How's this for an option?
 

The 211 E-class is available with solar panels built into the sunroof/wind deflector. They provide power to the climate control blower motor when the car is off. The blower motor runs at low speed to draw outside air into the cabin to keep the interior temperature down. Anyone who has ever gotten into a black/black car, that's been parked on a blacktop lot on a hot sunny day should appreciate this. We'll have to wait and see how effective it is.

How about the heated seering wheel option... Would be useful up north!

Scott P.

Actually.. Audi has had this for years on the A8. Ours didn't have it, it's not as if it would be useful with British 'summers' anyway.

I do wonder how effective it is, though

Being the proud owner of a black on black Volvo, I can attest to the fact that ANYTHING will help. The seats are almost hot enough to scorch you after the car sits in the sun in the summer.

I'd want to turn it off in the winter, though -- that nice black leather interior is nicely warmed up on sunny winter days!

Peter

Mazda had a similar system in the 92 up 929, Worked pretty well for keeping the interior below meltdown zone.

Joe

As Joe P probably knows, the solar panel is an "option on an option"; You have to order the large sunroof (I forget the sales name for the big roof, it's the same looking sunroof that you can get on the C230 Sportcoupe) before you can get the solar panel option. The solar panel is actually located on the large fixed piece of glass on the rear half of the roof.
BMW has also offered heated steering wheels. YES, they feel great in the winter. My BMW cycle is also equipped with heated hand grips, and BMW is also offering heated seats on their motorcycles now, too. (maybe on my next bike;) )

Gilly

Gilly, the option is called the "panorama roof". In addition to the solar panel in the rear section, there is also one in the pop-up wind deflector at the front.

While we're on silly options, did you know that (at least in the UK), you can buy a BMW X5 3.0 diesel, and an automatic is a £1000+ option. But, there *is* no manual - you have to buy the automatic. Sort of a 'compulsory option'

ILUVMILS (do you have a name we can use?)
I believe what we were told in 211 training (I can double check) is that what is on the front deflector is just a design so that the front and rear match, the rear is the only solar panel.

Gilly

Hi Gilly, my friends call me Mike. I double-checked the information I have from 211 training, and the wind deflector is indeed a solar panel. The picture I have illustrates the wires from the panel at the right side hinge, then entering the body just beneath the deflector. For what it's worth, I try to always post information that I know to be factual from personal experience. I usually don't give opinions because they're subject to interpretation, and I'd hate to give someone bad advice because of a mis-understanding. I wouldn't be surprised if the information you got in 211 training was inaccurate though, especially if you went for it a few weeks ago(or longer). It's been my experience that the sooner(after launch)I attend training, the more innaccuracies I find. The instructors in Montvale design the cirriculum to reflect the latest information available at that time. In my shop, the Team Leaders compare notes periodically to try and figure out if any such discrepancies exist. When we find an error we make sure the appropriate people know about it. I attended R230 training last March and within a few months' we found a few mistakes. BTW, sorry about the screen name. It's a nickname that kinda' just stuck.

Mike:
I do the best I can. I try to help people, and feel I do help alot of people. I have some info here at home, but in this example I keep my training materials at work in case I need to reference them to fix a car. I went to 211 training last fall, so yes it's been awhile. I still kinda remember this topic being touched on. I work at a small dealer and we haven't seen a 211 with the Panorama roof (I knew the 129 chassis glass hardtop was called Panorama, so that is why I thought they had a different name for this glass roof in the 211). I think I remember that there was some discussion about how a section of the roof which looks like a solar panel is fake. Possibly the rear section if not the front? In a discussion like this I don't see how being wrong is that big of a deal anyways, just a discussion about the feature. I may have written the info down in the training materials. But I do intend on checking my materials from class or the 211 intro book and finding out.
Getting ready for the Challenge Test Mike?

Gilly

Hi Gilly, from one professional to another, I can absolutely say that you DO help a lot of people. I've read dozens(maybe hundreds)of your posts and it's obvious that you know your stuff. Believe me when I say that in NO WAY WHATSOEVER was I trying to make this subject a "right vs. wrong" issue. This forum provides countless MB owners/enthusiasts with valuable information in an effort to help them enjoy their MB's as much as possible, and I, like you, try to help in any way I can. I look forward to more of the same in the future. I'll try to post a picture of the panel in question(I'm not very computer savvy, but my wife will help if I ask nice). The picture in my 211 training package isn't so good, so I'll try to take a picture at work. As for the Challenge Test, I've been brushing up on the R230. The December TRP newsletter listed it as one of the topics, but you never can tell what they'll throw at us! Sincerely, ILUVMILS(Mike)

