I bought a 2003 S500 six months ago and have been disappointed with the navigation system. The one on my friend's Lexus is much better - pretty much across the board. Is there a way to upgrade the software on my S500?

Thanks, Jim

 

Unfortunately, no. MB has a notoriously crappy nav system which probably is one of the worst on the market (in my opinion).

Hopefully the people at MB read these forums and see what people complain about....how's this for a free focus group. Most companis would pay millions $$$$ for the info coming from their customers in this type of forum.

 

I read somewhere on a MB forum (but can't find it now) that someone was having trouble selecting correct street addresses on their Navi system. Mine (2003 S500) will only let me select streets, no actual addresses. Am I doing something wrong? Or is there a newer set of CDs? If the latter, what is the designation for the newest set. And where's the best place (cheapest) to purchase them. Mine is in four CDs, I believe.

Thanks.

 

The problem is that it is a CD based system with limited info, it can't be compared to Lexus and Honda DVD based systems. My town is not even listed on the CD. I finally got mine to work after I read the quick guide in the manual, you should be able to put in street # so I think you are not doing something right, the CD is likely OK.

 

yeah, they definately left the nav system for development by the low IQ dept. No street # input available on a nav system is just plain stupid. Guess they assume you already know where the address is and they only help get you to the nearest city.

KingsII, are you saying you can or can't input a street #? Please walk us through it if you are able to, but I'll join the MB low IQ dept if it actually exists

 

Yes banker, you can input a #, once you scroll through the streets and click on it, there is an icon on the lower right portion of the screen you thumbwheel to and click "House #". I enterdd an exact # and clicked on this icon which displayed a range of addresses to select from, I also was able to click on an exact street address as well on my last trip to the city. If you are in a small town that is not on the CD like me, fuggedaboutit although if you are travelling to a listed city you can get some useful directions. Interestingly, my town is not listed but I was able to locate local eateries based on a search from my present location and two local restaurants were listed with proper directions though I could not input my home.

One point on the poor NAV, this is 7-8 year old technology on a 7 year old car in my case, VW has no excuse for putting a 9 CD NAV in the 0'5 Toureg.

 

I'll give it a try. It's actually a 10-12 old technology on 6-7 yr old car. Lexus, Honda, BMW and others have GPS in similar year vehicles that simply put MB to shame. I'll still take the MB though . More fun to drive when you're lost on the back roads!

 

Yeah, kinda like the 8 track in my old '79 Buick that GM was trying to unload from the early '70s.

 

Kings,

Yeah, the House Number line was right there. I feel like the guy looking all over the house for his glasses only to have someone tell him they're on the top of his head! I dialed in my home address and it only gave me a 50 number range - 150-199. But it got me to my door. And the house is 50 years old. I may not have the newest set of Nav cds. I'm taking the car in for servicing next week (having a bad low-speed throttle lag problem) and will ask my service rep about it. Thanks again for the info.

 

My car's in for A service. I asked my rep about the CDs. Mine were issued in 2002. He said there was another set released in 2004. Anybody know the best (cheapest) place to purchase the 2004 set?

I also found out there had been a recall on my model for something to do with the alternator. And the catelitic (sp?) converter had gone out and they're replacing it. The car has 60k miles. Fortunately, they're doing it for free - he said it would have cost me thousands.

Incidentally, Smythe European in San Jose's handling it. We've had very good luck with them and with Claridge in Fremont over the last 20 or 30 years. I now live near Carmel and our local dealer has screwed up the two times I dealt with them. So I drive 90 miles to San Jose for servicing. (The first time I took my '99 E320 in for servicing to our local dealer, the "check engine" light was on. When I got the car back, the light was still on! And I noticed that when I applied the brakes, there was this scratching badly worn brake sound. I took it to a local mechanic and he found the brakes were down to the metal. The local Mercedes shop had missed it. When I went to pick it up after they had made it right, they had parked another car in front of it and lost the key to it. I had to sit for almost two hours for them to come up with another one.) Clearly, not all approved service departments are created even close to equally.