We just spent the last week playing with the Mercedes-Benz 2013 GL450 - fully loaded with designo package and all the tech add ons! I must say, after driving it (and the other cars all stayed in the garage - all week!), it’s no surprise that it just won Motor Trend’s SUV of the year… having grown up in/driving SUVs for most of my life, i must say this beast of a car handles amazingly, and is surprisingly comfortable as a passenger (in any of the seats) And the new Active Curve System is magical - “to help control body lean during cornering maneuvers, electrohydraullically variable stabilizer bars for the front and rear axies increase roll stiffness based on driving speed and lateral acceleration, as well as the Adaptive Damping System’s Sport Mode.” Oh, and Sport Mode is a must when not off roading…

But the one detail that blew me away (and that i miss now that the car is gone) - the Surround View System. Anytime you are driving below a certain speed (maybe around 15mph?) you can click into the 360 Camera in the System menu and see the views around the WHOLE car - in various merged super views as well as seeing what each camera (one below the front mercedes logo, one on the bottom of each side mirror, and one that pops down above the license plate in the back) is seeing… while i’d like to think i’m pretty good with the parallel parking and lining up nicely between the lines… there is no question here when you can pop the camera on and see EXACTLY where those lines are. Also as you turn the steering, lines appear showing exactly where your car will go. It is a nicely implemented feature, and beyond pictures, we made some videos for you to see it in action on the next page!

p.s. Now, if only someone could hack it so you could record video out of them…

Tags: camera - Mercedes-Benz - video