My initial advice to sell the W205 and upgrade to a W123 was strangely rebuffed.   I can’t imagine why.   In any case after a discussion as to why she wanted to replace it, we settled on a W213 E Class E200 model.

As her grandchildren are getting bigger, she wanted something with a slightly larger back seat, but was still not too big.   She did not want an SUV, and it has to be fuel efficient for mostly around town driving with a couple of longer trips per year.   Better integration with an iPhone and upgraded factory maps were also desirable.

Her last few cars had been purchased new, but she was reluctant to do this again.   This was primarily to do with the service she received from the dealerships both in the purchase as well as the servicing.   I helped her find a great independent mechanic who specializes in the late model cars, and who doesn’t talk down to his customers.   A novel approach to customer service.

After a bit of looking, I found a very nice 2018 model in the exact spec we were looking for.  It did not have the AMG pack (terrible ride) and had the sunroof option.   It only had 29,000km on the clock and had been a trade in at an MB Dealer.   Even better it had a two years certified warranty.   The price was pretty sharp too.

I don’t know if it is the state of the economy, or fallout from Mercedes-Benz new business model in Australia, but it was clear the dealer was very keen to make a deal happen on the E200.  We were able to easily talk up the trade in offer on the W205, get them to fix a few minor things we noticed on the test drive, do an upgrade to the maps, and a full service, all at no extra charge.   The changeover cost between the W205 and the W213 was quite attractive, and the dealer handled everything.

One of the reasons why we insisted on the service, is that Mercedes-Benz have introduced a ‘digital service book’.   In my opinion, this is a really stupid idea.   Ostensibly this is to combat fraud, but it is likely to have the opposite impact. It is probably to push people to do dealer servicing.  At least in Australia, very few service at the dealer after the car is a year or so old.   The dealers have seen to that.   Since there is no paper service book, there is nowhere for an independent Mechanic to note down service particulars.   This particular car had already done at least one non-dealer service.  However, other than a sticker on the dash, there is was no record of it, due to the digital service book.   We insisted the dealer order a paper service book and stamp it with the service they included.

Looking at the price we were able to get from a dealership with warranty, it is clear that the cars on carsales cannot be selling for the prices that are being asked.   It is very much a buyers market.

With the car upgraded, my mother assumed that it would be a good idea to upgrade her iPhone 11 to a newer model.   This turned out to be a mistake.   With a new iPhone 15 in hand, the phone would connect to the Bluetooth with no problem, but it could not work with the Apple Car Play.   I spent a long time trying to get it to work to no avail.   To try and rule out the car, I then decided to try my iPhone 12, and it connected immediately.

The iPhone 15 is the first model to use a USB C cable instead of the lightening connector.  However, apparently these phones are super sensitive about what cable will work with Apple Car Play.   The Mercedes requires a wired connection for Car Play.   We tried a few cables and none of them worked, even a brand new one.   People on the internet were reporting some cables worked intermittently, and some not at all.   There seemed to be a lot of frustration in trying many expensive cables until one worked.   The challenge is that Apple do not seem to make a genuine USB A to C cable, and the phones are sensitive to genuine cables.

With that knowledge in hand, my mother went back to the Apple store.  Since it was less than 14 days from purchase, she was able to downgrade from an iPhone 15 to an iPhone 14, and voila, the phone worked instantly.   Its not a bad system as you can use Waze on the screen of the car, necessary for speed camera infested Sydney.

I still maintain a W123 is the better option, but my mother is now very happy with her W213 E class.

The post Buying a W213 E200 Mercedes appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

After driving around for a few weeks, I realised I needed to make a few changes.  Overall, I was really happy with the system, except for the following:

• USB charging ports were no longer working
• Distortion in music with strong midrange at medium to high volume
• The radio worked at position 1 of the ignition switch, but the bluetooth module required position 2.

The USB ports were working fine until I put the trim back in, so I assumed I had accidently pulled out the socket during the re-install.    I also figured I could improve the distortion by playing with the amplifier gain settings.    It is never going to be distortion free due to the small speakers in the car, but I thought I could get it better.

The last one, I assumed I had plugged into the wrong pin on the X30 connector.    To get to all this, the under dash panel, side kick panel and carpet must be removed.   That provides access to the X30 connector and the cover for the various control boxes where I had installed the amp.

Some testing with my power probe quickly confirmed the issue with the USB ports.   The connector between the X30 harness and the US transformer was no longer working.   Instead of just replacing it, I added another 20cm of wire on both the positive and negative so it wouldn’t be under pressure during the install.

The X30 wiring proved to be a big more complex.   I was using pin 5, which is supposed to be hot in start, run and accessory positions.   I had assumed this meant position 1, 2 and 3 on the ignition switch.   Turns out it means position 2, both when the car is running and when it isn’t, and the start position (3).

I swapped over to pin 1, which is hot at all times.   I didn’t want to create a drain on the battery, so I left the USB cables on pin 5, but harness for the radio accessories is controlled by a relay.   The relay is energised by the antenna signal from the radio.   That in turn switches on the amp, triggers the antenna and powers up the Tranzit Blu.   Given the presence of the relay, it should not be drawing current with the car off.   The only thing that is actually using power is the Tranzit BLU, which has minimal power needs.

Next was to look at the distortion.   I found that it sounded better with the amplifier gain turned up more.   Probably because the signal from the Becker was from a the line out module.    Since I am using a single left-right input, I wasn’t able to adjust front and rear gain separately.   This is a shame, as the rear speakers are larger.

After driving the car some more, I was really happy with the improvements.   The Bluetooth function powers up when the radio does.   The distortion is much reduced.   And the USB ports now work!

There was one more thing left to do.   Investigate if it was possible to have the music play from my phone as soon as it connects to the Bluetooth in the car.    I wanted to be able to leave my phone in my pocket and it would just play.   The Tranzit Blu has a button to advance the track and answer calls, so the phone is not necessary to control things.

I found there are more possibilities on android.   For an iPhone, there is an Apple app called ‘Shortcuts’.   This allows simple if/then/else logic to automatic various functions.

The left hand screenshot shows how simple it is to create the function.     Unfortunately, it does not run without any user input, as the script generates a pop up that asks the user if it should run.    This is better than going through the menus on the phone to select music, but not ideal.   The popup is shown on the right.

The installation is now complete.   I’m really happy with the outcome.  I have the look and feel of the original Becker, with the Bluetooth FM injector for modern functionality.

The post W126 Becker Radio install – part 4 appeared first on Classic Jalopy.