German Car Zone

I had a ride in my uncle's E500 at night and I noticed that the car had lounge-like lighting from in between the vanity mirrors on the ceiling, as well as at the front passenger lights. It was beautiful to say the least and inspired me to create a thread about interior lighting.

I think it's something that most car fans overlook. Many manufacturers have claimed to have made their car to perfection but they fail to notice one important aspect: how the interior looks at night. Research has shown that a brighter interior would also made a driver more alert. Perhaps this is the reason why German cars are at the forefront of interior lighting. Just look at the S-Class's interior with the warm orange glow from under the wood trim, or the A8's futuristic white neon lights from underneath the doors. For some reason, I just don't see the same level of detail in other brands. Lexus for instance - the LS doesn't have a particularly inviting interior at night, in fact I do not remember any interior ambient lighting at all (correct me if I'm wrong). As for Maserati - the QP does have some green LEDs around, but it shines too brightly and focuses only in a specific area, and it doesn't give a lounge feeling.

This is where I think German cars excel and I think we should applaud for their attention to details such as this. I'd post some pictures but I'm having a problem finding them at the moment...

An example (best I could find ):



Post up any pictures you have of interiors at night!

One car's interior lighting which I don't like is the Phaeton's - it's all striking red, very glaring, distracting and in-your-face. There's no mood lighting either.

I love the Ambient light in our E-Class! It's a warm illumination, that doesn't distract you from driving the car. It is also nice for the passengers, because they don't sit in the dark. I've never seen the S-Class Ambient light at night - but I could imagine that it is great to.
In my opinion the german car manufacture also have great instrument lightning. I like the white illumination you can get in Audis and also Mercedes Benz has a pleasant instrument light.
Especially compared to our 1998 Renault, night driving with the Mercedes is just more comfortable, more pleasant and not so stressful.

Nevertheless, I don't like to much lightning inside the car! A navigation modul, for example, would stress and distract me.

Here are some interior shots of the E-Class:

Instrumentation is key in presenting interior ambience as a whole... And here again the Germans nailed it.







Now compare those with other manufacturers:

James, how could you forget Nevada Jack's S550 interior shot?



I've been in love with this ambient lighting ever since I seen it in an S-Class. Now I always try to peek into an S-class everytime I spot one parked at night or if it makes a turn in front of me while standing on a corner waiting to cross the street.

Any idea who came up with it first?

^^^ As far as I know, BMW, with the E38 7-series and E39 5-series ('waterfall' orange light on the complete console) and on a grander scale in the E65 7-series

Nice thread, I have been thinking of starting a similar thread before, but have forgotten about it. Did you notice the ambient lighting above each door handle and one on the bottom of the rear view mirror?

Ambient lighting is starting to become popular in luxury and medium priced cars. Some cars have 2 or 4 LED lights positioned on the roof with the light clusters, just like those in the BMW 5-series. The X5 has those pluse 1 red LED behind each door handle. The Honda Legend only has blue ambient lighting above each door handle. I know the Audi A8 has ambient lighting but I have no idea where they are located, if you can take some photos for us James, that will be great.

I was trying to find the thread he posted that in but I failed... There are too many of his photos to look through! But thanks for posting that up, that's exactly what I wanted to show.

I'll take a picture of the A8's interior at night later. It's more subdued than the S-Class's light show though.

Yes I did notice those lights... A great detail about the A8 is that all of these ambient lighting are in white, including the door handle lights as well as the rear view mirror bottom light. It gives it a very futuristic feel. I also like the Phaeton's very cosy dimming lights which don't turn off immediately, giving a more gentle feel... Haven't really scrutinised the lights of other cars though. One detail I like about the Lexus is that its number plate lights are all white.

The BMW ones sound nice, don't think I've noticed them before... Would be great to have some photos by some Beemer owners here.