Adaptive Cruise Control

[Leagle]

Ok, as you may have read from some of my other posts, I have a Passat CC on order. I ticked just about every option except Adaptive Cruise Control. Probably in part due to my ignorance of how valuable it would be, together with a few iffy reviews that I found.

However, the more I wait for the CC, the more I realise that I have buyers remorse in not ticking this option!

Now I have three distinct but related questions to ask:

1. Can any people with Adaptive Cruise Control on their cars (particularly Passat CC) with some experience please let me know what they think of it! Will I regret not having ticked that box?

2. Can the Adaptice Cruise Control function be turned off so that you can use it like a simple cruise control? (I know that you can do this with certain Lexus models but don't know if can be done on the CC)

3. Now that I have my order in, how tolerant do you think the dealer would be in cancelling the previous car and ordering a new one with ACC fitted? (It has been a few weeks now).

[Luminary]

3. Now that I have my order in, how tolerant do you think the dealer would be in cancelling the previous car and ordering a new one with ACC fitted? (It has been a few weeks now).

Even at the best of times using the usual cruise control isn't a large part of my driving, but it may be for others on freeways for most of their drive.

I wouldn't miss it and didn't have the option then to tick that box. I might have ticked it; but it's another $2000 and one way or another it's probably better spent on something else I want.

Also remember that the dealer may allow you to do option 3. but you'll get reamed and lose all your bargaining power. You'll be over the barrel.

I'd probably live without it....

[R36 Dreamer]

Ok, as you may have read from some of my other posts, I have a Passat CC on order. I ticked just about every option except Adaptive Cruise Control. Probably in part due to my ignorance of how valuable it would be, together with a few iffy reviews that I found.

However, the more I wait for the CC, the more I realise that I have buyers remorse in not ticking this option!

Now I have three distinct but related questions to ask:

1. Can any people with Adaptive Cruise Control on their cars (particularly Passat CC) with some experience please let me know what they think of it! Will I regret not having ticked that box?

2. Can the Adaptice Cruise Control function be turned off so that you can use it like a simple cruise control? (I know that you can do this with certain Lexus models but don't know if can be done on the CC)

3. Now that I have my order in, how tolerant do you think the dealer would be in cancelling the previous car and ordering a new one with ACC fitted? (It has been a few weeks now).

I had a Passat CC for a week whilst the R36 was in the service dept having the Mechatronics replaced, and it was fitted with ACC.

I didn't like it at all. Even though you can adjust the distance for the sensors to pick up the vehicle in front, I was not impressed.

Overtaking on dual carriageway was difficult, as the car would start to brake then have to accellerate again, and I couldn't get the balance right. I think had the car been the 3.6 instead of the diesel it may have been better.

I thought it was not a usefull feature, though if it was standard I wouldn't complain, but I wouldn't pay for it as an option.

It was pretty cool showing my mates how it worked though, drove from my house to the city (15kms) without the need for brakes to slow in traffic (though obviously needed them for traffic lights...!

The ACC can be turned off completely via the MFD, which I ended up doing on a longer trip down the south coast, as it was becoming frustrating (my wife thought it was rough braking and accelerating all the time).

Maybe it is my driving, but I hate pulling into the right lane too early, so others may have a better experience.

Just my opinion.

[tothemaxx]

I have CC withe ACC and I do not have it activated cos it does get quite annoying and plus it will eat your brake pads like dinner. However the most useful thing about it is that you can set the collision mode on where if a car pulls out in front of you or the traffic comes to a sudden hault the car will let off a warning beeping a break. he mode have save my car a few times when some *&%^R% cuts right in front of me. Is it worth it??? I say yes cos it avoided me from having an accident from idiots on the roads pulling up too close.

[Leagle]

Thanks for all the replies so far. You are knowledgeable bunch!

Actually the reason for my remorse is probably a little irrational. Having ticked the "self park" option, I liked the idea of having a futuristic "driverless" car now. From what I have been reading, although we don't seem to get lane assist as an option in Australia, the idea of a (partially) driverless car is not that far away. Adaptive cruise will do the accelerating and braking. Lane assist will do the steering. And self park will do the parking!

The reason this is irrational (for me at least) is that I am quite a car enthusiast, having owned and driven some of the best performance cars. I like the control of driving my own car and actually would freak out if I had to relegate control to my car (as I am sure we may all do some time in the future).

Then again, I am - at the same time - an early adopting gadget lover. Mac on my desk. Iphone in my pocket.

Reading all your comments, not having adaptive cruise is probably not a huge loss.

However, I can definitely see its practicality on a long cruise, particularly in stop and go traffic. And yep, as tothemaxx has indicated, I didn't realise at the time that I put the order in that the "front assist" feature could always be left on, avoiding a potential rear ender (though the system only apparently warns and does not brake as it does on some other cars, eg certain volvo car).

Luminary, I agree that a dealer would have me "over the barrel" lol if I tried to vary my order at this stage. I think my car will be awesome with or without adaptive cruise control.

So I'm going to throw one more question in the air: given that my CC will have self park assist (i.e some of the radars will already be installed), do you reckon it will be impossible to retrofit adaptive cruise control (and lane assist when it becomes available) some time in the future?

And I would still love to hear from others having experience with adaptive cruise control, particularly problems that they have encountered when using it. Good for feeding my cognitive dissonance.

I think I have been watching too many episodes of the Jetsons lately lol!

[Arctra]

Like you, I like the driving aids and would love to have ACC and lane assist. As far as retrofitting goes, the parking sensors you have are only close proximity sensors whereas adaptive cruise control uses a longer distance radar that goes behind the VW emblem in the front grill. So the fact that you have park assist is irrelevant really. Hopefully some time in the future you will be able to get the equipment you need to retro-fit it and it'll be easy.

