Park Assist, Lane Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control - Worth Getting?

[o_a_ravi]

My input in the order of preference and usefulness is as follows -

1. ACC : Always works quite flawlessly, with TJA (Traffic Jam Assist: ACC + LaneAssist)., it can provide steering guide and bring the vehicle to complete stop in stop and go during the rush hour or commuting traffic.
Emergency Braking or Front Assist which is also a function ACC radar is another plus. Alert/apply brakes when jerks cut in front of you. Saves them and everyone.

2. Lane Assist : Its a love or hate relationship., it works as long as the road ahead of you is nicely paved and marked. 50% of the time it doesnt work right. You can turn down the steering assist adjustment or even completely turn off.

3. Park Assist or Auto park: Nice to have. I use it mostly for parallel parking. Or when the parking space is too tight. You need to know the knack and practice to make it work though.

 

[o_a_ravi]

My input in the order of preference and usefulness is as follows -

1. ACC : Always works quite flawlessly, with TJA (Traffic Jam Assist: ACC + LaneAssist)., it can provide steering guide and bring the vehicle to complete stop in stop and go during the rush hour or commuting traffic.
Emergency Braking or Front Assist which is also a function ACC radar is another plus. Alert/apply brakes when jerks cut in front of you. Saves them and everyone.

2. Lane Assist : Its a love or hate relationship., it works as long as the road ahead of you is nicely paved and marked. 50% of the time it doesnt work right. You can turn down the steering assist adjustment or even completely turn off.

3. Park Assist or Auto park: Nice to have. I use it mostly for parallel parking. Or when the parking space is too tight. You need to know the knack and practice to make it work though.

By the way all 3 of the features were retrofitted on my 17 Golf TSI., a poor man's Tesla auto pilot

 

[Bcraig47]

I drive a 2018 GTI Autobahn with all the options. my least favourite is the adaptive cruise control. the set distances in it are brutal. one car length is like 4 in when using the cruise. I have tuned it with OBD11 and there is a small difference. Other then that, I love everything else the car offers.

 

[Cuzoe]

Besides ACC you can just turn these things off. I have read that isn't the case with some features on other makes/models so can't speak to that. But I wouldn't buy a new-ish Mk7/7.5 without them since we can just turn them off. Unless it's a two door... just give it to me, don't care what it has, haha.

Someone posted about what would happen at highway speeds if part of one of these systems fails... Generally speaking you'll get a warning of some type and the system will say unavailable.

Driving out to Joshua Tree last night there was a ~10 mile stretch of highway where one lane was separated for construction, barriers really close on both sides. A couple minutes in I got some warning I had never seen before saying blind spot monitoring was unavailable. I presume it was because the monitors were picking up tons of reflected returns. Once I was out of that area for about a mile the warning cleared and BSM worked the rest of the drive.

 

[sterkrazzy]

I drive a 2018 GTI Autobahn with all the options. my least favourite is the adaptive cruise control. the set distances in it are brutal. one car length is like 4 in when using the cruise. I have tuned it with OBD11 and there is a small difference. Other then that, I love everything else the car offers.

lol, I put the distance at max with ACC on. I don't want to be close to people anyway.


I had a scenario last weekend where a white audi pulled out in front of me and it made my car think there wasn't anybody in front of me. There was a car at my set distance in front of me. A white audi got behind that guy and as soon as the audi got in front of me my car started to accelerate. It was closing the gap when it should have slowed down for a second.

 

[Daks]

Short answer, I have these and wouldn’t get them again.

Detailed answer:
These came on my used Autobahn and I admit I was intrigued with them. The reality is that driving in and out of a major city the ACC is useless within 15 miles of the city, the proximity sensors are always going off for snow banks, cars pulling up on your bumper or along side you in stopped traffic. The collision avoidance is maybe worth it, it’s gone off maybe 10 times once it was actually needed.
Park assist is so slow and impeded by the Boston drivers barely missing you in their impatience to get by that I never use it.
I do like the cruise control on long trips but it’s not much better than a standard CC.
One other downside is I can’t mount a FMIC, but I think this was fixed in newer versions.
Do I hate them, no, would I pay for them, no.

