Waiting-4-550

Hey guys/gals... Thought I'd start a new thread on Q & A for GL 550... Dealer/salesperson was great but I think it would be easier getting answers from the peeps on this site..

Some questions I have now after having car for last weekend.

1.. Can one switch form sport/comfort/auto driving mode while driving.. will this hurt tranny??
2. Can truck be raised/lowered while driving or should car be at standstill??
3. Can parktronic beeping sound be made louder?? Have hard time hearing it beep..
4. Can DVD be controlled from Command screen or is the remote control best way to control it form front?? My kids are too small to control it themselves..
5. How hard is it to set up garage door opener to button under mirror?
6. When putting on fog lights I pull knob how many times?? What exactly do they mean by rear fog lights?? All I saw on vehicle was brighter red light on rear driver's side taillight -- Is that one sided bright red light the rear fog lights or is one of my rear fog lights out??? Confusing - never had a car with a rear fog light...
7. Is it possible MB didn't properly install my illuminated sill guards?? Driver's side dosen't light up but passenger side does?? Could I have shut it off somehow or does this require service attention???
8. What exactly is purpose of increasing height of vehicle? Simply clearance or does this make for other off road purposes?? Is it safe to drive fast (on highway) with car in elevated state?? Would maybe wanna keep the truck elevated to make it look more aggressive- especially if showing it off to fellow macho men...
9. Another last question>>> what are the DSR and other truck symbols at bottom of console?.. I bet they're off terrain buttons I'll never need..
10. Should all entering in and out of third row be done from passenger rear door?? Can this be done from driver's rear door??

My wife was given the pleasure of picking up the vehicle and getting the intro from the salesperson. It was truly special for me to let her have this fun.. And she admits most of the details went over her head and keeps saying "oh yeah he mentioned that" ever time I figure out another detail of the car...

So guys/gals this is one of my longer posts and would really appreciate as many answers as possible so I can understand and enjoy this ride to the fullest.. I think we can continue to benefit from one another

jpeardm

Yes, it's ok to raise/lower it while stopped but it's really best to leave it in auto mode, if raised up at highway speed you will wear the tires quickly and also it is less aerodynamic and a higher CG. I don't believe the volume can be changed on the Parktronic. The DSR is to set a fixed speed while descending hills while towing or otherwise. Only the passenger side rear seat moves for entry into the 3rd row. Both sills should light, there is no switch to turn them off. These vehicles have a lot of features and it takes a while to get to know them. I know it's long (600 pages) but it would be best to read and reread the manual a couple times to figure it all out. Good luck with that new machine!

Waiting-4-550

Good thing for me I love this car info stuff.. I think I'll start purusing the manual so I can figure out some of the finer details... I was also a little overwhelmed when I took delivery on my 750 and now it's second nature to me...
Would love if members here could share info and maybe save us some tedious work with manual...

Waiting-4-550

So jpeardm let me get this right the airmatic goes up and down automatically too.. Does the car lower automatically at highway speed becuse I think I actually felt that while driving on the highway this past weekend.. Was kinda surreal...

gas-man

Q. 1 -From the manual (281) it seems to me that you have to select these modes while you are stopped.
Q. 2- Again I would say from standstill (page 273)
Q. 3- No
Q. 4- No ( Bummer)
Q. 5- Scale of 1 to 5(difficult) it is a 1 for me and I'm not very technical
Q. 6- pull to 1 stop for fron and to 2nd stop for back. Like you said the rear fog lamps are the bright red light you see
Q. 7-something wrong if the illuminated door sills are not on or one is not, it should be both illuminated if door is open
Q. 8- for clearance purposes if needed in rough terrain. You cannot drive it more than 40 miles/hr and the vehicle will give you a message on the dashboard.
Q. 9-DSR Downhill Speed Regulation usually used if weather and geography needs it i.e descending a steep hill, muddy terrain downhill. factory default set at 4 miles/hr. this could be changed ( page 276 )
Q.10- only on the passenger side.