[Luminary]

From where I sit now, with 3 year finance on my car I'm not going to worry about all the stuff I missed out on this time. The Passat is due for a new model in 2012 and I think that with VWs increasing influence and sales that will be when we'll get all the goodies and some may even be standard.

The 3.6 engine is really sweet. It's so effortless.

I'd probably steer clear of retrofitting. Just think of it as an upgrade on your next car. That's how Im approaching it.

Only thing I really want now is Bluetooth for my iPhone. Will have to look into Skoda version soon.

[tryingavw]

Thanks for all the replies so far. You are knowledgeable bunch!

Actually the reason for my remorse is probably a little irrational. Having ticked the "self park" option, I liked the idea of having a futuristic "driverless" car now. From what I have been reading, although we don't seem to get lane assist as an option in Australia, the idea of a (partially) driverless car is not that far away. Adaptive cruise will do the accelerating and braking. Lane assist will do the steering. And self park will do the parking!

i would swap the ACC for the self parking any day. tried it pn a CC and thought it was great- whereas the auto park is pretty much a gimick for me ( happy to park the car by myself and the wife has NEVER been game to use it in 9 months of ownership). i reckon i would use ACC a lot in heavy traffic.

the merc has this weird cruise control mode where you push the stalk IN and an orange led comes up. after that the speed is limited to where you set it. unless you actually floor it you get no power! gives me the Sh**ts if i accidentally set it . the VW ACC seems way more intuitive.

[Leagle]

i would swap the ACC for the self parking any day. tried it pn a CC and thought it was great- whereas the auto park is pretty much a gimick for me ( happy to park the car by myself and the wife has NEVER been game to use it in 9 months of ownership). i reckon i would use ACC a lot in heavy traffic.

the merc has this weird cruise control mode where you push the stalk IN and an orange led comes up. after that the speed is limited to where you set it. unless you actually floor it you get no power! gives me the Sh**ts if i accidentally set it . the VW ACC seems way more intuitive.

To be honest, I initially thought both options were gimmicky (until I thought about it later on). I ticked the self park because of the "wow" factor as much as for the fact that the CC is quite a long car and I do park in town quite a lot. Given the poor relative visibility (although I ticked the rear camera as an option to help), I thought self park would come in handy. Quite a cheap option to have too ($900).

I am assuming from the post that you didn't pick ACC either due to your bad experience with the merc?

[Leagle]

From where I sit now, with 3 year finance on my car I'm not going to worry about all the stuff I missed out on this time. The Passat is due for a new model in 2012 and I think that with VWs increasing influence and sales that will be when we'll get all the goodies and some may even be standard.

The 3.6 engine is really sweet. It's so effortless.

I'd probably steer clear of retrofitting. Just think of it as an upgrade on your next car. That's how Im approaching it.

Only thing I really want now is Bluetooth for my iPhone. Will have to look into Skoda version soon.

Yea agree with your view. Actually I tried to resist ticking too many options (unsuccessfully I must add) as you never recover the cost of these at resale time.

Hopefully my next car in 3-5 years time (likely to be another VW if I have a good ownership experience) will give me something else to look forward to.

Re Bluetooth, I noticed that the CC did not come as standard so ordered it. I hope that this will work well with the iphone.

[Swallowtail]

Yea agree with your view. Actually I tried to resist ticking too many options (unsuccessfully I must add) as you never recover the cost of these at resale time.

Hopefully my next car in 3-5 years time (likely to be another VW if I have a good ownership experience) will give me something else to look forward to.

Re Bluetooth, I noticed that the CC did not come as standard so ordered it. I hope that this will work well with the iphone.

If you ordered premium bluetooth then no it won't work at all with iPhone. See my sticky in the Car Audio section.

[plasmod3]

Actually i just ordered a cc & the lane assist is a option that can be ticked. had confirmation from my dealer & it is $1633 i believe. Top gear seems to have a review of the passat cc which said good things about the acc as well. Not sure re the reverse camera, isn't that only $600?

what iks me is that we are not gtting the 7spd dsg or the keyloss entry or the start button or the dab module like they have in the uk cars.

The lane assist replaces the heated windscreen option in the car. no biggie but it means it is truely a driverless car on the highway wcombined with acc

Delivery in jan 2010! can't wait!

[Leagle]

Actually i just ordered a cc & the lane assist is a option that can be ticked. had confirmation from my dealer & it is $1633 i believe. Top gear seems to have a review of the passat cc which said good things about the acc as well. Not sure re the reverse camera, isn't that only $600?

what iks me is that we are not gtting the 7spd dsg or the keyloss entry or the start button or the dab module like they have in the uk cars.

The lane assist replaces the heated windscreen option in the car. no biggie but it means it is truely a driverless car on the highway wcombined with acc

Delivery in jan 2010! can't wait!

It will be a great car for sure. Can't wait for mine either.

Lane Assist not an option when I put my order in. Having researched it a bit further, it apparently takes some time getting used to (more so than ACC).

There are a few cool youtube videos floating around showing its effectiveness on keeping the car on track though - well suited to autobahn/freeway conditions. Unfortunately, however, it only seems to control the car for a limited time - it is more a warning device rather than a control device.

I would have liked blind spot assist myself.

While you are at it, you should check out the youtube video of the self park assist. Couldn't resist ticking that option. How strange is that?!

All these gadgets are exciting - and scary - at the same time. Whilst none of them are strictly necessary (provided we keep our attention on the road at least), it seems to me that the driverless car is not so far away as we all thought!