You mean like lots of American cars without electric trunk releases?

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

I personally would not have a problem giving the key to the guard to open it. However the car does have central locking and i'm just saying it would be nice if i didn't have to unlock the trunk every time.

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-1978 300D

craig, craig, craig. simpler does not equal better. it equals simpler. that is, according to aristotles seminal 'Logic'--a thing equals itself. all of mathematic and logic is founded upon this Axiom of Identity

then again the same engineers engineered a problem-prone 'central locking vacuum system' which is prone to leaking everywhere there's a rubber connector

Something has to break after all of its competitors have been crushed.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

What competitors?

Step away from the bong.

You just say "it's unlocked, go ahead and push the button". or "it's locked, I'll have to get out and unlock it for you". How is that embarassing? Am I missing something?

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'98 E300 turbodiesel

I routinely drive mine into facilities where the car is searched. I simply tell them to push the button, it's not a problem.

Well, perhaps "embarassed" wasn't the right word. I suspected that the border guard concluded that the trunk release located inside the cabin of my "old" car was simply broken rather than nonexistent, and that was the reason for my not being able to "pop the trunk" for him. I was already a little sensitive because both entering and leaving Canada I was asked to turn the car off while still waiting in line so that the guards could hear what the people in front of me were saying!

I'm surprised at the number of people who apparently have no use for this feature, and therefore must never use it in their cars that do have it. I frequently am sitting in the car when my wife comes out from a quick trip into the grocery store with her arms full, so I open the trunk for her from inside the car, saving her the difficulty of trying to depress the button when her arms are already full, and saving me the trouble of getting out of the car simply to open the trunk.

Also, when it starts raining and I need to exit the car, I appreciate being able to save a little bit of time in the rain by opening the trunk from inside the car so that I can access the umbrella that lives in the trunk, or anything else that I need to remove from the trunk. Admittedly this saves only a little bit of time, but still...

I believe the reason for this is that eating and drinking while driving was illegal in Germany until only a few years ago, so cars were not built with cup-holders since using them would have been illegal.

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'98 E300 turbodiesel

Same here. I always make sure I personally open the trunk and observe the "thorough" search, which has never once included the area below the false deck. The illusion of security is an amazing thing.

Without going into detail, in my case they are specifically looking for objects that exceed a certain size.

Glad to hear that chivalry isn't dead.

I don't think it was illegal, it just wasn't "the German Way."

But if you REALLY want factory cup holders, can't you just open your glove compartment? Aren't there two little recessed rings in there that look suspiciously like...cup holders? Okay, so they're not really practical, and they're clearly not intended for use while the car is in motion, but they are there.