Vijay

So I have ordered my S6 without the Innovation package. I would really love to get the Night Vision camera but I have to get the Innovation and heads up display to go with it. I honestly find the heads up to be annoying, but it isn't that big a deal.

My question is how useful do people really find the innovation package? Is it really of any major benefit during everyday driving, or it it really purely accident avoidance stuff? And if so, has it actually ever "saved" anybody? I really never drive with cruise control, even on long trips, as I find the lack of control disconcerting.

Bottom line is that I really don't *think* I need it, and I would essentially be spending a total of $5600 just to get the night vision camera. The biggest benefit I see of this, is being to see the heat coming off parked police cars. Does it work for that?

Basically, are these options really useful or are they more nice in theory, but not truly useful in most real world driving situations?

Are these the type of things that after you get them you say "wow, how did I ever do without that?" Or....do you say, "that was really kind of a waste of money"

Thanks. I think I only have a very short window of time to change my order.

ccap

Ok, I'll take each point for you because I have the innovation package.
Heads up display. When I fist got it, I was annoying. You can position the height of the information on the windshield and the brightness. I found myself shutting it off. One thing that is strange is they tie the brightness of the HUD to the dashboard brightness. I was that was separate. But recently I have left it on and I like it. I don't look at the speedometer and just glance at the HUD. Also with Navigation, it shows on the HUD. Remember you can shut it off anytime. Oh and with polarized sunglasses, it washes out the display and you don't even see it.

Now about the Night Vision. It's cool, would I get it again, no and here is the reason. When you activate it, it shows up in your information center of your dashboard. so now you are trying to look at the road and glance down on the dash to see if it sees anything? It highlights people, animals, etc, but not cars or else it would be flashing all the time.

So if I were to go it again, I would forget the night vision, get the HUD and get the B&O, which I have already. The option is expensive, but can honesty say without a doubt that this is the most incredible stock sound system. Worth every penny. I was just in an S4 with the B&O and it stuk compared to the S6 B&O. If you didn't order that, put your money in the B&O and forget the innovation package.

Have fun!!

sciblades

I have to agree I never use my night vision but I always use my hud, the night vision is very hard to look at and drive at the same time, now if that night vision was in the hud I would use it a lot more

Dr Chill

The only really necessary option IMO is the LED headlights because of look and function. I also love my black wood with aluminum inlays, but carbon fiber is gorgeous too. The car will be equally as enjoyable with or without anything else. You can also make an argument about the 20" wheels since the 19's are hideous, but I chose not to get them because I wanted to go aftermarket anyway. No factory audio system is worth $5000 because for that money anything aftermarket would probably be much better. I'd much rather spend that same money on things that make the car faster (tune) or sound better (exhaust). I've had HUD on Z06's in the past and never really looked at the image in the windshield or couldn't see it because polarized sunglasses eliminate the image.

The only other thing I'm wanting is a Stasis tune.

DD1546

I really like the LEDs, the comfort seats are cool as is the Driver Assist package. You will appreciate the radar guided, adaptive cruise control on long trips. Works better than the one I had on my Infiniti. Depending where you live, the wheel and tire warranty might be worthwhile - I already destroyed a wheel and tire.

MikeD612

It's all relative but here's my experience:

HUD: find it really useful, had it in my BMW prior to S6 and loved it in both cars; the Audi system has more info including NAV routing

Lane assist\Blind spot: Blind spot is useful, turned off lane assist almost immediately

Night vision: was really excited about this because I commute in total darkness most of the year and am always concerned about joggers\animals...there are a few drawbacks which make the night vision almost useless unfortunately: it only detects people, not animals, as someone said displaying it on the instrument panel forces you to take your eyes off the road (there is supposed to be a HUD warning but this rarely works in my experience) and it's not on by default, you have to remember to turn it on....so for me it's a disappointment

Adaptive cruise: don't use cruise control but those who do say it is awesome

In sum except for the HUD I wouldn't miss innovation if I didn't have it. Agree with those who say that the money is better spent on LEDs and Bang and Olufsen - the price of B&O is ridiculous but the Bose system truly sucks.

thelionsden

I really like innovation package

HUD is great, don't even notice it until I want to see my speed. slight look downward with eyes and there it is. I have adaptive cruise and lane assist in there too. I can feel confident that the car is going to stop by itself behind another car with adaptive cruise. I like having nav in there too. Problem with nav is that it does not work great with verbal entries. Pain to enter an address. My iphone with google maps is way more effective

BLind spot is good, the car is not easy to see out of, that helps confidence when changing lanes.

