The instrument panel, door panels, seats, and carpeting are all completely new, and they go very well with the aggressive new exterior design. There are four huge round air vents spread across the dash panel, dominated by a deeply hooded instrument cluster with sharp new graphics, and more chrome trim around the tachometer and speedometer. A central information window can be programmed to supply about as much driving and maintenance information as one driver can stand to absorb.The steering wheel is a new four-spoke design with the top half in wood and the bottom half in leather, the two lower spokes done in brushed metal finish and a nice, thick rim that's reassuring when you're off the road. The steering wheel houses four sets of controls for information, telephone, navigation and entertainment systems. The center console is dominated by the elements of the COMAND system and a 16:9 wide-screen display which can be used for entertainment, telephone, or navigation displays. One new element is the simple up-down-in short-stalk shifter on the right side of the steering column for P-R-N-D selection, with backup shifter buttons on the steering wheel. This change has made for a more open, more elegant and more useful center console, since the shifter has been relocated from there to the column. Power seat controls have been relocated from the door to the outboard side of the seat. The front bucket seats are all-day comfortable, the rear seats are similarly comfortable and spacious, and all of the wood, leather, plastic and metal finishes are top-drawer, as they should be at this price. There's a lot more room inside the new M-Class as well, with the rear seat 15 mm farther back from the front seat, 35 mm more knee room, and 32 mm more elbow room than the previous model.
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