Re: Mercedes E55 AMG hunt (W211)
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 12:16 pm
I have a few more thoughts about the car.
The proximity entry is functionally similar to my STS. You don't have to walk up and push the button like on, well, cheaper cars. You just pull the handle. Unlike my STS, it seems to have a button on the back side of the handle so when you pull, it does what it needs to do and opens the door, while unlocking all doors. This is how my STS works. The difference is, the STS is a little more clever and just uses the motion of the handle to trigger some microswitches but this may be a bit semantic. Unlike my STS, it does have buttons at all 4 handles for locking the car. And in fact it may also work to unlock the car like if I walked up to it and just wanted to unlock a door for someone without opening a door. On my STS, you pull the handle about halfway and it does that without opening.
But I do really like keyless and I'm very glad this car has it. I think it is more useful than nav. There, I said it. While I'm at it, TPMS is also more useful than nav. Most things are if I'm honest. I am still going to look into adding it but only if it's relatively cheap and easy.
I also had more drivability commentary. Particularly, the throttle response. Now throttle response is pretty sharp. It's really too sharp. It's abrupt. GM has mastered the art of the linear throttle, which we've enjoyed pretty much since the early days of their drive by wire in the C5 in 97. The first LS6 in 2001 in the Z06 was noted for the linear and long throttle travel to very precisely meter up your torque requirement. This car is not like that at all. The tip in is fairly gentle but it sort of acts like a light switch around 20% throttle. The thing is, I don't know how much is the AMG calibration and how much is the Eurocharged tune this car supposedly has. This car needs no phoney throttle response - it is genuinely fast. So this annoys me. It would probably make winter drivability really awkward. I should try switching it to Comfort which supposedly takes off in 2nd. That might address it though I wish the throttle calibration were more....like GM does it. It's far easier to dial up exactly the torque I want in my STS (or the STS-V that I drove). This car kind of makes it seem like you're pissed or otherwise hammering when you didn't necessarily mean to.
I was fiddling with the personalization options in the dash and there's a decent amount of stuff. I set it to raise up the wheel upon exit just like my STS so that's good. I also set it to have some kind of after ignition lighting at night. Of course GM is notorious for doing this around a similar timeframe (people bitch about the reverse lights in mall parking lots). On this car what it seems to do is run the parking lights and fog lights to provide a little ambient lighting without blasting everyone. Not bad and looks cool before you lock it I guess.
It also looks like you can tweak the amount of light the system uses to determine night, but I haven't look at the manual to confirm this. It had 4 or 5 levels available. There are actually a lot of cool little secrets that they put into these cars, like one touch open windows + sunroof and also close.
The proximity entry is functionally similar to my STS. You don't have to walk up and push the button like on, well, cheaper cars. You just pull the handle. Unlike my STS, it seems to have a button on the back side of the handle so when you pull, it does what it needs to do and opens the door, while unlocking all doors. This is how my STS works. The difference is, the STS is a little more clever and just uses the motion of the handle to trigger some microswitches but this may be a bit semantic. Unlike my STS, it does have buttons at all 4 handles for locking the car. And in fact it may also work to unlock the car like if I walked up to it and just wanted to unlock a door for someone without opening a door. On my STS, you pull the handle about halfway and it does that without opening.
But I do really like keyless and I'm very glad this car has it. I think it is more useful than nav. There, I said it. While I'm at it, TPMS is also more useful than nav. Most things are if I'm honest. I am still going to look into adding it but only if it's relatively cheap and easy.
I also had more drivability commentary. Particularly, the throttle response. Now throttle response is pretty sharp. It's really too sharp. It's abrupt. GM has mastered the art of the linear throttle, which we've enjoyed pretty much since the early days of their drive by wire in the C5 in 97. The first LS6 in 2001 in the Z06 was noted for the linear and long throttle travel to very precisely meter up your torque requirement. This car is not like that at all. The tip in is fairly gentle but it sort of acts like a light switch around 20% throttle. The thing is, I don't know how much is the AMG calibration and how much is the Eurocharged tune this car supposedly has. This car needs no phoney throttle response - it is genuinely fast. So this annoys me. It would probably make winter drivability really awkward. I should try switching it to Comfort which supposedly takes off in 2nd. That might address it though I wish the throttle calibration were more....like GM does it. It's far easier to dial up exactly the torque I want in my STS (or the STS-V that I drove). This car kind of makes it seem like you're pissed or otherwise hammering when you didn't necessarily mean to.
I was fiddling with the personalization options in the dash and there's a decent amount of stuff. I set it to raise up the wheel upon exit just like my STS so that's good. I also set it to have some kind of after ignition lighting at night. Of course GM is notorious for doing this around a similar timeframe (people bitch about the reverse lights in mall parking lots). On this car what it seems to do is run the parking lights and fog lights to provide a little ambient lighting without blasting everyone. Not bad and looks cool before you lock it I guess.
It also looks like you can tweak the amount of light the system uses to determine night, but I haven't look at the manual to confirm this. It had 4 or 5 levels available. There are actually a lot of cool little secrets that they put into these cars, like one touch open windows + sunroof and also close.