Hold on, let’s stop for a moment. Where is everything located in the new C‑Class? How do drivers find their way around? How does the new car feel when they have to use the "operating surface" with its buttons, levers, switches and regulators to make the selections they want? Somehow the Mercedes slogan of "Welcome Home" continues to work. There’s still no better way to express it. Even those who are getting into a Mercedes for the first time feel as though they’re back in a familiar atmosphere. Everything is situated where you would intuitively expect it to be. When it comes to this car, ergonomics isn’t just an expression from the theoretical side of the automotive industry.
The navigation screen of the optional Comand APS multimedia system switches on as necessary and can be easily viewed within the driver’s field of vision. The system offers even more functions than before. But not to worry, everything is simply laid out and very quickly accessible to the driver. One new feature is the European-wide navigation system whose data is saved on a 30-Gigabyte hard disk. The high-resolution map depiction responds with outstanding speed, for example, when the driver changes the map scale. During our test drive in Spain we could always rely on the navigation system’s precise information. The rapidity of the screen response continually amazed us.
In addition, the system offers a music server with four Gigabytes of storage space and a DVD player for video and audio. One especially pleasing feature is the optional Linguatronic. From now on, you no longer have to spell out entries for names of countries, towns or streets because the device can recognise complete words. This is also convenient when you want to tune in to a radio station or make entries in your telephone address book. With the newest type of Linguatronic, the computerised language recognition of the C‑Class is setting new standards. Even complicated street names are easily understood. It just goes to show that comfort isn’t limited to vehicle handling but extends to all facets of an automobile.
