Hi all - I would like your wise views on the following issue. This is the gearshift on a c.1970 W108 280SE 3.5:
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Note that the letters and numbers (PRN432 etc) are on the driver's side in this car, which is a right-hand drive model.
This is my 2003 C-class:
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The letters and numbers, and the C/S switch, are on the 'wrong' side of the gear lever for a right-hand drive, so the driver can't see them. Fair enough one might say, a C-class is not a top-of-the-line car as an old S-class was in its time. OK. This is the gear shift of a
2007 SL500 that I currently have on loan:
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Same issue, letters and switch out of sight of the driver.
An SL500 is not a 'budget' Mercedes-Benz by any stretch of the imagination, here it costs about Euro 170,000 or well over US$200,000
- for that, imho MB could afford the little bit of re-engineering it would take to fully convert the design for right-hand drive, to cater for markets such as England, South Africa, Hong Kong, Australia and Ireland where I live.
Am I alone in thinking that engineering is now less to the fore than in was in MB thirty years ago?
All views and opinions equally welcome.
John