Infotainment Review: Mercedes-Benz COMAND

In-car infotainment technology is an increasingly important part of car manufacturing today and Mercedes-Benz has continued to revamp its multi-media platform to complement the recent renewal of everything from the A-Class to the S-Class, plus additions like the CLA and GLA — both aimed at younger, connected, tech-savvy buyers.

Screen sizes are getting larger and feature sets are expanding as the German car-maker struggles — like most car manufacturers — to keep up with mobile connected technology.

Currently, Daimler's infotainment platforms fall under two broad feature sets: The Audio 20 sound system and the more sophisticated Cockpit Management and Data (COMAND) multi-media system.

The Audio 20 system is fitted across the Benz range as the base infotainment system, providing features essential to journeys of any length.

Of course that means an AM/FM radio and CD player with — as with almost all cars now — DVD and MP3 playback capability to replace the cassette deck, plus Bluetooth connectivity for smartphones.

We had a glimpse inside a refreshed B-Class model that takes the Audio 20 system and dumps it onto a revamped hardware. The most striking change is the relocation of the main display screen, which is no longer integrated into the dashboard but positioned to appear separate as if it was an independent tablet connected to a dash stand.

That might seem a retrograde step, but it has the nice effect of freeing screen size from the flow of the dash design, and is a trend now appearing in a range of cars including Mazdas.

But Mercedes is resisting the trend of touch-screen technology — something BMW has always avoided, although that's expected to change — ensuring a brightly presented, eye-level display free from finger marks and the dull sheen associated with most capacitive touch-technology displays.

The B-Class featured integrated Garmin satellite-navigation, known as Garmin Map Pilot, sporting Here Maps loaded via the SD Card reader in the dash. Control of vehicle settings, ambient lighting colours (if fitted) and a digital owner’s manual are also available via this interface.

We also spent a much longer period in a new C-Class checking out the full COMAND system, which is certainly a step up from Audio 20. For starters, the C-Class sports a 210mm screen — noticeably larger than the B-Class system (160mm).

Unlike BMW and Audi, which combine a touch-pad with their system controllers, the Benz range now sports a touch-sensitive pad hovering separate and above the control knob on the centre console.

It is surprisingly wieldy once you get used to it and it won’t be long before a flourishing swipe across the touch-pad will have you skipping through your embarrassing songs quickly. The pad is also quite resistant to registering obvious mistaken touches.

All infotainment options include 'hard' buttons in easy to locate dash positions, volume control is a stylish silver finger-drum to the right of the controller knob, and most other functions are found in a well sized prominent strip mid-dash. This is the best approach, giving the driver multiple options to quickly arrive at the feature requiring adjustment.

Our C 200 test car came fully equipped so most expectations of a connected-car infotainment system were fulfilled here.

The Bluetooth connectivity is smooth and trouble free. Smartphone owners can enjoy streaming of audio from their phone and a very competent reading of incoming SMS texts with stock and customisable text replies at the flick of a button.

COMAND contains a 10GB hard disk drive to which you can import MP3, AAC or WMA audio files straight from a USB attached device containing the files in structure directories. Playback of audio will include Gracenote-sourced cover-art and keyword (including voice-activated) search capabilities.

DAB+ digital radio is standard and, for city-dwellers, offers a great range of digital stations to choose from. There can be a disconcerting lag of silence between selecting stations, however, and this is the price we pay for digital processing.

The Linguatronic voice command system in the Benz is superb.  Calibration is optional and perhaps it says more about the in-cabin acoustics deadening extraneous noise than anything, but the system will recognise very naturally spoken commands. There is no annoying beep following command requests and the result is less of a Stephen Hawking-like approach to voice direction.

Alternatively, the command knob and touch-pad can select the infotainment function, with the latter able to employ multi-touch gestures to quickly enter commands such as “next song” and so forth.

Integration with the steering wheel controls could be improved in our opinion; it is just a little more awkward to match up the dashboard mode (which dictates the steering wheel controls) with the desired infotainment request if you aren't a fan of using the touch-pad.

Presentation wise, Benz has moved from a mostly menu-driven user interface (UI) to the more modern icon carousel-style UI. Animation on screen is superb and fluid, particularly for displays in which your car moves into view and the various systems, such as ambient light settings, highlight as selected.

The latest COMAND software employs a new version of the Benz propriety navigation system. Our C 200 received traffic alerts via the SUNA system and can be configured to read these out loud.

The Benz navigation screen is one of the best designs we have seen.  On the display, roads — including congestion indicators — are easy to discern, as are Point Of Interest (POI) icons, including company signage for service stations.

Where the navigation system does fall down is in destination input. If for whatever reason Linguatronic input does not work (say you have a mouth full of jelly beans at the time), because the vehicle lacks a touch-screen, inputting address info via the command knob or touch-pad can be labourious, even with predictive naming.

Benz’s navigation system includes a nifty POI intermediate option, one that we can see being used often. Instead of the usual input of an additional address for a stop-over, the driver can use the POI interface to, say, direct the vehicle to a coffee shop, florist, service station or similar on the way to your final destination.

The C 200’s head-up display will display speed and direction indicators as you make your way to the destination.

Music and video DVDs can played on the infotainment system or a TV tuner can be added. It can also use a smartphone as a personal hotspot for the vehicle occupants to hook up their own devices as well as gain access to the current suite of apps on offer through the system.

The COMAND Online system offers a broad choice of Apps; from the rather naff ability to update Facebook through to more useful options such as an internet browser (which really allows the touch-pad to shine as a mouse driver), POI search and excellently presented weather details including dynamic map.

The News application allows headlines and stories to be read out loud – resulting in some rather hilarious pronunciations — and controlled by voice.

There are pros and cons to resisting the touch-screen approach. Mercedes seems comfortable with the direction it is taking here and it is hard to mount a compelling argument against the general direction COMAND is going because touch-screens require eyes to be taken off the road.

But while Benz is forging its own way in some respects, it continues to step up everything from its previous generation, not least by removing hindrances such as requiring a propriety cable to plug in your iPhone – as is the case on the soon-to-be-replaced E-Class — as well as configuring applications for the modern tech-savvy customer.

And that's certainly the way forward for in-vehicle infotainment.