No CD player in a 2018 S63? Really? Woe is me.
I must be getting old. At 57, I got my first new car ever a few weeks ago, and it doesn't have a CD player in it. Really? Wow! I have 1400 Grateful Dead shows on cassette tape that I haven't been able to play in my cars for many years since 15+ years ago they stopped putting in tape decks, and I have hundreds of CD, some just recently purchased last month.
I had to laugh when I looked in the space where a CD player would be and found an ashtray with a cigarette lighter instead. The dealership pretty much laughed at me when I said I had recently purchased CD's. "CD's?" they said? "Too funny".
Kind of surprised. Guess I'm falling behind on technology. I have no interest in converting my CD's or tapes to another technology so I probably won't get much use out of them anymore but... no CD player in a new car? The car I traded was 6 years old and had a 5 changer CD player that I used quite a bit. Called the dealer today to see if they could put a small CD player in the glove box. "Nope" they said.
Oh well... I'll be dead in 50 years or less so none of this will matter but it's just perplexing to me. I don't want to use my phone to stream music in my car, I just wanted a CD player there. 樂 . I know, the quality of our problems in modern society today. Not so bad, all in all.
Last edited by stever500; 03-09-2018 at 11:39 AM.
I just found out my dealer was wrong. I called another dealer and for $235 they can install one in the glovebox (plus an install fee), the tiny little glovebox. Ok, guess I'll look into that. Thx folks. Stu - what you're describing is nothing I understand but thx anyway sir! I don't use iTunes, nor my phone, for anything musically. Am I really that behind the times?
Last edited by stever500; 03-09-2018 at 11:44 AM.
Mercedes really needs to make a list of what was removed on the 2018. At least say what was removed and what was added to replace it.
Vehicle is equipped with pre-wiring for CD player (data card code 320 PREINSTALLATION OF SINGLE CD DRIVE).
Last edited by konigstiger; 03-09-2018 at 12:51 PM.
Wait no ripping from the CD to command? I do that all the time!
Heard back from my service advisor today on this. Certainly not worth spending this much just to get to play my occasional CD! Yeesh. They parts dept told me about $275 for parts but the service guy is saying A LOT more. $340 for the parts and device PLUS $465 to install in a freakin glove box? $465?!?!? Why? Damn, I'll have to just listen my CD's then in the Porsche. Screw this!
We can get the kit form Mercedes to install a cd changer parts $ 340.00 labor $ 465.00 total = $805.00 plus taxes .
Cost for installing this? Thanks!
It amazes me that folks are driving around 100k+ Automobiles yet they whine about the cost to install a CD player.
Too funny for sure. $805 is too much for a CD in any car these days, especially one in the glove compartment that's retailing at $240 plus a bracket and 1 part that was quoted to me as being about $35 extra, max. Yes, that's excessive whether I'm driving a Honda Civic or S Class MB. I'll just forgo the damn thing, stubbornly and use Sirius radio after all, listening to the CD's in my other car. And yes, I'm a stubborn ******* on certain things - I'll pay a crazy amount of money for 1 thing and be totally thrifty with something else. It's just how I do things. If that's amazing to you, so be it. It's amazing to me too. Totally... amazing.
My grand daughter transferred 85+ of my favorite CD's and over 110 of my wife's CD's to a thumb drive/ memory stick. Easy peasy. Can be carried in one's pocket and plugged into any modern auto in less than 2 seconds. All of my favorite songs back to my teenage years on something the size of a stick of gum. CD's are uber bulky.
No irony for me, it's like someone ripped the CD player out of my vehicle and I have to pay $805 to get it back. AND NOW it doesn't look like it plays my video DVD's any more.
This is on the list now of the many convenient/thoughtful features that have been taken away since my 2007 221.
This has no impact on the people you see on TV getting out of a MB on the news. But a lot of us use the MB as a family/personal vehicle.
I don't have a 2018 yet I'm just complaining in advance so I won't later on......maybe.
Last edited by Utopia Texas; 03-10-2018 at 11:27 AM.
I will definitely be sticking with the BMW 7 series then for a few more years. CD player and Music Collection with 20 GB of internal storage. I downloaded hundreds of my CDs. Music Collection sounds significantly better than Apple Car play or any of the other music streaming options from my iPhone.
It all depends on the details. CarPlay, if connected via wire (which is the only option on MB; BMW also has BT option which would have been nice to have as well) and ripped in lossless format will match the CD player without problems.
