My folks, after 6 months of waiting, finally took delivery of their 2017 (ordered in June of 16 as a 16, but did not take delivery until this past December due to a bunch of BS with the local dealer and MB not seeming to be very efficient with either production or updates. The biggest headache was my mother wanted blue; there were none in the country at that time with the options specified). Their idea was to take my kids around the US; unfortunately, he passed a couple of months ago from cancer (Vietnam vet). On a whim I decided to take the kids for a 3 week excursion in his honor. So far we have visited 8 states and experienced many fantastic sites.
The van has been great. The mileage, even at 80, has averaged close to 25, using 87 v/s 93. The cargo room is immense (soft sided bags, big cooler, skillet, 2 smaller coolers, food, bedding, air mattresses, snacks, and dirty clothes all have a place. My youngest prefers the back, and the oldest sits up front with me. It's relatively quiet and handles great. However, all is not great.
The navigation is decent, but could use a serious update. Why not charge a few buck more for the latest system? My arm keeps getting tired from manual inputs because the VR does not recognize "Powell, Oh" as a real place. The seats suck, no way around it; we are going to find a source for a seat conversion. The backup camera needs a wider field of view. BSM, surround view camera and PDC would have been great in some cases, as well as collission mitigation in DC and around Columbus. Otherwise, the cruise one up or down feature is awesome, plus it was the only way to hold speed while going through western PA mountains; the paddles only made more engine noise, did nothing to slow us down.
This is quick, as we are headed to Dayton to the USAF museum for a couple, then up to Dearborn for the Henry Ford. I'll drop some pics later.
The van has been great. The mileage, even at 80, has averaged close to 25, using 87 v/s 93. The cargo room is immense (soft sided bags, big cooler, skillet, 2 smaller coolers, food, bedding, air mattresses, snacks, and dirty clothes all have a place. My youngest prefers the back, and the oldest sits up front with me. It's relatively quiet and handles great. However, all is not great.
The navigation is decent, but could use a serious update. Why not charge a few buck more for the latest system? My arm keeps getting tired from manual inputs because the VR does not recognize "Powell, Oh" as a real place. The seats suck, no way around it; we are going to find a source for a seat conversion. The backup camera needs a wider field of view. BSM, surround view camera and PDC would have been great in some cases, as well as collission mitigation in DC and around Columbus. Otherwise, the cruise one up or down feature is awesome, plus it was the only way to hold speed while going through western PA mountains; the paddles only made more engine noise, did nothing to slow us down.
This is quick, as we are headed to Dayton to the USAF museum for a couple, then up to Dearborn for the Henry Ford. I'll drop some pics later.