[Caddy Man]

Ive used iDrive in my friends 2004 745. Here is my take:

The thing that bothers me is that ALL functions (navigation, radio, etc) must be navigated by Idrive. To navigate through each menu for specific functions, you must turn the knob and scroll through everything to find what you want. If you MOVE the knob up, down, left, or right, it goes to different menus such as radio, navigations etc. This can be very confusing.

My father has a 2007 S 550. It has a similar set up except Mercedes gave several buttons for specific functions that are commonly used. Want to switch to navigation? Theres a navigation button next to the knob; want the radio or CD? Theres a button next to the knob for that....and my favorite is the ''Back'' button. Just press it and it backtracks you through the menus. Since these buttons dont require you to move the entire knob to access various menus, this means that to look for a specific function in the radio menu for example, you can scroll with the wheel OR just push the wheel to the right, left, up, or down as well. This system is much faster and simpler to use than iDrive.

You all should see the manual though to the S class...its THICK.