After Spending A Week With MBUX

After Spending A Week With MBUX

The small sedan is Mercedes鈥?play for up-and-coming S-Class owners. Right now, that person is just launching their career. But eventually, they want the big office, the big house, the invitation to the exclusive club where they can sneak cigars on the deck and of course, the large, luxurious German sedan. But while they climb the corporate ladder, they can still impress their bosses with the small Merc that鈥檚 got many of the same tech features you鈥檇 find in the CEO鈥檚 car. 32,500) was announced as the first vehicle to get Mercedes鈥?latest infotainment system, MBUX. With it, you can control almost anything in the dash with your voice, using natural language. You can tell the car you鈥檙e too hot and it鈥檒l lower the temperature. Need to add a taco stop to your road trip and only want to visit restaurants with four or more stars on Yelp? Just say 鈥淗ey Mercedes鈥?and tell it to add an additional stop with those parameters using Nuance鈥檚 Dragon Drive speech technology. What鈥檚 impressive is that Mercedes is able to deliver on the promise of in an in-car voice assistant even when the audio conditions aren鈥檛 ideal.

The system was able to understand me with the windows down, with the sunroof open and while playing music. I found it to be the in-car voice assistant that understood me best. If you鈥檇 rather not talk to your car, Mercedes has three additional input methods. There鈥檚 the typical touchscreen (housed in a bright 10.25-inch display), a trackpad in the center console and a tiny trackpad on the steering wheel. Unless I was using CarPlay (which support for comes standard), I defaulted to the trackpads. The reason they work so well is that Mercedes created an Infotainment UI that uses three large features on the homepage. It鈥檚 not exactly sparse, but its minimalism is easier to decipher than a screen filled with multiple icons. After spending a week with MBUX, it鈥檚 clear that Mercedes has done an outstanding job creating an infotainment system that replaces the act of plugging your smartphone into your car and using CarPlay or Android Auto.

I found talking to the car for navigation easier than using Google Maps for complex routes. Plus, the AR feature of the display showing a camera view of an upcoming turn complete with arrows and a name of the road floating above said route is a brilliant use of AR. That鈥檚 right, Mercedes found a practical use for AR. The rest of the technology inside the A220 is nearly as remarkable. The driver鈥檚 assistance system is on par with the rest of the market (if you don鈥檛 factor in Tesla) with adaptive cruise control displaying smooth transitions during merges and cut-ins. It鈥檒l also read signs and slow down your set speed to match the legal speed limit. That鈥檚 helpful if you鈥檙e trying to limit your traffic violations, but you can turn it off if you鈥檙e fine trusting your gut. Also, the Lane-keep assist kept the vehicle centered in all but the sharpest freeway corners.

I found the system particularly shines while you鈥檙e stuck in gridlock. Nothing like traffic to remind you that most driving is chore best suited to having a robot companion. When you do get the chance to drive the A220 above 15 miles per hour, it鈥檚 a gratifying experience. On paper the car鈥檚 2.0-liter inline-4 engine, with 188 horsepower and 221-foot-pounds of torque, seems underpowered. On the road, though, it鈥檚 quick and powerful enough for nearly every situation. From passing, to freeway onramps, to mountain driving there鈥檚 always just enough oomph to make pressing the accelerator an enjoyable experience. The handling wasn鈥檛 quite as surprising but I still enjoyed whipping the smallest Merc around the switchbacks of Marin. 2,000 upgrade) for us to test. The car has a bit more body roll than I like, but most folks will never push the A220 that hard. If you鈥檙e looking for a performance version of the A-Class, Mercedes just unveiled the 302 horsepower AMG A 35 at the New York Auto Show last month. The little A220 also impressed with its interior. The seats are firm but comfortable for short to mid-length road trips.