[switch007]

BMW fan here! (To an extent). BMWs have their flaws (buy a 15+ year old E46, I dare you), but damn, it feels much more like they thought things through. Nothing in the interior of my E46 annoyed me. I've driven the F30 as hire cars many times and love it. However, I drove a 2015 Mercedes E-class for 3 days last week...:

- The parking brake is a PEDAL and the release is a totally separate lever.

- The button to disable auto start-stop is labelled "Eco" rather than a more standard VW/BMW "A" icon in a circular arrow.

- The gear selector is a weird stalk (drive is down, reverse is up, and park is a separate button you push inwards?!).

- The cruise-control always stayed -1km below what is set.

- The gearbox mode selection cycle in the order: Eco->Sport->Manual, i.e. in eco, you need to cycle to get to manual rather than being able to select it directly. Also, flipping up a gear with the paddle DOESN'T put it in to manual mode.

- The cruise control stalk is complicated and had an LED, which is out of view.

- No button on steering wheel to directly change radio station.

- You need to dig the brake pedal to enable the auto-hold.

- To wash the windscreen, you need to push inwards a small button on a stalk to the second level! The first level activates the wipers without water. I dry-wiped the windscreen a few times before realising.

But apart from all that, it was a nice drive.

[jacquesm]

> The parking brake is a PEDAL and the release is a totally separate lever.

That has two functions in one go: first of all it stops your potentially deranged passengers from pulling on the handbrake and second it allows for much more force to be applied to the pedal than you could ever achieve while pulling on a lever. This means that if you need the parking brake for it's backup emergency brake function it will likely have a lot more effect.

> The gear selector is a weird stalk (drive is down, reverse is up, and park is a separate button you push inwards?!).

Gear selector is a matter of taste, it's actually the same as it would be in some other EU cars (and even some ancient ones, the (original) DS for instance). The reason why park is separate is so when you reverse and you still have a little bit of speed you don't accidentally lock the wheels.

> Cruise control setting being 1 km below what you set is

Similar to the speedometer erring on the side of caution. In case of doubt, check with a GPS and adjust accordingly if you really feel like riding that fine line between a fine and a freebie.

> No button on steering wheel to directly change radio station.

First world problems ;)

> To wash the windscreen, you need to push inwards a small button on a stalk to the second level! The first level activates the wipers without water. I dry-wiped the windscreen a few times before realising.

RTM :)

[switch007]

Some valid points, but I was mostly commenting in the context of it being a rental and expecting a car to be like other cars.

> ...the same as it would be in some other EU cars

"some" (which, out of interest)?. Not anywhere near being a majority e.g. BMW, Audi, Ford, VW

> Similar to the speedometer erring on the side of caution.

I can do that. I can set it to 119 instead of 120. Leave me in control (OK, it's the cruise control feature, but still...)

Again, the parking pedal is unique(?) to Mercedes. Completely different to expected location and behaviour to most other cars.

[jacquesm]

The Citroen DS had both the parking brake and the gear shift in that exact configuration and this was a very common configuration in the past.

Here is a picture of the gear shift lever:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c3/56/58/c356581ab...

That's a half-automatic gear box, so gears but no clutch! (Not bad for the early 60's, as well as hydraulic suspension, power steering and headlights that point where you're driving).

I've even seen it on some American cars. Eventually the shifter for automatics moved to the transmission tunnel (if you had one) as well but it wasn't always so.

I suspect the re-occurrence of this has to do with the mid console in high end cars now more and more occupied with electronics and infotainment rather than the drive train and associated levers.

[vldx]

Hallo, also kind of BMW fan here; driving 12 year old E39.

It's one of the main selling points of BMW that everything is designed and engineered towards the driver - from the controls to the essence of the driving experience. It's something which is inherited in every successive model.

I can afford buying any of the new models, but rationally can't see what I'll get additionally, besides the ego boost and the quickly fading dopamine kick.

Maybe more efficiency and reliability?

Part of what pleases me is that you get the same level of comfort and experience for so little.