Mike:
I did have a chance to look at the 211 book today. They do show that both the deflector and rear of the roof are solar panels. the wiring schematic they show isn't very clear as far as how they both wire up. I almost want to say that we looked at the 211 in the shop at school, and they didn't see the wire that was pictured going in to the deflector though. It was an early European model. Thoughts were that it may depend on what country the car was destined to be sold in, for example if it were going to Norway, were there isn't alot of direct sun it may have the deflector as a solar panel as well, but if it were going to an equatorial country, it would only require the rear one. I took note that the fan speed is directly limited by the amount of electricity being produced by the solar panels. Neat!
I may be wrong, admittedly, in what I remember being discussed in class about the panels, it's alot to remember, really cram the info at you, as you know.

On TRP, I plan on visiting the tech training site as recommended in the trp newsletter, and i photocopied the entire 2002 carry-over model book so I could bring it home and study from it. I find I do better if i just do alot of cramming the few days before, rather than draw it out a few weeks. I forget the stuff I studied first. You ask for the watch/binocular set or the jacket?

Where do you go for your training?

Gilly

WHER DID YOU GET THE 2002 CARRY OVER MODEL BOOK!!! The guys in my shop are going nuts trying to figure out what to do. We never got them!!! I asked for the jacket. It looks pretty nice. As for school, I've always gone to Montvale N.J. It's about an hours' drive from home. I took the wheel alignment class in Sept. 2001, at MB Technical Training Center west, Rancho Cucamonga, California. I wasn't too excited about travelling across the country to take an alignment course, but it was all about the Distronic sensor adjustment, so it was worth it. That was the same week as the terrorist attacks in NYC and D.C. I wound up being stuck in California all week, 3000 miles away from my wife and kids. Coincidentally, at 211 training last week I was in the same class as one of the guys who was in my class in California. Hey who knows? Maybe some day we'll run into each other in Montvale, N.J., California? Chicago? It's a small world!!!

next option will be a hidden camera that runs an F.B.I. background check on all passengers and phones in info to central command..........wish I had my 356 back........
William Rogers........

NEXT option? Hey Mike, didn't that come out with the 129? Or was it the 140? One of those I think. I think they're trying to keep it quiet. Sometimes Mulder or Scully will call up and ask us to aim the camera into the ashtray (they suspect there's lots of ashes, but no butts, if ya know what I mean) or maybe aim it into the back seat. Not really sure why.

What a coincidence Mike, I was in MB class on 9/11 also. We normally drive to class also, the one in Chicago (Itasca, IL). I was there for the Diagnostic Update class. Really wierd seeing no planes flying into Ohare after they let the class out. Given the 2 hour time difference, did you have class at all that day? Probably real short if they did. I think we were sent back to the motel at about 10 or 10:30ish.

I went to Rancho for that class also, luckily it was in July 2001, so still fairly carefree flying. That's the only time I hadn't gone to Itasca though, so I don't know the likelyhood of bumping into you in a class. If I ever go to Montavale or you ever come to Itasca, we'll have to let each other know, but still given the amount of classes, it's still probably doubtful.

Don't know what to tell ya about the book, I got the whole thing copied, took awhile. Just says "Model Year 2002 (USA)
Models 129,170,203,208,210,215,220 introduction into service Preliminary, and the doc number is P-2783-000. We just has it in the pile with all the other books like this.
Maybe you can get a call into your SPOM or someone up the ladder like that and get a few copies next-dayed to you.
In the absence of that, if you can let me know asap, I can run off another photo-copied set and next day it also, at least you'd have it by this weekend and Monday to study from.
Another thought is that it may also be on Wis?
It wouldn't take much to copy it now from my copied set. The problem with doing it the first time was removing and (especially) inserting it back into the cheap plastic binder.

Gilly

Thanks for the offer Gilly. I'll ask the powers that be to call the SPOM and see what happens. We only had class for about an hour on 9/11. We finished up the next day and since nobody could leave (all 9 of us were from the east coast) they gave us a day of G-Wagen training. They took us to lunch a couple of times and did all they could to find us flights home ASAP. I must admit though, if your'e gonna be stuck somewhere, southern California ain't a bad place to be! The way it ended was kind of funny. Two guys rented cars and left on Wedensday to drive cross-country. They both said there was no way they were flying! I got lucky. I caught a flight to Phoenix, and then home to New Jersey on Saturday. Door to door was almost twenty two hours! The rest of the guys rented a Grand Caravan and drove back together. Anyway, didn't this turn out to be an interesting thread? I hope the rest of the forum members didn't mind us talking shop. Seeya