NEW, Tranparent Bonnet

[JETZ]

Something Ford should look into, along with a front mounted camera for parking close to the curb ease like the Raptor. BMW, Nissan and others have 360 degree cameras.

http://ca.autoblog.com/2014/04/13/land-rover-transparent-bonnet-discovery-vision-video/#continued

 

[tmg19103]

I was just watching a YouTube with a Range Rover that has this. Great for parallel parking and not hitting the curb.

With my Ex, I try to only parallel park on the driver's side so I can open the door and look back while parallel parking so I don't hit the curb and scrape the rims. Reel paranoid about parallel parking on the passenger side due to this. Don't feel comfortable relying on the backup camera for this. If I have to parallel park on the passenger side I invariable end up farther from the curb and have to adjust if I am concerned the Ex - already wide - is out too far.

I figure the 360 camera will come on the next gen. as many big SUV/crossovers are going that route.

As an aside, I was surprised to see the new Range Rover's are unibody and not body over frame, though they still have fulltime 4-wheel and a locking differential. They are really taking the truck out of the SUV. Does make it better for the on road driving most people do all the time, but it's not a truck - not that it's meant to be anymore, but that's the Ex's heritage.

 

[peterk9]

For seeing the rear wheels on both sides these are great. Have been using them as long as I can remember. It is always my first 'mod'.

 

[tmg19103]

For seeing the rear wheels on both sides these are great. Have been using them as long as I can remember. It is always my first 'mod'.

There's a thought. I have BLIS, but those would help with not scraping wheels on curbs.

 

[Sgt1411]

Something Ford should look into, along with a front mounted camera for parking close to the curb ease like the Raptor. BMW, Nissan and others have 360 degree cameras.

http://ca.autoblog.com/2014/04/13/land-rover-transparent-bonnet-discovery-vision-video/#continued

Thats a great system with some amazing functionality but can you imagine if it performed like MFT?

"Your building is on the .............Ooops time for a reboot..................

 

[.:TF:.]

Perhaps I'm just getting old and cynical, but why can't those of you that don't want to reserve/parallel park just use your mirrors? Simply adjust them down so you can see the kerb. I've had cars that even do this automatically when you engage reverse, but it's really not that hard to do yourself.

Don't get me wrong, I love technology and probably wouldn't buy another large car without reversing cameras, but some technology is there to enable, and some is there to augment. We're at a point where most future developments fall into the latter category.

 

[tmg19103]

Perhaps I'm just getting old and cynical, but why can't those of you that don't want to reserve/parallel park just use your mirrors? Simply adjust them down so you can see the kerb. I've had cars that even do this automatically when you engage reverse, but it's really not that hard to do yourself.

Don't get me wrong, I love technology and probably wouldn't buy another large car without reversing cameras, but some technology is there to enable, and some is there to augment. We're at a point where most future developments fall into the latter category.

My Saab has the mirrors go down in reverse - and it has memory seats that lock in the side mirrors too for the three memory seat settings so it's easy to go back to the mirror setting you like if you adjust. The irony is I don't need any of this in my Saab sedan which is much smaller than the Ex and lower to the ground for parallel parking. It's a breeze in the Saab.

My XLT, while pretty loaded, does not have memory seats where I would assume the side view mirrors are part of the memory nor do the mirrors tilt down when in reverse.

Thus, too much of a hassle for me to power tilt down the mirror and then have to get it back to the exact setting I like for driving. I also don't feel i can tell how close I am to the curb with the reverse camera well enough. So, I just open my door and peek back when parallel parking driver's side and am very cautious passenger side.

And it's not as if I'm not a good parallel parker. You just can't see the curb or get a real good feel for where it is in a bigger vehicle like this. All it takes is one misstep and your rims are scraped.

 

[peterk9]

Perhaps I'm just getting old and cynical, but why can't those of you that don't want to reserve/parallel park just use your mirrors? Simply adjust them down so you can see the kerb. I've had cars that even do this automatically when you engage reverse, but it's really not that hard to do yourself.

Don't get me wrong, I love technology and probably wouldn't buy another large car without reversing cameras, but some technology is there to enable, and some is there to augment. We're at a point where most future developments fall into the latter category.

The nice thing with those small convex mirrors is that you don't have to fool with adjusting your mirror. They let you see the rear wheel, the curb AND still allow you to see what is behind you. I have BLIS and still swear by those little mirrors.

Peter

 

[Black Bengal]

The nice thing with those small convex mirrors is that you don't have to fool with adjusting your mirror. They let you see the rear wheel, the curb AND still allow you to see what is behind you. I have BLIS and still swear by those little mirrors.

Peter,
The first thing I did when I bought my Explorer was to drive straight to the auto parts store to buy those little mirrors. I like the BLISS system, but I don't think I could drive without those little mirrors. In fact, I try to keep a spair pair on hand in case I have to rent a car for business travel.