German Car Zone

Here is the thread:

http://www.germancarzone.com/tech-ta...after-all.html (The iDrive: actually a Benz idea after all?)


M

Fanboy? FANBOY? The only person here debating this issue in favour of BMW is nothing other than a well-informed car fanatic - that would be me. Not some brand-blinded fanboy as you would put it.

Thanks Marcus

Right, so granted -Mercedes certainly did preview such a system in the 1995 Vario research car. This was a car with tons of spectacularly wild ideas. Variable body shapes, drive-by-wire joysticks in others... sure, it was a very visionary research concept. Note that one of the Vario's intended purposes was to introduce the navigation system called COMAND for use in later production models. No mention - other than a cursory overview - was made of what and how this system would control things. Typical high-level concept stuff. Of course, we all know that a complete multi-functional interface controlled by a single device in a Mercedes Benz would only appear ten whole years later.

But this is not the point of this discussion.

The point remains: it was BMW who first ushered in tangible, production-ready technology integrated into the most sophisticated car of its time - the E65 7er.

So, good for Mercedes - they had a vague idea of a whole lot of technological concepts with the 1995 Vario. Its actual intention was to introduce navigation as a component of a futuristic vision.

What is particularly interesting, is that from a factual point-of-view Mercedes Benz did not persist with presenting / developing this interface - the idea appearing to have fizzled out with them. Moreover, consider this: if Mercedes had any intention whatsoever of introducing such technology then surely they would've had the march on all their other competitors given that they'd been working on the concept since 1995!

Mercedes Benz had an idea - it was big-sky, fluffy cloud stuff in a way... The idea was clearly "parked" for some time and it took several years after BMW introduced the production ready concept in 2000 (in the Z9 Convertible) for Mercedes to bring their "long-thought-of-old-hat" idea to market.

The 1995 idea was just that - an idea. It gave Mercedes Benz no competitive advantage whatsoever.

It was clearly BMW that revolutionised the world of luxury cars way back now in 2001. And yes, the rest really did follow.

Well in the F200 it was much more developped...

But nobody here is trying to say it's MB who was first. Only that they did not discover this in the 7er and copy it quickly for the W221, like some say (like the starter of this argument). They were already playing with that idea, but BMW was faster.

Of course the 7er did revolutionize the market in 2001, with a new look, a new interior architecture and the iDrive. But MB did not copy it, they were thinking to it also, but were beaten by BMW.

On the contrary - I don't think they were planning it.

I think that all it was was an idea in 1995 - with no clear roadmap for future implementation. Until that is that BMW put it into execution.

[BTW - the F200 previewed a "glass cockpit" them and joystick drive-by-wire. This was really more in line with the thinking around the aircraft cockpit design of commercial airliners than as a solution to a single interface controller for the systems in a car. If Mercedes Benz had introduced a wrap-around dash screen in the new S-class then I would've thought differently. Instead, they introduced a system and layout that was clearly derived from that introduced by BMW.]

Right now the F200 remains merely a future possibilities concept in my opinion.

Haha, you are freaking hilarious

EDIT

This is where we will agree to disagree, I think. In absence of real facts, we can't know if MB had followed that project or if they were surprised in 2001 and brought it back to work.

Bmw.

I don't know, MB seems to be having a lot of these design "inspirations" from others these days. Besides the S class interior lay out from 7, there is the side treatment on GLK from the previous Forrester, the wheels on the FL SL63 from 997 TT, the blackend lower element on front bumper on SL63 from 997 GT2, the squared off steering wheel from Audi...and the list goes on. I know, little stuff, but it is a long list of little stuff. And definitely doesn't do MB's credentials as a design leader any good.

You forgot to mention that also EVERY other manufacturer including BMW have bits from here and there also