I was looking over ashman's pictures tonight, and i took an especially carefull look of the center console of the S500. Then, i pulled up some pictures of the BMW's 745i. The result in my head, was that, even with the complexity of I-drive, it still would be seemingly simpler then mastering the 50 buttons on the MB console. Granted, i have no first hand experiance with either system, but i do think that BMW has taken unnecessary insults with regard to their I-drive system. Also, as far as saftey is concerned, with either system you are going to have to momentarily look off of the road to see what your doing. Is it not safer to be able to know exactly where the button is that you need to touch? Maybe after a few years you might be able to memorize every button on the S500, but in my experiance i can't even always hit the sunroof button in my 300SD without looking at it. I do however, think that in light of BMW's being a "driver's car" they should have left the gear selector in the center console, the way it's set up now reminds me of my old buick century(ugh). I do, by the way, consider the S500 much more of an elegant and luxurious automobile than the bimmer, and given the choice, would pick it. However, the S500 costs considerably more as well. I just thought i would share some thoughts of mine.
R

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83 300SD.......sold
96 integra SE....sold
99 a4 quattro....sold
2001 IS300.......sold
2002 330i.........current.
2004 highlander limited....current.