Park Assist.

[monkeyhanger]

The rear sensors on my estate are useless, the go to continuous beep loooooong before you get anywhere near an obstacle. I can park closer without sensors. Camera gives you a fish eye view.... which allows you to get an awful lot closer without the annoying beeping.

The beeps go continuous when you are about a foot from the obstacle. When you take this into account you can decide how much closer you are willing to inch back or forward in your maneuvre. Do you want them to be continuous only when you're just touching the obstacle behind you?

The camera is a distraction. You can be looking at the camera's output onscreen the whole time while in reverse, or you can be looking at the bigger picture by turning your head and looking behind you, beyond the camera's limited field and see that impatient pedestrian or car about to cross your car's path as you reverse out of a space that the camera won't see until it may be too late - all while hearing the beeps to judge distance.

I wouldn't spec any of the systems if they weren't standard equipment, the hatchback Golf is very predictable in knowing where the front and back of the car is, it's just a little extra confidence in a tight spot.

[JoeGTI]

How can it possibly be a distraction. That makes zero sense. It gives you a crystal clear picture of what's directly behind you. No beeping sensors offer that.

I know of tragic incident in my locality where a car was reversed out of a driveway over a small child. I think a camera would almost certainly have been a lifesaver in that case.

They should (and will be in time) a mandatory fitted safety item imo.

[monkeyhanger]

How can it possibly be a distraction. That makes zero sense. It gives you a crystal clear picture of what's directly behind you. No beeping sensors offer that.

I know of tragic incident in my locality where a car was reversed out of a driveway over a small child. I think a camera would almost certainly have been a lifesaver in that case.

They should (and will be in time) a mandatory fitted safety item imo.

It gives you a picture of what's directly behind you, not what's coming at you from the side - if you have your head stuck to the monitor and the limited field of view the camera provides, then you won't see the bigger picture over your shoulder.

Did that car that ran the kid over have parking sensors? Was the kid running/walking to the car from the side, or was it sat directly behind the car?

[JoeGTI]

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[JoeGTI]

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[JoeGTI]

It was an older car, don't think it had sensors either tbh and afaik the kid was just standing directly behind it when he reversed (slowly).

The camera is an extremely useful aid. The Golf is a small car but the rear window is very small and high. I find it very good at night too, whatever trickery it does - the image even on a dark wet road is clear and bright.

Of course one should use common sense and not rely on it solely on technology aids, but they most definitely help if used sensibly.

[Exonian]

Generally I'm a bit of a fusspot and will try not to park my Golf within 20 feet of other cars unless I absolutely have to. Therefore that makes it quite easy for me to park and the flip side of that is that I'm crap at parking.
I had park assist on my GTI and although I only used it a handful of times I thought it was great.
In fact I used it so seldom I had to look in the manual to remind myself how to set it up to park properly each time I needed to use it!
What made it even better is for those times you left loads of space when you parked but by the time you return to your car some donkey has practically jammed you in to the space. Park Assist will get you out of that space without working up a sweat.
To my eyes it's the best option on a Golf and I wish I still had it.

I drive commercial vehicles whenever I can as it gets me out of the office so I'm reasonably adept at manoevering things a fair bit bigger than a Golf, or even a small house for that matter(!) but still find Park Assist very useful once in a while.
I also used to have a rear camera in the GTI but once the novelty wore off I rarely looked at it. I preferred to use my mirrors and listened to the sensor bleeps. The screen is sat too low in my opinion.

[cosmos]

It gives you a picture of what's directly behind you, not what's coming at you from the side - if you have your head stuck to the monitor and the limited field of view the camera provides, then you won't see the bigger picture over your shoulder.

I'm sure most people don't rely solely on the camera though, I still use my mirrors and look over my shoulder in busy areas. The camera is handy when negotiating tight parking spots though or wanting to know exactly where the back end is.

[J400uk]

Park assist is a bit of a gimmick but it does work and is worth the £150 IMO! I use mine occasionally and it only messes up if the other car(s) aren't parked properly.

[dippy_x]

Never had a problem with park assist myself.  Use it occasionally and never had an issue.  As above for £150 it's a pretty inexpensive toy in the grand scheme of things.