I’m always one for wanting to try new technologies, and as an Apple iPhone owner, have watched with interest as some car mfgrs have enabled Siri Eyes Free in newer model vehicles, as well as providing CarPlay as a single interface into future Infotainment systems.
When MBZ started touting their “Drive Kit” a few years ago, it peeked my interest… but initial availability seemed problematic and stall when Apple came out with the new iPhone 5 and it’s Lightning Connector. Eventually the “Drive Kit Plus” came into existence, and about the only information I could find on it was press releases and the MBZ Drive Kit Plus website. The website provides some high-level Marketing info, but not a lot of specifics on capabilities and the implementation. My dealer Asst Service Mgr was not familiar with what it was. The website indicated R172’s like mine could be retrofitted with the capability, and I’ve seen other MBZ models that now have Drive Kit Plus available as a factory installed option …so, this crazy guy (you’ll learn why I say that later on) decided to take a chance and have this expensive toy installed in my 2014 SLK250.
Having had the Drive Kit Plus installed for the past few days, I decided I may be able to help others who wonder what this thing is all about; Clarify several points in the the very cryptic manual that I’ve figured out for myself; Provide some perhaps practical observations how this option can (and cannot) be used; and then summarize if I’d elect to have the Drive Kit Plus in it’s current implementation in any future MBZ I may own. There is an old thread inquiring about the original Drive Kit out here, but I thought it would be better to start a new thread on what’s really available to us from my POV on our R172s today, so, let’s begin.
My Environment
- 2014 SLK250
- COMAND w/ Nav (and Voice Control)
- Apple iPhone 6 running the latest iOS 8.3
- MBZ Digital DriveStyle App
From the website, the basic prereq for our SLKs is an R172 built mid-2012 or after. You can have COMAND, the Becker Nav, or neither. You must have an iPhone 4, 5 or 6, with any of the variations they include (see below for some caveats). There is no Android variation of the Drive Kit Plus that I’m aware of. You download the free MBZ Digital DriveStyle App to your iPhone which your car will utilities as the means for interfacing to iOS and the WWW.
What Does It Do?
Official Overview: So I don’t have to rewrite the manual, check out the MBZ Drive Kit Plus website.
Bert’s Summary:
Once everything is in place in your SLK and on your iPhone, and it’s all paired-up, you effectively can turn on a new glowing-red interface presented on the SLK’s display that allows access to Siri, Social Media interaction such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, your Contacts and Calendar. Some new Media access capabilities become available to access your iPhone music and Internet Radio stations, along with Aupeo! (which I take must be a more popular European streaming service). There is a pretty complete Google (not Apple Maps) Navigation capability which includes routing, current traffic, Google Street View, Points of Interest, and more all with voice notification. Some additional capabilities like access to your Nest home temperature controls, and some ability for Pebble Watches also becomes available as well (I have not tried any of that).
Installation
Step 1: The dealer installs a module behind the center Infotainment console that enables Drive Kit Plus, and a connection in the glovebox for your iPhone (see photo at the end). A significant amount of firmware updates are then provided, so this is not a DIY project. In my case, 4 hours of labor was quoted for the work, plus parts. In actuality, I picked-up my SLK on the 8th day because of numerous problems they encountered (I’m glad I didn’t have to pay for all their troubleshooting with firmware that didn’t load, and what ended-up as a wrong module that had been sent in the original parts box).
CAVEAT: While it’s not evident on the website that states iPhone 4,4s,5,5c,5s,6,6-Plus are supported, there is actually a different piece of hardware required if you have an old iPhone 4 or 4s, as those use the old 30-pin style connector vs more current iPhone 5 and 6 which use the newer Lighthing Connector. Be SURE you specify which you need at time of order. It’s not known by me or my dealer if a Lightning-to-30-pin Adapter will work or is technically supported.
Step 2: I found no statements about minimum iOS levels required, and I would not suspect a “jail broken” iOS would be supported if you encountered problems. Regardless, I keep all my iOS devices current and my iPhone 6 is running iOS 8.3.
Step 3: If you did not already do it before installation of the Drive Kit Plus, pair your iPhone to your SLK using standard methods in the MBZ Owners Manuals. My phone was paired in advance of the installation, and I did not have to do it again for normal voice calls.
