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Favourite cars
Aug. 6th, 2005 12:07 pmI have a new favourite car.
Today I once again rented a car to drive home to Berlin, because I had a bit of stuff to haul along. They gave me a Mercedes E Class. Okay, I've had the BMW 5 and 7, and some others in about the same supposed quality level. I was expecting something full of gadgety stuff that would actually go on my nerves, like the BMWs had.
Not at all.
For a start it was black. Black and shiny on the outside, black interior. I love black.
It was also the most unobtrusive car I've ever had. Nothing in it went on my nerves. I found it obvious how to operate it.
No START button like the BMW where nothing obvious told me that you have to trip on the brake to get the engine to actually start (I swear, BMW hires designers from Apple who think it's obvious that dragging the disk to the trashcan will eject it rather than delete its contents). No turn signal lever that wouldn't lock into position, leading me to mis-signal several times, confusing everyone else on the road. No Navigation system that required me to keep the CD in at all times, thereby preventing me from listening to *gasp* audio CDs while driving and using the navigation system. No menu system where I, as a full time professional software engineer with a degree in mathematics, was confused where to find stuff several times, or was thrown back to the main menu all the time because the 'menu' button was positioned like a mouse button below a knob, but you were supposed to press down the knob while the menu button always led to the main menu.
Instead I had the pleasure of a great sound system, against a car where you simply cannot hear the engine. It rained a lot today, but when it was dry I took it up to 220 km/h, still really quiet, and very easy to control, despite pretty wet road conditions.
The car was rather large, lots of space, and still I could tell very well how long it was. I was able to visualize its corners because I was able to see them just barely. Seems I'm just the right size for this car.
Oh, the menu was intutive, too, and had all the options I wanted. I didn't need the instructions manual a single time, everything worked just like in an 'ordinary' car. Mostly that was because they have a separate button for almost all the important functions rather than cramming them into menu items. Old fashioned, yes, but for something like a car where you may wish to do something while driving at a fair bit of speed, intuitive and old fashioned is a HUGE PLUS in usability and safety.
I never thought I'd sing praise to a Mercedes Benz, but this one did it. I have a new favourite car. Black like a panther.
Today I once again rented a car to drive home to Berlin, because I had a bit of stuff to haul along. They gave me a Mercedes E Class. Okay, I've had the BMW 5 and 7, and some others in about the same supposed quality level. I was expecting something full of gadgety stuff that would actually go on my nerves, like the BMWs had.
Not at all.
For a start it was black. Black and shiny on the outside, black interior. I love black.
It was also the most unobtrusive car I've ever had. Nothing in it went on my nerves. I found it obvious how to operate it.
No START button like the BMW where nothing obvious told me that you have to trip on the brake to get the engine to actually start (I swear, BMW hires designers from Apple who think it's obvious that dragging the disk to the trashcan will eject it rather than delete its contents). No turn signal lever that wouldn't lock into position, leading me to mis-signal several times, confusing everyone else on the road. No Navigation system that required me to keep the CD in at all times, thereby preventing me from listening to *gasp* audio CDs while driving and using the navigation system. No menu system where I, as a full time professional software engineer with a degree in mathematics, was confused where to find stuff several times, or was thrown back to the main menu all the time because the 'menu' button was positioned like a mouse button below a knob, but you were supposed to press down the knob while the menu button always led to the main menu.
Instead I had the pleasure of a great sound system, against a car where you simply cannot hear the engine. It rained a lot today, but when it was dry I took it up to 220 km/h, still really quiet, and very easy to control, despite pretty wet road conditions.
The car was rather large, lots of space, and still I could tell very well how long it was. I was able to visualize its corners because I was able to see them just barely. Seems I'm just the right size for this car.
Oh, the menu was intutive, too, and had all the options I wanted. I didn't need the instructions manual a single time, everything worked just like in an 'ordinary' car. Mostly that was because they have a separate button for almost all the important functions rather than cramming them into menu items. Old fashioned, yes, but for something like a car where you may wish to do something while driving at a fair bit of speed, intuitive and old fashioned is a HUGE PLUS in usability and safety.
I never thought I'd sing praise to a Mercedes Benz, but this one did it. I have a new favourite car. Black like a panther.
