According to the web site, the technology package with "Around View Monitor" costs $2K. Did anybody buy this? Was it worth it? I'm definitely going to get the Navigation, but $2K for something that I'm not if I'm going to use seems a bit steep.

The Tech package also includes Lane Departure Warning and Lane Departure prevention (both of which work well but get mixed reviews, and can be shut off) as well as Intelligent Cruise Control which maintains your distance on the highway behind the car ahead and works great. Having the AVM and ICC I'm not sure I'd want a car in the future without both. Compared to the $2K for the Nav package the Tech package is a worthwhile buy.

I bought mine fully loaded. The Tech Package is AWESOME. The AVM allows for very easy parking and maneuvering in tight spaces. The lane departure prevention and smart cruise control are great for any amount of highway traffic.

Setting the smart cruise control is really like setting the maximum speed you wish to travel. It will automatically maintain the spacing you've set with the car in front. Speeding up and slowing down as needed. Even when some a-hole cuts you off.

The lane departure prevention take the lane departure warning a step further and actually applies brakes to the opposite side of the car from the lane you drifted into. All you have to do is remember to use your turn signal when changing lanes to bypass the automatic braking feature. It works quite well I tried it on the interstate by letting it steer with my hands off the wheel.

Prevents you from drifting into other lanes, maintains proper following distance and keeps up with the flow of traffic.

An alcoholics dream come true!

(I pretty much said this in another thread, but here's a recap ...)

The Canadian Tech pkg includes ICC, LDW/LDP and AVM for an incremental cost of $1700 list.

I don't anticipate ever benefiting from LDP. In fact, I reconfigured my car so that LDW is in manual mode and stays off when I start the car (p.2-40). One reviewer expressed my sentiments exactly when he said (I'm paraphrasing), "it works to keep people on the road a little longer, that really have no business being on the road in the first place!"

AVM is awesome and I use it virtually every time I park. At first, I thought it would just be a toy, but once I actually test-drove an AVM-equipped vehicle, I found it really worked! Also, it must use infrared or something because even at night, the rendered view is hardly degraded. If you have any dyslexia though, it may freak you out because the various views mightn't be so easy to process. (I was told this by someone, so afflicted.)

I am a little annoyed that it doesn't let you freely choose your camera view, though. If you're in reverse, it will show the rear view plus top-down or the right-side view. If you're in a forward gear, it will show the forward view plus top-down or the right-side view. It never shows the left-side view (what if you're parking on the left side of a one-way street?) and only works at very slow speeds ... past 5 mph (or so), the camera shuts off.

I used the ICC extensively on a trip the first week of May and can confirm that it works well. You can select from three different following distances and it tries to maintain it, up to your maximum cruise speed. Its predictive behaviour isn't as smart as a person as it sometimes seems to "charge" up to another vehicle going slower (rather than braking, I would prefer it simply stopped applying throttle soon enough to match speed with the slower vehicle, at the chosen following distance). But all in all, I still think it's worth having. (If nothing else, it can save you from yourself because you're too busy fiddling with all the cool gadgets in your new car ... hard drive music box, MP3s on your CF card, XM stations, Nav, etc ... er, don't ask me how I know!!)

HTH,David
Modified by dividedhighw at 8:13 PM 5/22/2008

FLAMEX wrote:The Tech package also includes Lane Departure Warning and Lane Departure prevention (both of which work well but get mixed reviews, and can be shut off) as well as Intelligent Cruise Control which maintains your distance on the highway behind the car ahead and works great. Having the AVM and ICC I'm not sure I'd want a car in the future without both. Compared to the $2K for the Nav package the Tech package is a worthwhile buy.

Can the Lane Departure Warning (LDW) actually be manually turned off or can it just be avoided by using the turn signal before crossing over the lane marker lines?

I'm concerned about driving on twisty mountain roads and having the LDW go off every time the driver straddles a lane line when setting up for a turn. It would be annoying to have the alarm alert constantly go off during spirited driving on a lonely mountain road.

If LDW could be turned off at the driver's option, I think it would be a great electronic addition.

As noted above, it can be turned off for that particular drive... and then the next time you start the Car, it's re-activated again.

OR...

You can go into the programming and turn it off forever aka Manual Mode.

I wasn't all that excited about getting the Technology package and, in fact, planned to buy the EX35 without the Technology Package. But all of the early cars the dealer got were either missing some other feature I wanted (like Nav), or loaded with just about everything. So, rather than wait, I went for the whole enchilada!

I am VERY glad I did! I use the AVM cameras almost every day! They are a terrific aid for backing into a parallel parking spot. I'm able to get nice and close to the curb, but never touch it with wheel or the tire. And the Intelligent Cruise Control is fantastic too! Certain curves or dips in the road can cause it to act up a bit, but, for the most part, the ICC is a feature I want on every car from here on out!

Mark

YES! it is worth it.The intelligent cruise control alone is worth it. Set to medium or short distance.We were convinced of the AVM cameras when we tested it in the dealer parking lot. Lastly the lane departure warning system has help greatly with getting use to where the car sits in the lane. The LDP system however takes getting use to.

The only feature I question on this car thus far is the XM radio traffic. I decided to pay for it for a year anyway. XM radio is questionable to when you have an ipod in the car, but when you have to go back to standard radio, it's painful.