The obsession with Comand
Discussion
Resale values?
Not when it costs £2k, no second hand Merc is going to be worth £2k more because it has comand. You will lose money on all options, just not necessarily as much as the car.
It certainly helps sell a car, but still at a greater loss than a car without it!
You need comand or Nav50 to get Distronic, on this basis one or the other is essential, because this really is brilliant. Of course you'll never get your money back but in the meantime you can enjoy an infinitely more relaxed drive and in the wrong circumstances it might just save your life! Well worth the money.
Regards, Neil
PS Nav50 is just as useless with route calculations.
What really astounds me are those who insist on comand and don't spec distronic, smacks of style over substance.
Not when it costs £2k, no second hand Merc is going to be worth £2k more because it has comand. You will lose money on all options, just not necessarily as much as the car.
It certainly helps sell a car, but still at a greater loss than a car without it!
You need comand or Nav50 to get Distronic, on this basis one or the other is essential, because this really is brilliant. Of course you'll never get your money back but in the meantime you can enjoy an infinitely more relaxed drive and in the wrong circumstances it might just save your life! Well worth the money.
Regards, Neil
PS Nav50 is just as useless with route calculations.
What really astounds me are those who insist on comand and don't spec distronic, smacks of style over substance.
eldar said:
It costs 2K, doesn't identify cameras, but you can watch TV while you drive (with a minor tweak.) Outstanding value.
It was on my car when I bought it at 6 months old, it cost somebody else 2k!I didn't realise that camera identification is a big 'want' from Nav systems, I've only ever wanted a Nav system to navigate and IMO my COMAND system does it very well indeed.
The only system I can compare it to is a Navigon I have for the MX-5, which doesn't identify cameras either and provides bizarre, long-winded routes.
va1o said:
Go to any BCA auction selling late-reg Mercs and the vehicles with COMAND do attract more interest and achieve higher prices. It is seen as an essential option by many.
How much higher?Seems that opinions are split...well there must be something wrong with mine as it makes the strangest route decisions, even with tmc turned off.
Are their different versions? Mine's a 59 plate CLS.
Steve*B said:
eldar said:
It costs 2K, doesn't identify cameras, but you can watch TV while you drive
Even when they turn analogue off next year? (already off in most places in Wales)I like the COMAND set up in my car simply because I can drive six devices from one simple interface - Nav/TV/Radio/DVD/CD Changer/Phone. And if I wanted to install an iPod interface it could be seven.
The fact that the Nav doesn't support full postcodes and doesn't do speed cameras are minor irritations to me.
The integration is the key benefit to me.
That and the fact the first owner paid for all this, of course.
The fact that the Nav doesn't support full postcodes and doesn't do speed cameras are minor irritations to me.
The integration is the key benefit to me.
That and the fact the first owner paid for all this, of course.
angusc43 said:
The fact that the Nav doesn't support full postcodes
There's obviously various versions of COMAND we're all discussing, mine (2008) allows full postcode input.It is expensive and I'm not sure I'd spec full COMAND from new (I believe a cheaper basic Nav50 is now available?), but I use mine with my ipod, often use the linguatronic voice activated system which is an excellent hands-free feature, and HDD music register, and I do think the whole system is very user-friendly - I bought my car in Manchester and basically jumped in, put my home postcode in and let it seamlessy guide me through Manchester and up the road to Glasgow.
NJS25 said:
Resale values?
Not when it costs £2k, no second hand Merc is going to be worth £2k more because it has comand. You will lose money on all options, just not necessarily as much as the car.
It certainly helps sell a car, but still at a greater loss than a car without it!
You need comand or Nav50 to get Distronic, on this basis one or the other is essential, because this really is brilliant. Of course you'll never get your money back but in the meantime you can enjoy an infinitely more relaxed drive and in the wrong circumstances it might just save your life! Well worth the money.
Regards, Neil
PS Nav50 is just as useless with route calculations.
What really astounds me are those who insist on comand and don't spec distronic, smacks of style over substance.
I agree about Distronic. It's one of the most useful options on my car and I couldn't imagine having another Merc without it. A bit disconcerting when you drive another car with ordinary cruise control though until you remember it doesn't work in the same way.Not when it costs £2k, no second hand Merc is going to be worth £2k more because it has comand. You will lose money on all options, just not necessarily as much as the car.
It certainly helps sell a car, but still at a greater loss than a car without it!
You need comand or Nav50 to get Distronic, on this basis one or the other is essential, because this really is brilliant. Of course you'll never get your money back but in the meantime you can enjoy an infinitely more relaxed drive and in the wrong circumstances it might just save your life! Well worth the money.
Regards, Neil
PS Nav50 is just as useless with route calculations.
What really astounds me are those who insist on comand and don't spec distronic, smacks of style over substance.
Dog Star said:
Blimey - I forgot about that. Total times I've used Linguatronic in the last three years..... zero!
Your loss! I don't know why anyone wouldn't use it if it's fitted, a system that allows you to control radio, CD, sat nav functions all without taking your eyes off the road and hands off the wheel, it means you can keep focused on spotting speed cameras that the system doesn't warn you of.yellowbentines said:
Dog Star said:
Blimey - I forgot about that. Total times I've used Linguatronic in the last three years..... zero!
Your loss! I don't know why anyone wouldn't use it if it's fitted, a system that allows you to control radio, CD, sat nav functions all without taking your eyes off the road and hands off the wheel, it means you can keep focused on spotting speed cameras that the system doesn't warn you of.VX Foxy said:
How much higher?
Seems that opinions are split...well there must be something wrong with mine as it makes the strangest route decisions, even with tmc turned off.
Are their different versions? Mine's a 59 plate CLS.
On your car I would be quoting in excess of £2k less for a car with no COMAND in p/x. People just expect it to be in newer mercs now, so cars without are very hard to shift. MB won't even offer a PCP on a new ML without it!Seems that opinions are split...well there must be something wrong with mine as it makes the strangest route decisions, even with tmc turned off.
Are their different versions? Mine's a 59 plate CLS.
I agree in some of the smaller cars it's less of an issue, but when you get into 350cdi E-Classes and CLS/MLs etc it's a must have.
matc said:
On your car I would be quoting in excess of £2k less for a car with no COMAND in p/x.
Given that the market is obsessed with COMAND, I expect this is right. But given that it costs £2k in the first place, it would seem there is nothing to lose from not having it. I ordered an E350 CDI estate with a very "undesireable" spec (not to me it wasn't, brown over brown, no COMAND, 7 seats, integrated child seats, no blacked out windows, little wheels and some other bits and bobs) and it didn't seem to affect the finance deals I was offered. If you don't want it, don't order it!Gassing Station | Mercedes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff