You look out over the hood and can't see the fenders because they slope away so artfully, lending to the excellent 0.29 Cd aerodynamics. All you see is the big tri-star hood ornament, which may impress you with your own stature.The leather interior in our E430 was a two-tone tan that stated dignity, dignity, dignity. As would be expected, the rear seat offers enormous comfort, legroom and ease of entry. The E-Class is one car that is truly about passengers. Much effort has gone into making the cabin climate comfortable. There are dual temperature and airflow controls, an electrostatic dust filter and activated charcoal filter with smog sensor, and rear-cabin air vents. In cold weather, the climate control can recirculate warm air through the interior for up to 30 minutes while the car is parked, drawing on very small amount of coolant. There are bunches of interior lights, from visor vanities to maplights to door handles, and all the pockets, compartments and cupholders you might imagine finding in a luxury sedan. Of course there's the burl walnut trim on doors, dash, console and shift gate, leather-trimmed steering wheel and shift knob, velour floor carpeting and floor mats. More standard equipment includes 10-way power front seats and head restraints, a power tilt and telescoping steering column, a multifunction steering wheel, memory seating including mirrors and steering wheel position, an integrated garage door opener, and eight-speaker Bose sound system with optional CD changer. If the leather says dignity and the cabin says comfort, the switchgear says confusion. An owner may or may not take the time to study the manual and master the controls through memorization and practice. Meanwhile, not much is intuitive. The sound and command systems include about 30 buttons the size of a Chiclet or smaller, and (to us) the only immediately identifiable one was the PWR button. The abbreviations or icons on many of the buttons are so small you have to take your concentration off the road to read them. It's your call to decide if we're simply more stupid than most of Mercedes' intended buyers. But it might be a philosophical design debate. Should a control panel be designed for owners, or infrequent users? It would be interesting to test new E-Class owners on the function of those buttons.
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