Yes, there is a iPod/iPhone plug in the glove compartment and the car can access the phone functionality via Bluetooth and the music stored on it via the iPod interface in the dashboard Command system.  That was an option I made sure to get.  The first Mercedes cut at iPod/iPhone integration wasn’t great because the sound level was too low and you got some digital whine when you turned it up.  I got an upgraded iPod line amp and that fixed the sound.  The iPod, I swear, sounds as good as any CD through the sound system, depending on how well the mix was done.

Some of the kids on one of the Mercedes forums I’m on are tricking their cars up in ways that make me want to scream.  But on the other hand I’m glad people seem to like this new ‘C’ class and it’s selling well.  Their reputation was hanging in the balance for a while because the previous model ‘C’s and ‘E’s had reliability issues.  The entire German economy seems to have had some major heartburn during the reunification period and I’m told all the auto makers had issues.  But Mercedes enthusiasts were upset, myself included.  I could have bought my Mercedes years ago but I didn’t like the previous ‘C’ class At All.  So I bought that Honda instead.

Yes…this is a driver’s car.  Very much.  I took an opportunity to open it up a few days ago on an empty stretch of Interstate.  I won’t say here by how much, but it just floors me how serene that car is to drive at unreasonable speeds.  And winding up and down twisty Pennsylvania mountain roads like I was doing a couple days ago is a pure pleasure.