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Best Online Info Sources for 2018 SLC 300?

2K views 8 replies 2 participants last post by  flibmeister 
#1 ·
Hello all!

I'm a total newbie to the M-B world, and I pick up my new-to-me 2018 SLC 300 on Monday. So, I've been scouring the internet for the best sources of information on the car. Unfortunately, I'm not finding much on this particular model.

I realize this has never been a high volume car (and that it has been recently discontinued), but I still thought there'd be active online forums discussing it. My last "toy" was a Honda Gold Wing motorcycle, and I browsed half-a-dozen very active different Gold Wing forums regularly while I owned it; some of the information I gleaned from those forums was invaluable. Surely there are some similar online sources for this car? If there are, I'm not finding them.

So-- any suggestions as to the best online forums for owners of the SLC 300? And, am I correct in thinking my car is designated as an "R172" in such forums?

Thanks for any help!

Denny
 
#3 ·
That video was very helpful, thanks! I've bookmarked that site and will go through some of the other videos there as well.

I'm sure I'll have lots of questions, but let me start with this one, regarding the in-car navigation: I understand my car is "prewired for Garmin Pilot." I also see that Amazon sells the latest SD card for the M-B Garmin Pilot for $99.

Is that SD card all I need to make the GPS Pilot functional? The phraseology "prewired" makes me wonder if there is additional hardware to buy as well.

I've used Garmin standalone GPS nav units for many years, so staying with what I know has some appeal. But the car also comes with Apple Carplay Integration-- do I have to plug my iPhone into the appropriate USB in the console to use that feature, or is the USB port simply keeping the iPhone charged, with the data exchange being accomplished via Bluetooth?

Thanks, again, for the assistance!

Denny
 
#4 ·
To use Apple Carplay, you need to plug-in your iPhone via USB. There are a few USB's, so you have to figure which one. Usually it has some small logo next to it. I think it's much better than Garmin and it's free. Or you can get SD Card for Garmin and just stick in inside the SD Card slot. No installation required if it's already pre-wired. Just make sure it's a good card, because it usually cost around $625 new..
 
#5 ·
Interesting, thanks for the info. The SD card on Amazon was down to $79 tonight, and most reviewers seem happy with it:

New SD Card Garmin Map Pilot 2018 2019 Mercedes-Benz Navigation Part A2189063003

I almost always use some sort of GPS nav, even when I know where I'm going, just for the traffic information-- so I'm thinking I may want both systems. Having the Garmin available would mean I wouldn't have to dig my iPhone out of my pocket and plug it in on short trips, but for longer ones or unfamiliar routes/destinations, Carplay might be a better choice.

I pick up the car at 10am tomorrow (Monday) morning, have to see what it has already installed; could already have an SD card in it for all I know, although I imagine the maps would be a little out-of date. It's a 2018 SC 300 with 13,000 miles that somebody had on lease in St. Louis since June of 2018. I'll be picking it up from the Carvana vending machine in Tempe, Arizona, so it should be an interesting day.

The next seven days are essentially a test drive-- if I decide not to keep it within that time, regardless of reason, they'll give me a full refund. I'm going to have the local MB dealer do a prepurchase inspection on Wednesday, just to be sure there are no hidden problems.

Thanks, again, for the help-- more questions tomorrow, I'm sure!

Denny
 
#7 ·
I'll watch that one, too, thanks!

Love the car so far, only glitch on delivery was that the windshield had a couple of scratches on the inside, right in the driver's line of vision. I pointed the scratches out to the Carvana rep, who arranged for Safelite to install a new windshield at Carvana's expense (that's set up for tomorrow). Oh, and my Start/Stop button was missing-- Carvana offered me $100 to compensate for it, which I accepted. Bought a replacement on Amazon for $47.

I did take the car to my local M-B dealer for a prepurchase inspection ($160), two days after picking it up from Carvana. They couldn't find anything wrong with it, so I let the 7-day "no questions asked" return period expire. The car's a keeper!

Re: the Garmin SD card, I finally got one that works, but it wasn't easy:

1. Bought a card from Navkings on eBay, around $75 with quick first class mail shipping.
Their online tool said it would work in my car, and that the part number was A2189068203.

2. Put the card in the car's SD slot, got the expected "Activating Navigation" message-- but after 30 seconds or so it changed to, "SD Card Corrupted, contact your M-B dealer."

3. Called an M-B dealer and asked what the proper part number was for my car. He gave me the same number as above, except that the last three digits were 303 instead of 203.

4. Emailed the seller, told him what had happened, he seemed irate, blamed me for ordering the wrong card. Told him I relied on the info on his eBay page for choosing which card to order-- so if I have the wrong card, it's because he listed the wrong card on his eBay site.

5. The seller replied that he didn't carry the card with the part number specified by the M-B dealer, but if I wanted to return the original card, he'd send another with the same part number-- just in case it was a bad card, not a bad part number.

6. I returned the card, he sent me a new one, same part number as the one he sent originally (A2189068203). I just plugged it in, and it installed without a hitch-- so I now have Garmin Nav (in addition to the Carplay nav apps), for about 1/10 of what Mercedes wanted for the SD card.

The guy at Navkings swears these are OEM cards, not pirated. They look "official" to me, who knows... I'm just happy it's working!

Denny
 
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