Adaptive cruise control users

[leightonjthomas]

I’ve got ACC on my manual Golf and I love it, especially on motorways when the speed of the vehicles in the outside lane often varies by just 5-10 mph, so I don’t have to keep re-setting cruise control. Sometimes I have to change gear but I still find it relaxing on long journeys. I wish I had it alongside my DSG Cali as I totally accept that it would be even more efficient.

 

[SimonB]

I can't see how ACC could work with a manual gearbox so not a relevant comparison.

As DaNish says you can specify ACC with a manual gear box and it is very good, you just don't get as much benefit from it as you can with a DSG.

 

[B J G]

I presume that a manual would be ok with approx 10MPH variation at 70MPH setting but above that manual override would be needed or does it just drop out?

With hindsight I'd have gone for ACC over the standard cruise that I have. Salesman talked me out of it for reasons that now are obviously invalid, advantage of hindsight now.

 

[Erbster]

I got it and really like it. Took a little while to trust it, but now find it a great help on busy mway. I do get “bullied” by cars pulling in front, but I just put up with that; it’s twice braked before I had spotted a hazard, in only a year of ownership


https://caliventures364847572.wordpress.com/

 

[kave]

There are always people who dont like new technology. ACC will save lifes and I am sure it will be mandatory among abs and esp soon. You are abviously driving the vehicle so you cant relax while using it but it adds a large safety net to your driving. It is also very smooth operating with a large and safe distance to the vehicle in front.
On the german autobahn this summer I understand why there is a version for over 160km/h which I dont have.

 

[SimonB]

I find ACC very useful on busy motorways especially where there are junctions, for example around the M25. Looking out for your turning, watching the traffic that overtakes on both sides, you can't be looking everywhere. Whilst watching a lorry on my left who seemed not to have have the 56mph limiter, a car on the right cut in to try to reach his exit which he had left too late to make safely. The ACC certainly helped.
VW describe it as the passenger who watches your driving, but doesn't nag. Like @Erbster I have understood how it works over the last year and now have a lot more confidence in it.
In the ripple effect video I posted above, I would like to see a version showing the effect of ACC. Would the smoother acceleration & deceleration avoid the bunching up of the traffic?

 

[deccauk]

Wouldn't be without it. I use all the time. I changed my cali just to get ACC. Yesterday we drove from Cheltenham to the north east, and it was a dreadful journey. Literally the worst motorway traffic I have ever encountered - constant bunching up and slowing down to a stop, purely due to the volume of (holiday?) traffic. The ACC was a godsend. A 240 mile journey, of which about 200 miles was motorway or dual carriageway, and the average speed was 33mph.

Without ACC, I would have had to concentrate far harder, and been on and off the brakes constantly.

 

[MarkVw2017]

ACC will ease driving andhelp residuals and if you get tired because driving is becoming too easy, good excuse for a coffee and a break!

 

[Wobble’s Mum]

We had ACC on a Golf R and personally, I loved it. James does not though.

We’ve added it to our new Cali order because I drive daily on two dual carriageways, one of which is a well known road for accidents and not a day goes by when I don’t see people taking risk after risk, driving too close to the car in front, and endangering those around them.

James finds it annoying when it cuts in, or when ‘someone’ cuts in and it breaks sharply. I don’t have my distances set too close and maybe this is why I don’t notice it as much.

Anyway, my point is, that these types of tech, and the requirements for useage is always going to boil down to individual choice. I agree with @SimonB that it would stop that constant bunching of traffic on motorways if more vehicles were fitted with it.

I don’t understand why anyone would be using it when entering a roundabout as described in a previous post - it’s not an autonomous system designed to do your job for you. It is however a great bit of extra kit, if you want an extra pair of eyes and used in the right circumstances probably prevents more accidents than we can measure or give it credit for.

 

[Georgiegirl]

ACC was on the ‘must have’ list of options when we were looking for our ocean. I had it on my previous car (a DSG VW Tiguan) and loved it.
It isn’t auto pilot but does make life easier on motorways and dual carriageways where I found normal cruise control next to useless because of the fluctuating speeds of other motorists. I also use it in areas with low speed limits as a speed limiter which means I can concentrate on the traffic and pedestrians rather than obsessing about what speed I am doing). So I’d argue it actually makes you a better driver than a worse one.

 

[Ocean Spirit]

I have it and I'm not a fan.
Let me explain,
I tested it in a VW Tiguan and the traffic was very light so the demo did everything I wanted it to do or rather everything the salesman wanted it to do.
In the middle lane I set it for about 75mph and we cruised. Then he told me to steer into the inside lane and the car braked pulled in politely behind the traffic there. Next time a gap opened up I steered out to the middle and off we went without a thought of touching the pedals. Brilliant!!!!!!!

Here is what it does for me in the real world. Someone swallows a non exisitant gap between me and the car in front and on come the brakes. The 'set distance' is restored between me and the vehicle in front and in comes someone else. On come the brakes again.
This repeats over and over and even when people get out of the way it accelerates and recreates that 'set distance' and I'm tied to that drivers standard of fluency (brake / accelerate).
I can't bare it.

Without it on I tend to leave a decent gap for braking which means people abuse it in the same way but this time the gap is elastic not 'set' so I gently restore a gap by rolling. Some times I maintain the freedom to prevent some ignoramuses from thinking about doing it again. I'm not aggressive with it but I can shut the door and still drive smoother than the ACC.

 

[Sandyvan]

I very rarely use the normal CC, so would not get the so called benefit of ACC.

 

[Scaliwag]

I have ACC, use it a lot & love it. I use it in slow moving traffic to keep my distance from the vehicle in front and also on motorway driving, which is a lot. I understand how some may find the heavy (ish) breaking or the slow acceleration frustrating but for me it keeps me alert and aware that it needs your attention rather than taking it completely for granted.
Like I said, I love it & wouldn't do without it.

 

[MarkVw2017]

I very rarely use the normal CC, so would not get the so called benefit of ACC.

CC is not ACC. There different beasts. CC is useless in UK traffic (unless you travel at night!)

 

[Sandyvan]

CC is not ACC. There different beasts. CC is useless in UK traffic (unless you travel at night!)

As said I don't use the CC much anyway, for me I like being in full control.

 

[WelshGas]

CC is not ACC. There different beasts. CC is useless in UK traffic (unless you travel at night!)

I have to disagree. Such sweeping statements just prove how weak the arguments for ACC are.
Travelled, yesterday from Junction 33 to Junction 4a on the M4 on standard Cruise Control. 3 changes in set speed required for the Smart Motorway section at Newport and Bristol, from 70 down to 60 and for the Roadworks near Reading 70 to 50.
Being aware of the road and traffic, rather than an automaton following the vehicle in front and being controlled by them ( ACC ) I was able to read the road ahead and ensure I always had a clear lane ahead to travel at 70. Pulling out in plenty of time so as not to get boxed in and pulling back promptly. And before you ask this was from 0700 to 0917 hours.

 

[soulstyledevon]

ACC helping Britain become gridlocked. One traffic jam at a time...

 

[Sandyvan]

Turning us all into electronic dependent Lemmings . pass me my coat.