Everything this man said is true.

 

[Bcraig47]

lol, I put the distance at max with ACC on. I don't want to be close to people anyway.


I had a scenario last weekend where a white audi pulled out in front of me and it made my car think there wasn't anybody in front of me. There was a car at my set distance in front of me. A white audi got behind that guy and as soon as the audi got in front of me my car started to accelerate. It was closing the gap when it should have slowed down for a second.

where im from, people do 80/90khm on the highway when the speed limits are 100kmh. so when im doing 110 its an aggressive deceleration, where if it was normal cruise id use that quick gain as a lane change.

 

[jimlloyd40]

Besides ACC you can just turn these things off. I have read that isn't the case with some features on other makes/models so can't speak to that. But I wouldn't buy a new-ish Mk7/7.5 without them since we can just turn them off. Unless it's a two door... just give it to me, don't care what it has, haha.

Someone posted about what would happen at highway speeds if part of one of these systems fails... Generally speaking you'll get a warning of some type and the system will say unavailable.

Driving out to Joshua Tree last night there was a ~10 mile stretch of highway where one lane was separated for construction, barriers really close on both sides. A couple minutes in I got some warning I had never seen before saying blind spot monitoring was unavailable. I presume it was because the monitors were picking up tons of reflected returns. Once I was out of that area for about a mile the warning cleared and BSM worked the rest of the drive.

If you have forward collision braking and you turn off traction control it disables forward collision braking and there is no warning if you're about to rear end someone.

 

[dequardo]

I'm glad that I don't have ACC. When I'm on the highway in a non congested area I don't want to drive the speed that the guy in front of me is driving with his changing speeds.

Why not? You can pass a vehicle if you want.

 

[dequardo]

Everything this man said is true.

For you. Not for me.

 

[jimlloyd40]

Why not? You can pass a vehicle if you want.

Of course.

 

[Albapete]

I never saw the need for it, however, that was until we bought my wife's Explorer. It has it and its awesome on road trips.

 

[VDubberinDE]

Simple.
1. ACC is great if you are a big highway driver. So if you are not, save your money, you will never use it.
2. Lane Assist - doesn't do much except sometimes, pull you back in lane but that's only when it can read the road lines. So it is not 100%.
3. Park Assist - I would never park my brand new VW in a parallel park situation! LOL, how could you think it, having another driving bang into you as they pull in or out! But seriously, it is nice if you do a lot of city parking.

So if you don't do lots of highway driving or city parking. Save your money.

 

[AWD4416]

Late to the party on input but I would say LED headlights would probably be top of the list, I know your not asking but that's probably the must have.

As for Lane Assist and ACC, my commute is 1 hour each way at 75-80MPH, the combo gives me plenty of time to catch up on audio books or podcast. I also like using it when going in school zones or any place you have to drive ultra slow. Not having to worry about the speed reduces stress. And for the people complaining about the distance on ACC, put the DSG (if you have one) on sport mode and close the distance, it makes it hard for a-holes to cut in .

I do have to say that there is a big difference from the ACC on a MK7 and ACC on a MK7.5 as the earlier model had issues with certain weather (i think it was snow). Also, since I retrofitted both, brake assist turn into ACC and Lane Assist was fully retrofitted with new windshield. I can say that the experience with Lane Assist mostly depends on the firmware installed on the camera. If you have the old firmware (I started with this one, I think its G), the car ping pongs off the lines. If you have the newer firmware (which the 2021 should), the car will literally drive around bends and stay in the middle as opposed to bouncing off the line. Even better if you turn on Traffic Jam Assist.

Hope this helps

 

[flogR]

I was not happy with the behaviour of the ACC (Active Cruise Control i.e. nothing to do with Air Conditioning). In "Individual" mode,I have tried it set to Normal, Sport and Comfort and Comfort is the smoothest overall.