Lane assist is nice when traveling on highway. With adaptive cruise and lane assist on, you can just relax and know you will not hit anything. (don't close your eyes... :-)

I agree the night vision should be in the HUD. THere are some type of warnings available there but I have not experimented with it much. Perhaps the sensitivity can be adjusted. I will check into it a bit more. So far it has only been something I impress my friends with when showing them the car.

I love the adaptive cruise. You can use it anywhere and it basically drives the car by itself. I don't always use it because with my new exhaust I have been listening to the car and driving it more actively, but if you want to relax and keep a steady cruise it is amazing.

I have not heard the B&O stereo. I didn;t order my car so I had to take it the way it was, with the Bose. I have a lot of experience with audio. I had a recording studio in the past with several sets of speakers that cost as much as 10,000 a pair. I had a cadillac with an awesome aftermarket system that sounded amazing. All that said, in my opinion, I don't think the Bose system is terrible. I enjoy listening to it. would I like a better system? yes. I always love the best stuff. Maybe the B&O would have kept me satiated. But 5600 dollars, you could put a really high quality aftermarket system in the car which would likely exceed the quality of the B$O. If I had already spent the 5600 on the BO, I most certainly would not upgrade it. Having the Bose leaves that option open to me, and it is not horrible in the meantime. I may do it, but I hate to be messing with the interior of such a perfect brand new car. I would have to find a guy that i really trust. I think I may have found that guy and I am considering it.

MikeD612

Same here, I bought my car out of the showroom and it had Bose so that was that. I've followed some of the Bose upgrade threads; my problem is that with the Bose solution tied so tightly to the MMI and interior packaging, there is no clean way to swap out many of the components. Seeing some of the boxes and cutouts for aftermarket subs and amps, and reading about some of the challenges with noise cancellation and MMI integration, it's not something I can see being happy with. Hope to be proven wrong though, if there is a good option I'll be all over it.

RobRoy

Good question and comments on the Innovation Package.

After 30,000 miles and just over a year, here are my comments:

Night vision:

1. Impress your friends with night vision/thermal image view!
2. Check the leakage on your house by parking/pointing your car towards the house. White = leakage/air loss for those living where there is winter!
3. It is very useful for picking up joggers on those quieter streets/back roads with little traffic. Unfortunately with traffic, you cannot take your eyes off the road to check the display, so you often only see the joggers at the last minute (or if they show up in the HUD)
4. I drive a lot on Interstates late at night with little traffic. It did beep once as it picked up a big raccoon 1/2 a mile away. I thought it was a false positive until I saw the animal scurry off the road.
5. It does NOT pick up dead/cold animals on the road. A couple of times while driving at night, I had a dead deer and another animal in the roadway. Bottom line, pay attention to the road.
6. I thought I might be able to spot the police car's thermal image at night, but I think most of the cops don't do many speed traps at night. Either they are too busy doing other things or it is a safety thing. If they are "hiding" it is probably not in the line of sight of the car.

Adaptive Cruise Control and lane assist:

1. I love this as it makes long commutes with moderate - light traffic very easy. Sometimes I get to my destination and try to recall parts of my commute, because it was so effortless. Without adaptive cruise control, I get frustrated/aggressive and try to pass more often.
2. I use the combination of adaptive cruise and the cruise control to sometimes drive 20 minutes through a number of speed zones without having to touch the gas or break pedal. I call this finger driving.
3. When is slower traffic, the car will slow down/stop from speeds like 55 MPH as it follows the flow of traffic. All without me touching the gas/break. The only caution is when the cars are all turning at a stop sign and it is your turn, your car can think there is open road in front and drive right into traffic that has the right of way, so pay attention when it is your turn.
4. I don't like the automatic braking when a car in front of me is turning into their driveway or onto a secondary street. On a few occasions, the car slammed to a stop, where I had ample room to pass the car on the left. Ouch!!!

HUD:

1. I love this as it keeps my eyes focused on the road ahead. The speed indicator is the most useful. The alert for animals/pedestrians which has shown up about a dozen times is also very useful. Turn directions are OK, but I drive on roads that I know very well, so it might be more useful in areas that I actually use the navigation.
2. Yes, sunglasses render the HUD useless.
3. I would like to see more images from the infrared show up on the HUD.

That's my 2 cents!

Shredster

No time for a elaborate analysis but here's my opinion in a nut shell...


HUD speedo:
Not annoying in the least bit. I don't even notice it until I want to notice it... even at night when it is brightest. It provides the speed info I want without looking away. A huge plus and worth it.

Night vision:
I don't use as much but definitely do especially in heavy pedestrian settings whether a people busy street or parking lot... or just heading down a highway. It will pinpoint people ahead often before I do and the flashing yellow box when it hones in on them, always grabs my attention.

I am glad I have both.