Step 4: Download the free MBZ Digital DriveStyle App to your iPhone. I’d suggest then going in and customizing the options for any social media you may want to access such as Google+, Facebook or Twitter now so that is done. You may also want to go into the “Places” section of the app and download any maps you will be needing (more on this later) so you have something to try with your new toy. I suggest leaving the app running in the background of your iPhone.
Step 5: Turn your SLK ON or at least in accessory mode. We need to now additionally pair your new Drive Kit Plus to your iPhone. On your iPhone, go to Settings / Bluetooth. There are two methods for this next step, but if you press and hold the CLR button next to the SLK Controller, it will start up Drive Kit Plus — and if all goes well — after perhaps half a minute, it should figure out it needs to pair with your iPhone and now your iPhone will show towards the bottom of the Bluetooth page “Drive Kit Plus” being available. Click it and complete the code acceptance on both your SLK and iPhone. When you have that done, you’ve gotten through the first big hurdle. Turn off your SLK. You can go back to your iPhone Home page now if you like — you’re done with pairing.
Iniitialization
When you want to use it’s functionality, Drive Kit Plus must effectively be turned-on through one of two methods each and every time after turning on your SLK. Once you do that, you will be prompted on the display to physically plug your iPhone into the connector inside the glove box. I have tried plugging my iPhone into the connector before turning on my SLK, and most of the time everything connects correctly when I go to turn Drive Kit Plus on. From troubleshooting Q&A in the back of the Drive Kit Plus manual, I found it’s important that the iPhone Bluetooth connection you’ve always used establishes first, so if you have problems like I had one time so far, you’ll know what to fiddle with.
BIG CAVEATS:
END OF PART I (due to 10K post limit) -- Watch for Part II soon!
When MBZ started touting their “Drive Kit” a few years ago, it peeked my interest… but initial availability seemed problematic and stall when Apple came out with the new iPhone 5 and it’s Lightning Connector. Eventually the “Drive Kit Plus” came into existence, and about the only information I could find on it was press releases and the MBZ Drive Kit Plus website. The website provides some high-level Marketing info, but not a lot of specifics on capabilities and the implementation. My dealer Asst Service Mgr was not familiar with what it was. The website indicated R172’s like mine could be retrofitted with the capability, and I’ve seen other MBZ models that now have Drive Kit Plus available as a factory installed option …so, this crazy guy (you’ll learn why I say that later on) decided to take a chance and have this expensive toy installed in my 2014 SLK250.
Having had the Drive Kit Plus installed for the past few days, I decided I may be able to help others who wonder what this thing is all about; Clarify several points in the the very cryptic manual that I’ve figured out for myself; Provide some perhaps practical observations how this option can (and cannot) be used; and then summarize if I’d elect to have the Drive Kit Plus in it’s current implementation in any future MBZ I may own. There is an old thread inquiring about the original Drive Kit out here, but I thought it would be better to start a new thread on what’s really available to us from my POV on our R172s today, so, let’s begin.
My Environment
- 2014 SLK250
- COMAND w/ Nav (and Voice Control)
- Apple iPhone 6 running the latest iOS 8.3
- MBZ Digital DriveStyle App
From the website, the basic prereq for our SLKs is an R172 built mid-2012 or after. You can have COMAND, the Becker Nav, or neither. You must have an iPhone 4, 5 or 6, with any of the variations they include (see below for some caveats). There is no Android variation of the Drive Kit Plus that I’m aware of. You download the free MBZ Digital DriveStyle App to your iPhone which your car will utilities as the means for interfacing to iOS and the WWW.
What Does It Do?
Official Overview: So I don’t have to rewrite the manual, check out the MBZ Drive Kit Plus website.
Bert’s Summary:
Once everything is in place in your SLK and on your iPhone, and it’s all paired-up, you effectively can turn on a new glowing-red interface presented on the SLK’s display that allows access to Siri, Social Media interaction such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, your Contacts and Calendar. Some new Media access capabilities become available to access your iPhone music and Internet Radio stations, along with Aupeo! (which I take must be a more popular European streaming service). There is a pretty complete Google (not Apple Maps) Navigation capability which includes routing, current traffic, Google Street View, Points of Interest, and more all with voice notification. Some additional capabilities like access to your Nest home temperature controls, and some ability for Pebble Watches also becomes available as well (I have not tried any of that).
