Apple to make iPhone-like nav for Mercedes

wish audi would have partnered first.

WTF ever thought iDrive was a good idea? Much better to have a proper touch screen and at worst have a button that disables the touch so you can wipe finger oil off without changing any settings.

Presumably it will be able to do CoverFlow with attached iPods?

... Apple needs to design voting machines in America so they're secure and intuitive.

The move is speculatively an attempt to best BMW's widely criticized iDrive computerized vehicle control:

Ha, that's funny. The iDrive is one of the absolute worst things ever designed for a car. (It is so bad it even makes the idiotic touch-screen control system on the Toyota Prius look good). All Apple would have to do to "best" it is make some nice independent buttons, switches, sliders and dials you can actually reach over, feel, and use while driving without taking your eyes off the road.

Touch screen is so cool... I wanna install it in my Mercedes-Benz S-Class S65.. Uplifting big saloon with a real sense of occasion, even taking into account the price tag.

Stupendous performance from the blown V12. Virtually flat torque curve (737 lb/ft) from 2,000 RPM upwards gives deeply impressive acceleration. The car is purported to hit 100 mph from rest in just over 10 seconds. I can believe it. However, the torque is the most impressive aspect. It really does push you back into the seat, and that's coming from someone who ran (and loved) an E39 BMW M5 with a 400 bhp V8. The AMG unit is however truly one of the world's great powerplants. It makes me wonder why they chose to shroud it in cheap looking plastic, however.

Five speed AMG auto box is a delight. As usual, being forced into an auto box in a Mercedes is no hardship. Mercedes Shocks are smooth and timely, kickdown is instantaneous, and the whole thing feels robust and well set up. The column change is somewhat odd however, for someone not raised in the US, although to be fair it works superbly.

Handling is keen, despite the S65 being comfortably the wrong side of two tonnes, although there's very little feel from any of the controls. Covers back roads quickly and safely. In fact, covers every road in the same effortless manner. Not the last word in driver interaction, but safe, capable, and devastatingly quick.

The performance and handling do not come at the expense of refinement. Under hard acceleration, there's a distant whooshing from the turbochargers accompanied by a muted growl from the V12. The exhaust note is to my mind a little disappointing compared with the V8 AMGs such as the SL55, but I suppose it's in keeping with the "executive express" brief of the S65.

The ride is definitely on the firm side of comfortable, but only becomes a problem over the most rutted surfaces, but excellent body control at speed is a welcome trade-off.