It depends on what you are used to... If you are older, you may remember the days where those convenience options didn't exist. People didn't smash into one another because of them not being invented.

However, if you are younger, you may have become dependent on them in which case it would be a liability to not have them. If you have to back into parking spots or parallel park a lot, then they are good to have..

 

I checked their website and they don’t list a 2017 which is what I am interested in. How is the picture quality of the rear camera and does it show cross traffic like the post 2018 factory cameras? Do you buy their product direct and find an installer? How about front/rear parking sensors?
Thanks for your help

 

The quality of the reverse camera is far from best in class but pretty decent and clear (during daytime at least). I believe it'll show cross traffic if you have the blind spot package and if you don't, it'll show the guide lines as well and the door open lines if you choose.

 

Honestly, once I set up the rear view mirrors correctly and set the reverse dip, I haven't needed the blind spot monitoring. The camera is nice, but I could live without it.

 

Mine works very well. I get the flashing icon speed differential warning whenever a vehicle is coming upon me significantly faster. I'm amazed that it even works for on-ramps when trying to merge. The cross-detection works really well which is fantastic in the convertible when the roof is up because backing out of a parking space between two SUVs can be an exercise in bravery but the cross-traffic alert with the rear view camera solves that issue.

Next time you're at the dealer you may want to see about a re-calibration.

 

This is exactly how mine work and is working 100% as intended. It is only supposed to alert you to cars that are in your blind spot which is exactly as you have described. It is intended for lane changes for cars that are travelling at the same speed as your car but happen to be in your blind spot (about one car length behind and parallel) further back than that it is not in your blind spot and also if your lane change there is no risk of collision as the car is 2 or more car lengths behind in the other lane. Hence no warning. You can’t really be complaining the warning is in the mirror and not the HUD. (I agree JLR should have HUD in such a expensive car but that is off topic) you surely would be checking the side mirrors when lane changing and not just looking forward at the HUD when changing lanes so this point is actually mute.
The flashing high speed approaching car in next lane works very well in my opinion. It only triggers if there is a risk of collision if the car determines that there will be a collision if you decide to sudden lane change or pull out of a stationary lane into a slip lane. On cars that coming moderately fast it will not flash because it has determined you have enough time/room . Obviously not perfect and you alway have to use your own judgement but I think it is calibrated as good as it can be and pretty much where I would want it to alarm.

 

Er, actually moot.

 

ha ! I think this is the second time you have got me on the same word. !!! Shame on me.

 

My Mazda CX 5 has a setting in the user preference menu to have an audible warning for the BSM in addition to the icons on the mirrors and the flashing icons on the HUD. On my way home from the dealer when I bought the car the damn thing was beeping like crazy on the busy freeway. I turned the sound warning off as soon as I got home and figured out the menu.!

 

I understand your argument but I still think it should be calibrated to show the warnings just prior to the vehicles being fully in the blind spot. Often drivers in the parallel lanes are slowly creeping up and into the blind spot and making a lane change at freeway speeds can mean an uncomfortable distance between my car and the other. The flashing high speed approaching car warning seems to work intermittently well in my car. Several times I has seen cars coming up very rapidly behind me in parallel lanes and the system didn't alert me until those cars were almost next to me. And I'm talking about cars doing an estimated 90 mph when I'm doing 70 MPH.

Good thing I have more than 50 years of good driving habits under my belt and don't rely on all the tech features that cars have these days. My old Drivers Education teacher had been a P47 Thunderbolt fighter pilot in the skies over Europe during WWII and taught his students to drive like a fighter pilot; not aggressively but to constantly be searching in all directions around us for "threats" and to maintain enough space and always have a plan for an evasive manoeuvre should it be necessary. After such sage words of advice he would also fall asleep in the passenger seat and let us drive wherever we wanted to. I think he hit the bottle at times.......

 

Agreed . Electronic safety gear should be seen as value added and actually not relied upon.
Would always get AEB and adaptive cruise control but would not rely upon them with blind faith. Works well enough 99% of the time but that is not 100%
Plenty of time have let my other car come to a complete stop without touching the brakes whilst using adaptive cruise and stopping behind banked up cars at a red, but at other times car has not slowed down and was still travelling quite fast and beyond my comfort level to leave to see if it would eventually trigger and brake itself.
Thats why i don't get the idiots who put all their trust in Tesla's auto pilot. Obviously a fair few have paid the ultimate price.

 

I think a huge issue is that Tesla named it “auto-pilot” as opposed to “driving assist” or something similar. I believe that was a huge mistake on their part and that it makes a lot of drivers who are new to this technology trust it too much. I think after all of the fatalities associated with it, it would have been a good call to rename it.

 

Call me paranoid but I do not even trust my F-Type's park assist feature.
I also hardly use the cruise control, and would never trust it to stop the car.
Our Audi A7 also has a number of automatic driving "aids" that we do not use.