Installation
Step 1: The dealer installs a module behind the center Infotainment console that enables Drive Kit Plus, and a connection in the glovebox for your iPhone (see photo at the end). A significant amount of firmware updates are then provided, so this is not a DIY project. In my case, 4 hours of labor was quoted for the work, plus parts. In actuality, I picked-up my SLK on the 8th day because of numerous problems they encountered (I’m glad I didn’t have to pay for all their troubleshooting with firmware that didn’t load, and what ended-up as a wrong module that had been sent in the original parts box).
CAVEAT: While it’s not evident on the website that states iPhone 4,4s,5,5c,5s,6,6-Plus are supported, there is actually a different piece of hardware required if you have an old iPhone 4 or 4s, as those use the old 30-pin style connector vs more current iPhone 5 and 6 which use the newer Lighthing Connector. Be SURE you specify which you need at time of order. It’s not known by me or my dealer if a Lightning-to-30-pin Adapter will work or is technically supported.
Step 2: I found no statements about minimum iOS levels required, and I would not suspect a “jail broken” iOS would be supported if you encountered problems. Regardless, I keep all my iOS devices current and my iPhone 6 is running iOS 8.3.
Step 3: If you did not already do it before installation of the Drive Kit Plus, pair your iPhone to your SLK using standard methods in the MBZ Owners Manuals. My phone was paired in advance of the installation, and I did not have to do it again for normal voice calls.
Step 4: Download the free MBZ Digital DriveStyle App to your iPhone. I’d suggest then going in and customizing the options for any social media you may want to access such as Google+, Facebook or Twitter now so that is done. You may also want to go into the “Places” section of the app and download any maps you will be needing (more on this later) so you have something to try with your new toy. I suggest leaving the app running in the background of your iPhone.
Step 5: Turn your SLK ON or at least in accessory mode. We need to now additionally pair your new Drive Kit Plus to your iPhone. On your iPhone, go to Settings / Bluetooth. There are two methods for this next step, but if you press and hold the CLR button next to the SLK Controller, it will start up Drive Kit Plus — and if all goes well — after perhaps half a minute, it should figure out it needs to pair with your iPhone and now your iPhone will show towards the bottom of the Bluetooth page “Drive Kit Plus” being available. Click it and complete the code acceptance on both your SLK and iPhone. When you have that done, you’ve gotten through the first big hurdle. Turn off your SLK. You can go back to your iPhone Home page now if you like — you’re done with pairing.
Iniitialization
When you want to use it’s functionality, Drive Kit Plus must effectively be turned-on through one of two methods each and every time after turning on your SLK. Once you do that, you will be prompted on the display to physically plug your iPhone into the connector inside the glove box. I have tried plugging my iPhone into the connector before turning on my SLK, and most of the time everything connects correctly when I go to turn Drive Kit Plus on. From troubleshooting Q&A in the back of the Drive Kit Plus manual, I found it’s important that the iPhone Bluetooth connection you’ve always used establishes first, so if you have problems like I had one time so far, you’ll know what to fiddle with.
BIG CAVEATS:
- Having to turn on Drive Kit Plus each time is unlike Siri Eyes Free, that is always ON when you turn on a 2014-15 Lexus RX that I’m also familiar with. It makes the interface a lot more seamless, and one less thing to think about.
- Having to plug in your iPhone each time you want to use the capability is a real hassle that I was not expecting. I always keep my cell phone in my pocket, but now will need to remove it when I get into my SLK, plug it in, and remember to remove and put it back in my pocket before I lock the door each time I get out. It’s great I suppose that you get a “free” charging cable for your phone, but the location is hard to reach when sitting in the driver’s seat of the SLK to both connect and disconnect your phone. Also, the current implementation of Siri Eyes Free I’m familiar with in a Lexus, and the latest release of CarPlay coming out this Fall, work wirelessly (granted, Siri Eyes Free does not have the extensive Google Maps capability that Drive Kit Plus provides).
- If you have COMAND and Nav installed on your SLK, you cannot use it while Drive Kit Plus is enabled (I suppose the intent is you would be using Google Maps, but if Drive Kit Plus is off, you can’t use Siri… Hummm.)
- On the positive side, if you have COMAND and Voice Control, you may continue to use voice commands using the button on your steering wheel as you always have. You have to remember to go through the Drive Kit Plus menu however, to access Siri (sorry to beat a dead horse, unlike how Siri Eyes Free works in some other mfgr cars where a long or double click of the same button on the steering wheel will engage Siri Eyes Free vs. the vehicle’s built-in voice commands.)
END OF PART I (due to 10K post limit) -- Watch for Part II soon!