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[BazaJT]

Been in a 15 plate Megane today-it had badges on front wings saying Limited-when I first got in I thought there was a fault with the interior mirror.From the drivers side[right hand drive] to nearly half way across the mirror appeared darker than the rest.When I started the car however this darker side became a display.There were 4 icons toward the centre,then a speedometer dial looking affair and a digital speed readout and then in the bottom corner nearest driver was the image picked up by the forward facing camera somewhere in the nose of the car.I was only in the car for a short while but found it very distracting indeed when trying to use it just as a mirror!Presumably the icons mean the display can be altered for different info?Whether or not it can be cancelled off entirely I don't know,but how much info do you want your rear view mirror to show?

[Diamond Black Geezer]

I've often thought that rear view mirrors would make excellent places to fit less-relevant info, look at augmented reality systems that such as Jag are looking into at present. Basically living your life like driving in a real-life video game with all manner of alerts, signage, readouts and other info hopping up on your smart glasses at every second of the day.


Personally I think any extra stuff, no matter the good motives (safety, primarily) only mean you are more and more distracted from the road. When the mind in bombarded with too much info it stops paying attentio. You can, and will have a bright red flashing light right in your face saying 'warning, pedestrian being dragged under the vehicle' and if it's accompanied with a dozen other notices/facebook updates etc, you will not realise it's there. Ever been at a noisy party and someone is literally shouting your name next to you and you jump and realise what they're doing? Because we like to pay attention to one thing at a time. It's how all magic tricks work, your attention can only be at one place at any time. 

[Mister Rog]

Surely a lot of this stuff is just to "load" the car so they can charge more and use it as a sales angle ?

I have enough of a problem with the stuff in my 10 year old Volvo combined with a sat nav. It's all designed to give a high-tech appeal, but a lot of it is just "toys".

[BazaJT]

It quite possibly is a sales gimmick,but like I said it's very distracting and takes up nearly 50% of the mirror I'd hate to have to buy a replacement in a few years time[once the warranty is out]when the original goes fubar

[Kevin Wood]

The good thing about pointless electrical gadgets in French cars is that they'll probably stop working before they really annoy you.

[Nick W]

The good thing about pointless electrical gadgets in French cars is that they'll probably stop working before they really annoy you.

The bad thing is that the heated sunroof handle shares an ecu with the throttle sensor and the NSR puddle lamp, and a fault with any of those parts will prevent the car from starting.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

The good thing about pointless electrical gadgets in French cars is that they'll probably stop working before they really annoy you.

The bad thing is that the heated sunroof handle shares an ecu with the throttle sensor and the NSR puddle lamp, and a fault with any of those parts will prevent the car from starting.

An unreliable French car. I'm shocked. Whatever next.