rearview mirror. But even this relatively simple procedure is confounded by the R500's Brobdingnagian mirror.
Once again, I realize I am not the R500's key demo, as presumably someone with 73 large to spend on a minivan is probably sufficiently flush to have a driveway or a really huge garage and not have to worry about such trifles as parking permits. (Well, except maybe here in Santa Monica.)
But there's the rub. For that much scratch, this is a poor design cue. I realize that all manner of radar and sensors and such are housed in the mirror, but there's got to be a way to fix this simple problem. Maybe the mother needs a permit for her gym. Maybe dad needs to hang a permit at work. Maybe they park in the public lot at the beach. This sort of thing seems inexcusable to me, particularly from Mercedes.
Doug Lloyd, Senior Copy Editor, at 24,410 miles
billt9 says:
01:55 PM, 05/11/07
The MB sales rep will reply with, "The R-Class is made in the USA", that's why!
genius163 says:
02:42 PM, 05/11/07
My Volvo XC90 came with a little plastic clip on the left side of the front windshield for holding anything that needs to be displayed up there.
bimmerjay says:
03:04 PM, 05/11/07
It's common to see this among any luxury manufacturer, not just Mercedes. I used to have a parking permit that was relegated to the dash because my BMW's electrochromic auto-everything mirror - plus the rain and light sensor box on the windshield - make it impossible to hang pretty much anything.
Hang tags exist because rearview mirrors for a long time have been a generic rectangle stapled to the windshield with a stick. I'd rather see the hang tags change than our laser-equipped, electrochromic, Homelinked, OnStar-ed, compassed, light/rain/sun/jesus-sensored, lane-departure camera-ed (ok maybe not that one), Doppler radar-ed mirrors.
It's like widescreen TVs with TV cabinets, or "standard" picture frames with digital cameras. The tech changes but the lame industries around them take their good 'ol time.
I'm fiesty today.
funkymunky says:
03:16 PM, 05/11/07
It's OK to be feisty, Jay. You have a point. I think this stuff goes way too out of control. Rain-sensing wipers? For the person just too lazy to turn them on? Other stuff's OK, I suppose. And genius? That's what I'm talking about. Not compromising tech but still finding a solution for actual practical purposes.
mercedesfan says:
08:41 PM, 05/11/07
Mr. Lloyd I'm sorry but you are being ridiculous in this post. I am not an R-Class fan, believe me, I don't think it has the traditional Mercedes touches that have drawn me to the brand for so many years. But still, this is being extremely nit-picky and it is obviously just because you don't like the R500. Having been in an Audi Q7 it is exactly the same way but you haven't mentioned it there (of course I am not certain if you have ever driven that either). Regardless, it is not that much of an inconvenience, and the things that mirror are capable of far outweight that slight inconvenience.
billt9 says:
12:19 PM, 05/12/07
It's their job to nit pick everything to death.
Give us the perfect car or we won't have it!
vvk says:
08:39 AM, 05/14/07
Should have used a polirizing filter.
funkymunky says:
11:28 AM, 05/14/07
Mercedesfan: All due respect, but it is my job to write my own critiques. This is a $75,000 minivan. For that kind of money, it should be pretty damn perfect, and please don't tell me that a rear hatch that doesn't properly close once every 4-5 times is nitpicking. Yes, the rearview mirror thing is nitpicking, but it's yet another design item that was so jammed with useless features like sensors for rain-sensing wipers (for people who simply can't tell when it's raining???) that it loses basic functionality.
ttummy says:
12:49 PM, 05/14/07
funkymunky: I don't think having a huge rear view mirror, which does not allow hang tags, is a loss of "basic functionality". Rear view mirrors are required to see out the rear, not to hang things. No where is it documented that rear view mirrors have to have a particular, standardized, mounting method.
The users that need hang tags, should probably just put the tag on their dashboard. In most states, displaying a handicap hang tag anywhere visible on the dashboard is acceptable, but some say you have to display it on the drivers side, for example, if it can not be attached to the mirror.
People who have rain sensing wipers can tell when it's raining, but the whole point of a luxury item is that the car automatically responds without you having to do anything.
To me it really appears like you are ranting to be obnoxious.
funkymunky says:
02:22 PM, 05/14/07
Good point on the rearview. Functionality isn't lost. But I don't think I'm ranting for no reason. Excessive lights, motors, noise makers are more things that can break, more things that are obnoxious. Suffice it to say I'm old school and will not ever buy a minivan for $75K. Our long-term Kia Sedona would do just fine for a third of the price. If I want a luxo-sedan, I'll get an E63, lest you think I dislike Benzes in general. Love 'em.
mercedesfan says:
02:36 PM, 05/14/07
funkymunk: I never said that the malfunctioning rear hatch wasn't a problem, I completely agree with you on that idea and it is just more proof of why the R-Class should never have been built in the first place. I just thought the rant on the rearview mirror was needless, a slight comment about your objections would have sufficed. Other than that I am normally a big fan of your posts.