Yes, some of the machines that purport to be smart enough to know what I want REALLY irritate me. Even I don't always know what I want :) Anyway, most of these "smart" technologies usually just get in the way of getting things done. I know you really like the automatic climate control, and I agree that when it works it's wonderful, but in S70's it seems the system is riddled with problems. Every S70 ('98-'00) that I have seen with that feature has the same problem mine has. Namely, the amber lights flash when you start the car (sometimes) and then everything may be fine or the driver's side can get stuck in full hot mode until the stop/restart of engine (sometimes more than one). The flashing amber lights indicate and error code of the ACC and it will cost a fortune to fix. Mine got fixed three or four times under (extended) warranty and kept breaking the same way within a year or two. Now that the warranty is gone I just live with it. I test drove a few cars of that vintage and every one that had ACC had the blinking lights, so I assume it's one of those "they all do that" things. Looks like I am buying the '97 850 GLT with ACC. I hope on 850's the system is better. At least I did not see any flashing lights and the system seemed to operate as expected on the test drive. If you want to have variable delay on the wipers in the 850/S70, get a VW relay for it and then you can set the delay by turning to intermittent, then back to off and then to intermittent after so many seconds. The delay will be remembered until the car is turned off. I agree, the simple Japanese system is the most straight forward and the most user friendly. Just turn the little cuff on the stalk to the desired delay and there you have it.

Wow! You would think MB would design a really cool "smart" system, but alas, they can not. And why on earth would you want "smart" wipers?! If you can't turn the wipers on while driving you shouldn't be driving! Any time I hear "smart" in reference to a device I get irritated. Especially in reference to a phone. I do not want my phone to be smart. I want it to make friggin' phone calls. When they make a phone that can make phone calls when and where I want and have decent sound quality so I can understand what the hell the conversation is about and not drop the call, then, after all that is done and done well (it is FAR from the case today), then maybe add a function to make an omelet or something useful. That would be smart. Being able to browse internet on a tiny screen or watch a movie on same while parked at a rest stop just does not get me that excited and it's certainly not very smart.

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Vladimir. '98 S70 base, 5-speed manual