Completely agree but also understand the rationale of having issues with an option that disappears with knowing about it. If feels like you are getting less.
I haven't listened to CD's in the car for 10 years. Playing DVD's is not great on the screen either as their media player never utilized the full screen size (as our old BMW did). But even then, it had marginal value.
The problem isn't in MB changing their options as much as the dealers not telling you what is actually changing when new models are introduced.
When we got our 2013 SL I ended up with a car on springs; never imagined that ABC wasn't standard as it was for the 11 years in our prior SL's. I guess I could have checked in the DOG but we just grabbed the car in short notice. Also, no more electric center rearview mirror that moved with seat memory. That still bothers me as my wife and can actually use the same seat settings (minus the mirrors), so we still have to adjust it manually each time.
It's all a question of getting use to things as they change. I went to Apple Music and really like it a lot. I can hit in just about any album I had on CD before and put it in my phone and have it there. I have over 1000 songs on my apple music. It's only $9.95 per month. But I do hear what people are saying about missing the CD/DVD drive, it's something we all got so use to over the years. I'm over it at this point though after having my 2018 half a year now. You just re-adjust to doing things using your phone for music connected to the lightening connector, seems to sound a little better that way vs bluetooth. I think Benz mainly made the change to cut down warranty costs and production costs. If you really had to have a CD player, I'd say a good car audio place could install one in the glove box a lot less than dealer, maybe $400.00 or something like that.
If you really had to have a CD player, I'd say a good car audio place could install one in the glove box a lot less than dealer, maybe $400.00 or something like that.
I got my Ambient Air Package in my glovebox. Not giving up that luxury! No room for aftermarket CD players. BMW better keep the CD player and internal hard drive as an option.
I‘ve never understood the watch thing. With cars, there are huge differences in the way most $20K cars feel, perform, protect, comfort, etc. compared to the way $100K cars do those things. My $150.00 Seiko does virtually the exact same thing that a $20K++ Rolex does, with the exception being that my Seiko is lighter on my wrist and doesn’t require a $500.00 “service” every so often.. And nobody is going to stick a gun in my face and demand my watch.
IMO, MB pulled a fast one in dumping the CD player from the W222 this early on. They should have waited until the W223 to make the move and they should have at least given us something wonderful in place of the CD changer. My 2018 just has this lame, empty slot there that isn’t big enough for much of anything to fit in. If they had put a wireless connection pad there, where I could simply lay my iPhone and have everything connected automatically, without having to tether it inside the center storage, that might have been acceptable. CD’s are still main stream with most S Class buyers and MB should have waited.
+1 on the Rolex (or other expensive watch) comment.
My wife has suggested it many times as a present for me. Every time I say not only wouldn't it be something I'd value (other than it was a gift from her) but I'd feel bad about how much money she burned for something unimportant to me (and most people would assume is fake anyway if they even recognized it at all).
The wipers are part of the deal IMHO. If you can't stomach the ante, don't sit down at the table.
I’m curious how you can make this statement. Did you take a poll? Ask every S Class owner in So Cal? Or? I’m an S Class owner and I haven’t owned or used a CD in probably close to 10 years. It is completely outdated technology and I understand why MBZ didn’t include one. Seems stupid fumbling around with jewel cases and CDs when you can easily plug and iPhone/iPad/iPod/SD card or stick in a USB slot and have access to 1000’s of CDs at your fingertips.
I have an iPod classic that has about 14,000 songs on it. It’s plugged in and hidden in the center console. I can pull up any album-artist or song with a few movements. Much easier than a CD!
Wonder how many other 2018 cars don't have them? All Merc models? What about other car makers?
I feel that, for the most part, S Class cars are driven by older people. Older people tend to not embrace new technology as quickly as younger ones. That said, as stated in my post, this is my opinion. Maybe I’m wrong.
After 40 yrs of MB's I drive an Audi which has a single slot CD. I can load the CD into the slot---play it & IMPORT the CD into my hard drive & play it anytime. Does MB have a hard drive IMPORT feature? I have loaded my favorite CD's on to a SD CARD & IMPORTED to the hard drive,but I can add any CD in addition..
Last edited by greasykid; 03-12-2018 at 04:45 PM.
Quick Reply: No CD player in a 2018 S63? Really? Woe is me.