Waiting-4-550

Thanks for detailed answers!!! Back to rear fog light issue.. Is bright red light supposed to come from only driver side rear taillight?? (didn't see bright red light from passenger tail-light)
Also very interested about answer with increased height and 40 mph limit.. So I guess highway driving with setting of elevated height is not possible..
DVD controls is true bummer -- my friend's navigator has got GL beaten here!

oknish

Rear fog light is only one extra bulb on driver's side. And, yes, you can't drive over 40 MPH with the GL raised. My guess is that it has to do with making sure CG is low enough to prevent rollover during a sharp turn at high speeds.

I also have young kids so I can understand your comments on DVD controls.

WordSmith

The rear foglight only comes on on the drivers side. I have the same on my SL500. I was told this to make the vehicle visible in fog to other drivers that might attempt to pass.

85mm

I just got back from our first roadtrip with our 2 and 4 yr old. It was a pain controlling the dvd's especially those with multiple episodes or more complex menus. The remote itself isn't that friendly either. Where's play button? On the plus side, I was able to change dvd's while driving although I don't recommend it. The seperate aux buttons would be really cool for older kids who can watch separate movies on their ipods.

Regarding the garage door opener, it depends on your type of garage door opener. At our condo, it was easy. At our new home, I think the garage door opener resets the code each time so that I need to do an additional step. I never got it programmed on our Land Rover and only tried once on the GL450 with no luck.

Waiting-4-550

Excellent responses guys.. Keep the info and questions going.. By sharing our experiences and questions we'll master this vehicle more than possible alone

Waiting-4-550

[QUOTE=oknish;2396260]And, yes, you can't drive over 40 MPH with the GL raised. My guess is that it has to do with making sure CG is low enough to prevent rollover during a sharp turn at high speeds.

Guess MB trying to prevent un-necessary accidents in overzealous guys like me.. I probably could make the vehicle go airborne if I was left unattended

scottybdiving

On the garage door opener, if it does not accept the code from you transmitter, you have to press the "learn" button located on the back side of your garage door opener. It usually gives you about 30 seconds after initiating it. On my gate opener, it accepted the code from the transmitter immediately.

dsunnym1

I just noticed that i did not get any floor mats for the third row??

is this normal?

Waiting-4-550

I also didn't get 3rd row mats but did see the 3rd row mats available on the web..

My dealer gave me carpet mats and even threw in rubber mats for "free".. Neither set has third row mats.. Maybe I'll pick em up on line in the future... You'd think for the price they'd throw in the third row mats.

Good observation dsunnym1!!! let me know what else you discover.

dsunnym1

I got the rubber mats as well thrown in .
I will be picking up some third row as well.

as far as switching from c to s etc.
i was going back and fourth while driving without a problem.
I found that auto mode is fine for most situations.

I too have the door sills that illumanate.
and no there is no way to turn them off,,,
have that looked at. Probally just a loose wire.

Excellent thread by the way!!
I will continue to add any new finds.

I was playing around lastnight with the auto window open and close feature
From the exterior and learned that you can not only open&close by using the
key you also can do it from the drivers door handle.
pretty cool!! I thought

Waiting-4-550

Please do add more finds as they arise.. I'll try the opening windows with drivers door handle --- crazy Germans with their secret gadgets

sraj

Are your carpet mats the fuzzy velour type or the woven berber type? The 2008's I've seen at the dealer have been coming with the fuzzy kind.

dsunnym1

fuzzy velor type

blittle

What exactly do you mean? I know that you can hold the "lock/unlock" button on the key and that will open/close the windows.

jpeardm

Would that be with the Keyless Go you can aim it at the door handle and open all windows at once??

WordSmith

Yes, you can open and close the windows from the remote.

jblewis02

Not just the keyless go...If you aim the regular "key" at the door handle, all the windows and i think the roof opens

dsunnym1

With the keyless go feature ,
without using the remote you can
access this feature as well .

Hold in the drivers lock button on door handle
to close windows & roof.

Also if you hold door handle
open it open the windows & roof

Dodson

Not sure, but I don't think the Keyless Go feature is needed for this. I think, on my wife's 2007 ML this can be done from the interior door lock buttons or fom outside with the key remote. And the car doesn't have Keyless Go.

But I could be wrong.

oknish

You are not. KG is not needed to lower/raise/open/close windows/sunroof. Search the forum for "tunnel mode".