Best self parking car

Soure and full article






• Land Rover Evoque, Park Assist and Surround Camera, parked the quickest, at 21.9 seconds, and was the consensus pick for easiest to use.

The system is available on most 2013 Range Rovers. Least-expensive with the system: $48,595, Range Rover Evoque Pure Premium AWD.

• Mercedes-Benz GL350, Parktronic with Active Parking Assist and Surround View, 27.4 seconds.

Two of three elements, Parktronic and Active Parking, are available on CLS, GLK, M-Class, GL and SL models. But the full-blown setup that combines those two features with Surround View, as in our test vehicle, only comes in GL models for 2013.

Least-expensive model with Parktronic and Active Parking: $38,965 GLK350 rear-wheel drive.

• Nissan Pathfinder SUV, Around View Monitor, 30.5 seconds.

Around View isn't an auto-parking system. Instead, it blends views from several cameras to display on a screen the area near both sides and the front and back of the vehicle, making it easier to judge how near or far an obstacle is.

Around View Monitor is available on Pathfinder, Quest and Rogue; Infiniti EX, FX, JX and QX.

Least-expensive version: $29,715, Rogue SL front-wheel drive.

• Ford Escape SUV, Active Park Assist, 31 seconds.

Available on Ford C-Max hybrid, C-Max Energi, Explorer, Escape, Flex, Focus, Fusion, Fusion Energi, Fusion Hybrid and Taurus; Lincoln MKS, MKT and MKZ.

Least-expensive version: $24,390, Focus Titanium sedan.

All three auto-park systems we tested will fine-tune the car's position within the space. The driver brakes to a stop in the parking spot, shifts to drive and the auto-park resumes steering control as the vehicle moves forward. The driver stops going forward, shifts back into reverse and the auto-park again works to place the vehicle just-so in the space.

Eventually the systems decide the car's positioning is as good as it's going to get and stops steering. The Ford seems fussiest about lining up the vehicle, continuing the automatic steering through multiple back-and-forth cycles.

All three auto-park systems can be set to allow parking on the right, which is normal, or the left, as on a one-way street.

The way this is worded, it sounds like the surround camera has something to do with park assist, or even parking. Unless I am missing some setting, this does not appear to be the case. While surround cameras are a neat gimmick, the way the Evoque implements them seems very impractical. Most cars with surround cameras switch to that view when you are parking to help you see what is around you. The Evoque doesn't. You have to dig through multiple menus to get there. While I love the park assist feature, the implementation of the surround cameras has been a huge disappointment, especially compared to how Infiniti or other brands use it.

Park assist as fitted to my car uses the park distance sensors not the surround cams. It is the one option fitted to mine that I have never ever used and have heard that, while it is very handy if you use on-street, parallel parking (most parking I use in perpendicular to the kerb not parallel), it also destroys front tyres very quickly!