Mercedes-Benz User Experience, or MBUX for short, is the company’s latest and greatest infotainment to date.

How so?

For starters, you can speak to the infotainment system, issuing commands like “Hey Mercedes, I’m feeling warm” and the car would then lower the air-conditioning temperature. All these can be done without the driver touching the air-conditioning controls.

This is made possible by Linguatronic, Mercedes-Benz’s own ‘Siri’ voice command system.

Then there’s the completely revamped user interface (UI), which looks and feels like using a modern-day tablet.

That’s a pretty high praise, considering that in-car infotainment systems often times have poor UI and clunky controls.

But with MBUX, texts are large and icons are sharp, which makes legibility a breeze, especially while on the move.

Although the MBUX system is a big step-up from the earlier Comand Online system, there is still room for improvements, as the system relies heavily on in-car mobile internet connectivity for its AI functions to run properly.

Without cellular connectivity, Linguatronic is limited to in-car functions. So, no asking your car what’s next Tuesday’s weather forecast is like, or asking your car to set your calendar appointment.

This is quite noticeable in Malaysia, as we don’t get mobile internet in MBUX-equipped cars. 

But this isn’t that big of a deal, as MBUX also includes support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, allowing either system to fill in the gaps.

Mercedes-Benz has also figured out that scalability over time is necessary, and the system is designed to accept updates over the course of the vehicle’s lifespan.

As a whole, Mercedes-Benz has done a swell job with MBUX as it is by far one of the most intuitive systems we’ve used thus far. Sure, mobile internet would’ve made it complete, but having Apple CarPlay and Android Auto can help lessen the impact.

Models that come with MBUX include:

• A-Class
• A-Class Sedan
• B-Class
• GLE Class