Spec me a second hand car with adaptive cruise control

Soldato
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Thanks, I've been looking into Golfs now. It seems that ACC was only added in 2016 models, and then in only some of them. It's a bit tricky to find them on the 2nd hand car sites as everyone just says "cruise control" in their description without specifying if its adaptive or not.

It wasn't added in 2016 it is standard on all MK7 Golfs bar the S spec models, VW did a facelift in 2016 to what is called the MK7.5 with this the sensor changed from the square sensor in the lower grill to a concealed one in the VW badge. Easist way to tell a pre 2016 Golf has adaptive cruise is to look at a photo of the front of the car if it has the square sensor in the lower grill it has adaptive cruise.

I don't think many S model Golfs were sold as they are very poorly spec'd so I expect over 90% of second hand MK7/7.5 Golfs will have adaptive cruise.

Example of adaptive cruise sensor on a MK7 Golf https://goo.gl/images/dvouX1
 
Soldato
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i have seen some cars with a big black box on the lower grill, is that ACC then ?

On the Golf it means it has adaptive cruise but some models have the sensor for collision warning as standard but you have to pay extra for adaptive cruise.

My mum's Fabia model has as standard collision warning but it was a £400 odd option to enable adaptive cruise even with all the hardware present for it. Luckily with some coding it was easy to enable adaptive cruise.
 
Soldato
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I have ACC in my Leon and can't complain it does a great job, long drives are so effortless. My new Ateca will have it with lane assist this time. Get a car with an auto box and it can deal with crawling traffic.

My only complaint is the size gap it leaves on the motorway. It leaves a safe gap but its just big enough for people to squeeze into.
 
Soldato
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I’ve got a Passat GT Estate - it’s got adaptive cruise and on motorways it’s awesome.

Also got collision assist etc.
Best car I’ve ever had - looks smart too.
 
Man of Honour
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I have a love hate relationship with adaptive cruise. I've now driven various cars with it fitted (All of which also had self steer functionality) too.

In solid traffic its absolutely amazing - a complete game changer and I loved it. But on a Motorway cruise I found it a source of frustration. I am rarely the fastest thing on the Motorway so I don't just sit in the outside lane so a problem I kept encountering with adaptive cruise was slowly creeping up on a car in front who then themselves slowly decelerates and not really realising until I'd been driving along at 65mph for several miles. Whereas with conventional cruise you notice this as, well, you have to! So from this point of view I found the system incredibly frustrating and would honestly have preferred standard cruise.

Then late last year I hired a 6 Series in Germany which also had it fitted. This time, I wasn't sitting at the speed limit the entire time as, well, there isn't one! I was therefore content to make progress in the outside lane and for this the adaptive cruise was absolutely wonderful - safely braking for people pulling out, resuming speed quickly when they moved and because I was in the outside lane the aforementioned issue was never a problem.

Is it therefore the case that everyone in the UK who swears by adaptive cruise does 95 in the outside lane all the time? :D

This could so easily be fixed by an 'adaptive/conventional' button but none of the systems I used (BMW and Mercedes) seemed to offer this. It was either adaptive or no cruise.
 
Soldato
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It can be a bit schizophrenic, ie a lane change out from 2 slowing to 68 to lane 3 to resume 72mph and the car drops a gear and accels hard even in eco mode. Often bowls up to cars before braking hard whereas I’d like think coming up to cars it would come off the throttle soon

On mine you can reduce the gap to minimum and then hold to turn off the follow / gap mode. Normal cruise.
 
Soldato
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I have a love hate relationship with adaptive cruise. I've now driven various cars with it fitted (All of which also had self steer functionality) too.

In solid traffic its absolutely amazing - a complete game changer and I loved it. But on a Motorway cruise I found it a source of frustration. I am rarely the fastest thing on the Motorway so I don't just sit in the outside lane so a problem I kept encountering with adaptive cruise was slowly creeping up on a car in front who then themselves slowly decelerates and not really realising until I'd been driving along at 65mph for several miles. Whereas with conventional cruise you notice this as, well, you have to! So from this point of view I found the system incredibly frustrating and would honestly have preferred standard cruise.

Like every driver aid they are there to assist rather than allow you to just relax and let the car do all the work, if you stay on the ball you can use the range and accelerator pedal to overtake the inconsistent speed drivers. The difference is conventional cruise is MAKING you pay more attention and you're choosing to pay less attention with ACC. That is a driver issue, not an ACC issue.
 
Soldato
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I assume adaptive cruise takes some getting used to? As in trusting it not to just slam you into the car in front! :p
I'm thinking of getting it in our next car.
 
Man of Honour
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I'm not talking about approaching cars where there is a noticeable speed differential. More that you sit in a safe gap behind somebody at 70mph and he slows to 69mph. Then 68mph. Then 67mph..... each 1mph increment is not noticeable until you eventually think 'I'm actually going quite slow now, oh'.

It really is amazing how much difficulty other drivers can have keeping a consistent speed and adaptive cruise can get you caught up with these people.
 
Soldato
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I'm not talking about approaching cars where there is a noticeable speed differential. More that you sit in a safe gap behind somebody at 70mph and he slows to 69mph. Then 68mph. Then 67mph..... each 1mph increment is not noticeable until you eventually think 'I'm actually going quite slow now, oh'.

It really is amazing how much difficulty other drivers can have keeping a consistent speed and adaptive cruise can get you caught up with these people.

Not sure how you manage that. When I come upto the back of people if you indicate to overtake the system adds more speed to prepare to pass. But then BMW drivers indicating...

In the new passats the system also monitors other lanes so when you do an overtake it knows exactly how fast to be.

You get used to approaching slower cars and monitoring your actual speed the more you use it.
 
Man of Honour
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Not sure how you manage that. When I come upto the back of people if you indicate to overtake the system adds more speed to prepare to pass. But then BMW drivers indicating...

I've just explained how - you don't come up to the back of them at a noticeable speed. Perhaps initially they are doing the same speed as you.

I'm not suggesting I am so oblivious I simply don't notice when I come up behind a car doing 10mph less than me :D

You get used to approaching slower cars and monitoring your actual speed the more you use it.

Yes, I suspect this is much of it. Although I've covered about 3000 miles in cars with it fitted they were both over reasonably sure periods of time. But it worked SO well when I was content to sit in the outside lane :D
 
Man of Honour
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In the new passats the system also monitors other lanes so when you do an overtake it knows exactly how fast to be.

The new VW variants with the lane features seem to work quite well in my albeit limited experience but seems to struggle in situations like here https://goo.gl/maps/LALU9SJ4Bj32 - several times if a vehicle is turning off right in front of you (travelling in either direction) once it is clear if left to its own devices will continue for about another 50 yards or so at the speed you slowed down to, then speed up gradually over the next 50 yards or so before suddenly resuming to normal.
 
Soldato
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My current gen Prius Excel has this (and every other safety feature) - I swear it's a great car but you do lose any street cred and pep - such a fantastic sensible car!

You can hold in the SET button to cycle between ACC and normal cruise - accelerating also doesn't disengage the ACC

Next years facelift Prius will have a bigger engine too for some extra pep

You do still need to be alert for numpties but can mostly relax with feet off the pedals and the HUD makes it easier to tell if you are slowing
 
Soldato
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It really is amazing how much difficulty other drivers can have keeping a consistent speed...

This.

The amount of people I catch up to, who (rightly) move over when they can, only to accelerate to quicker than they were going before, to back off again.

I just want to maintain a constant speed and be in the right lane without having to worry about people who can't use the right lane or maintain speeds.

Why don't people know how to motorway?! :D
 
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