Adaptive cruise...

jpaul · 24 Sep 2020 at 21:04

or are just generally pants at holding speed,

less likely on a motorway, but , if you want a nod towards economy on an undulating road, you don't want to crest the brow of a hill doing the speed limit, even if you have regen,
which is a reason you see people not holding speed, even more so on a lorry ? scania ?

- this is a bit like the (bmw) gps adaptive gear changes you can get at bends/roundabouts from the auto/manual thread ... maybe it already part of some adaptives.

Clarkey · 1 Oct 2020 at 10:16

I'm on the fence about this atm, it was a deal breaker to have this feature in my new car but having used it, I find it's a bit annoying. You constantly find yourself getting slowed down and down and down. The gap it wants is unrealistically large even on the smallest setting, I find myself overriding it with the pedal giving me a chance to get closer to the car in front and pull out before it slows to a crawl and you then can't pull out into faster traffic. I think in most scenarios I would prefer just regular cruise.

andy_mk3 · 1 Oct 2020 at 23:10

Clarkey said:
I'm on the fence about this atm, it was a deal breaker to have this feature in my new car but having used it, I find it's a bit annoying. You constantly find yourself getting slowed down and down and down. The gap it wants is unrealistically large even on the smallest setting, I find myself overriding it with the pedal giving me a chance to get closer to the car in front and pull out before it slows to a crawl and you then can't pull out into faster traffic. I think in most scenarios I would prefer just regular cruise.

It can depend. I use it all the time, but I know where its not going to be effective and take over if needed. I travel part of the A1 daily where its usually quite busy and the speed is up and down a lot, as well as cars pulling in and out all over the place. I can set the cruise and not touch a pedal for the whole time I'm on there. It does a great job on the whole.

Uncle_Gravy · 2 Oct 2020 at 02:27

PiKe said:
I don't understand people who say they can't use standard cruise, I always use it on the motorway, as long as you're aware of your surroundings there is rarely a time where you need to completely disengage it, I can drive for hours just slightly adjusting speed on the steering wheel.

I use my normal cruise all the time, even on a 30mph road, it's just a huge convenience, it's a must have on any car imo.

squerble · 2 Oct 2020 at 06:53

Uncle_Gravy said:
I use my normal cruise all the time, even on a 30mph road, it's just a huge convenience, it's a must have on any car imo.

On "normal" (30/40) roads I tend to use the limiter function, it's a bit more dynamic for inevitable slowdowns etc. It winds people up something rotten though when I'm at 30mph on stretches where people regularly do 40+.

Uncle_Gravy · 2 Oct 2020 at 12:56

squerble said:
It winds people up something rotten though when I'm at 30mph on stretches where people regularly do 40+.

It's great, most of them in my area will over take, flying past at 50mph in a 30.

Conscript · 2 Oct 2020 at 14:02

Clarkey said:
I'm on the fence about this atm, it was a deal breaker to have this feature in my new car but having used it, I find it's a bit annoying. You constantly find yourself getting slowed down and down and down. The gap it wants is unrealistically large even on the smallest setting, I find myself overriding it with the pedal giving me a chance to get closer to the car in front and pull out before it slows to a crawl and you then can't pull out into faster traffic. I think in most scenarios I would prefer just regular cruise.

I know exactly what you mean, and you've hit one what I meant when I said it still takes a little getting used to. For instance, if you're approaching slower traffic and want to move out to the overtaking lane, but you're waiting for someone to pass you first - if you pull out behind them too quickly as they pass, even though they are going much faster and the gap between you is growing, the cruise control steps in and wants to slow you down, even though it could maintain speed with no issue. So you still have to be prepared to override with the throttle so you don't slow down the overtaking lane for too long while the cruise sorts itself out.

Similarly, I've had someone pull out in front of me quite closely, which causes the cruise to slow down rapidly, even though the car then zooms off ahead faster than I had the cruise set to.

Perhaps it would help if the adaptive cruise was not only able to judge the distance to the car in front, but also it's relative velocity, which would help in those situations. Maybe some more advanced system do this already. However, as long as you account for that, it's still far better than 'normal' cruise control in my opinion.