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Adaptive Cruise Control - I'm ready for my lesson

Hensonman

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Cheshire
I've had the car for 3 days. I've got most things set up and ready for my preferences. (Thanks to this Forum for information on the cooling fan + DPF regen and the Stop/Start permutations.)

Now I'm ready for the 'A' Level in Golf systems - the ACC ...

I've read the manual. My dealer is going to give me a face to face tutorial. But I'd like the Forum's advice on when to use it. My thoughts are:

Motorways - yes
Dual carriageways - yes
Single carriageways - probably, depending on traffic flow and speed
Urban roads - possibly
Suburban roads - possibly
City driving - unlikely.

What's the views of the Forum who have really used it ?
 

jimma_uk

Ready to race!
Location
Southampton
I use it almost all the time on the motorway, except in really bad stop start traffic jams. I used it tonight on a long stretch of 30mph roads for the first time, was quite impressed and it helped to keep me at the limit. One thing I did notice, unlike previous cars where if you depress the clutch, it cuts out, the ACC stayed on when I changed gear.
 

kevin1

New member
Location
England
Personally I use it all the time - even in the city. With the DSG it is so easy as it will happily bring the car to a complete stop, i find it is even useful in stop start traffic - most recently stuck on the A303 near Stonehenge where the queue lasted for about 10 miles

On the Motorway - I set in the prevailing speed and let it do it's thing. I like the to keep the distance setting about half way - the gives you a safe stopping distance, but also give you the chance to change lane before the ACC start slowing you down when you catch up with a slower car.

In the in suburban roads - it great for keeping to a speed limit - you can give 100% of you attention to the road, rather than having to keep checking your speed - especially useful when there are cameras about.

Letting the ACC bring the car to a complete halt sounds scary at first, but in fact you feel it slowing down and you soon get used to it.

The place where it's least useful in on windy road - as it wont slow down for bends! - best keep the ACC off in those circumstances.
 

Gignomeus

Ready to race!
Location
United Kingdom
I use mine pretty much all the time.

- Its great on the motorway (best if your not trying to be the fastest thing on the road)

- brilliant on single lane A roads, just follow my leader style stuff its perfect for

- be wary on roads with sharp turns it may lose sight and start to pick up speed, but unless the corner is very long it generally will spot it again before making much progress

- its pretty good in town, though with all the traffic lights stops/starts it starts to lose its usability

- I ditched it in central London; too many lanes, too many cars coming in too close or cutting you up.

- Stick your dial view to the assist view so you can see when its spotted the car in front then get your ass to a Motorway, at 70mph its a good proving ground, then take it on a nice A road.

- Be careful of it for the first few times, learn when its going to work, when its going to lose sight of the cars in front, be careful of stationary cars/objects e.g. cars stopped at lights, its not great at picking those up.

Once you know how it behaves your be able to relax a bit and enjoy it. Please DO use it in heavy traffic, this is really what its made for.
 

Hensonman

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Cheshire
Great advice already guys - many thanks to all four of you.
 

Stripey

Ready to race!
Location
UK
Can use it on any road really but its up to each person on how often they're comfortable with overriding the system to brake/accelerate manually. Personally I feel that if you have to keep overriding it too often, you may as well not bother and drive manually!
 

redbutcher

Ready to race!
Location
Northants
I've only used it on motorway and A roads so far. Not even thought about using it around town as yet.
 

kevin1

New member
Location
England
I would imagine there is probably a big difference in how you use it depending on whether you have DSG or Manual Gearbox.

With the Manual Gearbox there is only so much it can do, but with the DSG it has full control and is able to pull away from a stop and halt the car completely in traffic.

The downside of ACC is that to a degree, you end up copying the driving style of the driver in front - if they leave breaking to the last seconds, the ACC will do the same.

But you soon get a feel for when ACC will help you, and when ACC is a hindrance - it is helpful most of the time.
 
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Russkiya

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Brishtol (SW UK)
When the ACC is on the set speed can be adjusted in 5mph increments with the steering wheel LH side left/right buttons or in 1 mph increments with the LH side up/down buttons.

Also, if you are in a high gear but going too slowly, the MFD will tell you to "Change gear - RPM Low".
 

GTI-7-Performance

Ready to race!
Location
Switzerland
Yep, it's only in combination with DSG that ACC comes its its own. I use it whenever possible on all roads.

It's particularly good on busy roads and city streets with slow and traffic moving at variable speeds. Set the ACC to a couple of MPH above the speed limit to allow for conservative VW speedos and let the guy in front do all the work...
 

matt2

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Scotland
Yep, it's only in combination with DSG that ACC comes its its own. I use it whenever possible on all roads.

It's particularly good on busy roads and city streets with slow and traffic moving at variable speeds. Set the ACC to a couple of MPH above the speed limit to allow for conservative VW speedos and let the guy in front do all the work...

And if there is no car in front, keep an eye out for red lights ;)
 

Mark V1

Go Kart Champion
Location
Herts, UK
Yep, it's only in combination with DSG that ACC comes its its own.
I put it to the test yesterday an a dual carriageway. I was set to 65mph and the car in front was doing 60 but decided to just sit behind him and let ACC keep the distance - then it was time to turn off the road so I indicated left - and so did the car in front. At that point I steeled myself, and just kept my car behind his, up the sliproad and gently coming to a complete stop behind him at the roundabout - no drama at all and no contact with brakes or throttle. A very impressive system!
 
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