Last week we drove our E-500 to Death Valley National Park. As we got below sea level, we noticed the GPS display of Altitude would reset to 43000 feet as you got below zero elevation. It then would measure down so that when we were at the lowest elevation at Badwater, it read 42700 . I turned the car off as we walked around and took photos there, and when I turned it back on, it wouldn't read any altitude but I took a photo of the display showing we were at Badwater, the lowest point in the US with an elevation of 282 feet below sea level.

We then drove to another location going above sea level and it would read correct, however, this time when we went below sea level, I stopped and took a photo of the display before turning the car off showing the "VERY HIGH" elevation reading when you are actually about 100 feet below sea level.

This trip was about 700 miles round trip for us and we averaged over 22mpg for the entire trip which included a lot of slow as well as fast driving. Car ran well but glad we had our iPod for good music as radio was nearly non existant and our cell phones didn't work there. The scenery was beautiful

 

Nice observation.

I suppose the German engineering logic is that if you want to go below sea level, don't buy a Merc buy a submarine.

 

Did you take pictures of your car with that backround?

 

Odd that M-B wouldn't consider the possibility of below-sea-level land operation, but then I can't think of any dry part of Europe below sea level (Holland, maybe?), so they must be guilty of Euro-centric thinking. The area around the Dead Sea is below sea level, as are large sections of desert Southern California around the Salton Sea - for instance, Indio, the location of the recent Coachella music festival (if you're into that).

 

Can anyone confirm what it reads in the parts of New Orleans that are below sea level?

 

I'm pretty sure it has a plus or minus 50 foot variation in elevation display. That is if you are not at least 50 feet below sea level, it would read zero. Then when it gets to be more than that below sea level it displays 42900. I don't believe they have any areas in New Orleans more than 50 feet below sea level but I'm not sure.

In Death Valley it would read zero elevation when you were between ~50 feet above sea level and ~50 feet below. It would then jump to the 42900 and continue to count down from there. So when we were at 282 feet below sea level, it read 42700.

 

That makes sense. I don't have the NAV option in the 211, but I do know the one in my GM SUV doesn't even show elevation.

 

What are you doin' man. Get me out of here,,probably.