Franman

Saw this pic on cars.com for a 2009 GL550 manufactured in 10/08 (according to another pic on the same posting that shows VIN info).

My 2009 GL550 does not put the red and blue lines on the rearview when I'm backing up. Is this something you can turn on and off? Or was it only included on certain builds based on manufacture date???

Anyone know?

Here is the full ad link:

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...e&aff=national

aceman

very late build, i don't have the lines but would like them for my wife...

So i am very interested as well if anyone has info!

Aceman

dariof

How did we all back up without the lines?

I don't have them either, and back up just fine.....I don't even care about the rear camera, and I still back up just fine.

Fourdiesel

I drove a 2010 Audi Q7 TDI with the driving lines. They are neat! Very handy. I am not aware that this feature is available even on the 2010 GL series.

rkao

It's a nice added feature to the backup camera, especially when stall parking backing into a parking space where the GL has more blind spots than my previous E-class.

The Audi's system is still a touch more clever - the line projections turn with the steering wheel. But it's a minor difference.

My only quibble with the backup camera on my GL is that I have to have the COMAND system turned on to activate the camera; the camera on my wife's Odyssey minivan will turn on as soon as the gear selector is in reverse.

Devil Red

While we are quibbling, why don't they have an audible and increasing intensity beep from the parking sensors?

StevethePilot

And how did we survive before airbags? And before seat belts? And what'd we do when our tail lights were the size of quarters with .005w bulbs in them? And how did our species live without antibiotics or refrigeration? or cars! Hell, let's go back and live with the dinosaurs! Woo hoo!

Or, we can say, perhaps, that sometimes the advances in assistance technologies and safety features are actually good and helpful, and we can appreciate the advances science has made in the past 100 years or so to serve us. So that when we spend almost as much as the average US house on a vehicle, it has some of the extra things one would expect. And if you want the damned lines so badly guys, get yourself a couple of colored Sharpies and draw 'em on your screen! Sheesh.

(Or maybe on the camera itself. I'm going to go drink my Kool Aid now.)

STP

dariof

Steve,

Spoken like a true pilot. I know...I used to fly 727's for a major. I'm sure the newer glass panels put a huge smile on your face. They do mine. I'm thankful however I was trained without GPS, Glass, Cat 3, etc. While the newer advances in flying decreases pilot workload, they also decrease the capabilities of the pilot. Good thing Sully learned in an era when you really had to be a pilot to fly...he saved many lives over the Hudson, and I would pit his skills against any new "hot-shot" modern electronic pilot.........but that's a different topic.

Seat belts and air bags come into play with higher speed driving, and do save lives. No doubt about it. But they have nothing to do with back-up cameras.

Antibiotics and refrigeration, which are marvelous discoveries/inventions, are not comparisons to back-up cameras...especially back-up cameras with lines so we know how to turn the wheel.

I would be willing to bet that when DMV tests prospects for new licenses, they do not allow people to rely on a back-up camera with lines to execute a successful and safe backing of the vehicle. I would think they want people to show some driving skills.

Yet, they require seat belts in the vehicle they are to test in....hmmmmm....

So, if a frigging' back-up camera doesn't have lines, well, back up without the guide lines, or use driving skills and instincts in conjunction with the camera.

Or do as you say.......get a friggin' sharpie and have at it.

StevethePilot

Okay, first, Sully's greatest skill (and someone correct me if I've gotten this tidbit wrong?) was that he is a glider pilot. Talk about BASIC flying!! So we totally agree there!

Second, I personally put backup cameras on par with the discovery of antibiotics and nuclear physics. And the ressurection. That's just how I roll. (I feel certain I'll be getting a call from Fr. Bill this afternoon about that. Nuts.)

Third, to tell the truth I was going to try to add a backup camera to my GL until I thought long and hard about how often I use the camera in my wife's RX330. It's seriously like almost never.

But I don't think that just because I don't use it I don't think someone else shouldn't ask for it if they need it, or for theirs to have the same abilities as someone else's who's paid the same amount. Just because I don't have one and don't feel I need one doesn't mean I think someone else shouldn't have every right to ask for one.

Recently I sat with a friend at another luxury car dealership in town (starts with the same letter as "luxury", is where my wife and I both bought recently ... oh, forget it). Anyway, he was talking about how a customer came in and asked him, "does this model come with automatic windsheild wipers?" I don't know if he actually said this but he said that he told her that if she didn't recognize moisture on her windsheild and know to turn on her wipers that she was basically a moron. I thought, "you've been selling luxury cars too long, buddy." It's part of what's expected when you spend so much on a car. People go to VW for basic, they go to Porsche for fasternhell, and they go to Mercedes & BMW for luxury when they're buying German. I won't criticize someone for wanting all the luxury when they do so. Sure, I know how to read a map and find my way around without my GPS, but I prefer to use that because it's more precise, gives me more accurate information (at least time-wise), and lets me instantly see alternative routes if I need them on-the-fly.

Wow, I really feel the love here. What the heck, am I going to start singing Kum Bay Ya?

STP

rkao

OMG totally reminded me of a story: my former BMW rep in Toronto told me once long ago that a customer came in and was getting a walk around of an E34 5-series (yes, that dates the story) and when the bonnet was lifted, she asked if the windshield washer fluid reservoir was standard...an OT side note: I do miss the rear opening clam shell design of the old BMW bonnets, I had an '88 635CSi and a '95 530i with this design and it was fantastic.

So yes, luxury car buyers in general aren't the most enthusiastic motorists and hopefully some of these new technologies serve to help make every driver's life a bit easier. I know I've come to rely on some of these even though I prefer the simplicity of a manual transmission on a sub-1,800 lbs RWD car while at the track!

dariof

We agree on that point too. I just took my 911 Carrera S on a curved freeway on ramp....accelerated 0-100 (or so) in a flash, then had to slow down (darn) to get on the freeway. That on ramp is the best when there are no other cars in front of me.....

It was pure basic fun!!!

dal35

yup!