Adaptive Cruise

[mistac]

As I have specced this on my order (but understand it is not one of the most popular options) I was eager to see what it looked like in the flesh. Surprisingly, I found one in a dealer showroom today, so heres the pictures if anyone is interested! One thing that I believe is different now is that the distance rocker switch is on the front face of the cruise control stalk as opposed to older versions being on the top edge of the stalk (I believe)

 

[DickiePhitt]

I've got it on my S3. Virtually the first VCDS mod I did was to get the MMI menu activated, which allows the start up value of 'distance' to be moved away from the default, which is furthest. The default holds the car so far back from the vehicle in front that the space gets taken by a succession of slower vehicle moving out and overtaking whilst you generate road rage in the drivers behind as you get slower and slower.
The adaptive cruise is OK but, like a lot of kit designed to make driving easier, it is far from perfect and I probably would not specify it in a car in the future.

 

[Jassyo06]

Waste of £500 bangers

 

[Simon L]

Waste of £500 bangers

I'm afraid I agree, don't even use normal cruise let alone adaptive. S-tronic makes life easy enough already and don't wanna completely lose the use of me arms n legs lol

............what next a robotic arm extending out the arm rest to scratch yer nutsack coz you can't be bothered??

 

[Jassyo06]

I'm afraid I agree, don't even use normal cruise let alone adaptive. S-tronic makes life easy enough already and don't wanna completely lose the use of me arms n legs lol

............what next a robotic arm extending out the arm rest to scratch yer nutsack coz you can't be bothered??

Yeah mate given how expensive the A3/S3 is,there is far better and more attractive options to spend ones money on.

 

[h5djr]

It is useful in traffic queues but that's the only time I use mine. Will I spec it on my next A3 - not sure.
My dealer did link my car to the Audi computers in Ingolstadt to adjust the distance setting via the MMI.

 

[Firstname_lastname]

I used the ACC constantly on my GTD, and it was a godsend for driving on the motorway. The default distance was perfect for me, as I measured it to be exactly 2 chevrons apart, and therefore the proscribed distance for 70 MPH, yes people jump in front of you, bu that happens to me irrespective of ACC on or off, because that's the distance I default to with the ACC off.

If you spec the ACC with an S-tronic box its even better as the car can and will bring itself to a standstill and get moving again automatically. I drove my friends GTI that had both down to Reading and back, and i have to say it was the most pleasant motorway journey i have ever taken (tailgating and other various lunacy non-withstanding)

 

[dts439]

Our A1 has normal cruise and A3 has ACC. The ACC is much more usable than standard cruise on motorways/dual carriageways, perfect in average speed roadworks sections. Only downside is that it appears to take longer than you expect to resume a speed after its slowed for an obstacle and obstacle is no longer in the way.

 

[musicegbdf]

If you want cruise , the ACC is a must. I had standard cruise iny last A3 and found it almost useless in the busy roads around here . Acc makes cruise worth having. Great in those 50 mph roadworks. Without Acc i would not bother with cruise.

 

[sukrw]

Have to agree, ACC is one of the best options on my car! I love it. Use it every day on the commute as there is a section of roads with mobile speed vans that change location from day to day and with quite heavy traffic which constantly goes from the 40 down to 20, I just set it to 40 and follow the leader! Brilliant.

Each to their own and everyone's journey is different so it suits some people more than others.

 

[mistac]

Waste of money or not, its the only option I specced as I was determined to get into Audi A3 ownership as cheap as possible but guess I was a little intrigued and wanted something a little different! - glad some of the comments are positive/constructive lol - I guess we all have opinions as to whether options are worthwhile or not. One thing I forgot to check was whether there is some kind of extra camera/sensor in the rear view mirror area or elsewhere as the bundled pre sense front mentions radar sensors - actually that's another good reason why adaptive is not a bad idea - pre sense front in included!

 

[deanshaw24]

It personally does my head in, in my GTD you can the distance to the closest gap but it's still to far away, and by the time you realise and pull out to overtake it's too late... Then takes forever to get back up to speed! I liked it at first. But now it just annoys me

 

[mistac]

To those of you FL owners with ACC, can you advise on the following? - I have seen the square black flat plasticy thing on the lower grille but is there some kind of extra camera/sensor in the rear view mirror area or elsewhere as the bundled pre sense front mentions radar sensors?

 

[0B1001001]

ACC is awesome, I use it all the time except when I am driving with "enthusiasm". Normal CC I'd never use (too much traffic) but ACC, even with a manual, is great.

I find distance 1 or 2 on motorways is the right distance and 4 on 40/30 limits. In dynamic, regaining the original speed after slowing down is quick enough but you can always use some right foot (or pull on ACC stalk!) for extra ooomph should you want to. Where I find it really, really good is the average 50mph motorway sections.

 

[0B1001001]

To those of you FL owners with ACC, can you advise on the following? - I have seen the square black flat plasticy thing on the lower grille but is there some kind of extra camera/sensor in the rear view mirror area or elsewhere as the bundled pre sense front mentions radar sensors?

No, there isn't (AFAIK!).

 

[Firstname_lastname]

ACC is awesome, I use it all the time except when I am driving with "enthusiasm". Normal CC I'd never use (too much traffic) but ACC, even with a manual, is great.

I find distance 1 or 2 on motorways is the right distance and 4 on 40/30 limits. In dynamic, regaining the original speed after slowing down is quick enough but you can always use some right foot (or pull on ACC stalk!) for extra ooomph should you want to. Where I find it really, really good is the average 50mph motorway sections.

Seconded, its stops you from going stark raving crazy through roadworks.

 

[richinsoton]

To those of you FL owners with ACC, can you advise on the following? - I have seen the square black flat plasticy thing on the lower grille but is there some kind of extra camera/sensor in the rear view mirror area or elsewhere as the bundled pre sense front mentions radar sensors?

The black box is the housing for the radar sensor.

 

[mistac]

No, there isn't (AFAIK!).

thanks - not sure why pre sense bit says sensors then?

 

[Ofarlig]

adaptive cruise must be one of the things I value most of the "new" char tech. So nice not having to accelerate/break when driving on the highway.

 

[h5djr]

adaptive cruise must be one of the things I value most of the "new" char tech. So nice not having to accelerate/break when driving on the highway.

Especially when you in a several mile long queue of nose-to-tail stop start traffic!

 

[cemerson]

thanks - not sure why pre sense bit says sensors then?

I think there are 2 radars in there - a narrow beam one and a wider one which is less accurate. I *think*. Also, I seem to remember that if you had the lane assist camera, that could assist with the ACC a bit as well.

I'm not sure on either of these though, but I seem to remember mentions of both of these!

 

[S3 Turbo]

Tbh, during my daily driving, ACC is a fun tech toy but not something I would seriously miss if being without.

However when we drove through Germany during last vacation it was AMAZING!

You Brits (and we Swedes) think of Autobahn as heaven on earth but 70% of the time it is in reality 'STAU' (standstill).

The combination of DSG + ACC really makes you relax and actually recouperate in a situation which would be hell in most other cars!

 

[amit87]

I use normal cruise all the time. I had a hire car once (mk7 golf gt tdi) which had adaptive cruise and it was a bit annoying as it would start to slow as I decided to overtake or people would cut into the nice gap I had with car infront and then car would slow.

Where it was good (maybe I was stupid for trusting the car) was a foggy M25 at the time.... I turned on adaptive cruise at 70mph when I would have normally don't 50/60.... covered the brake at all times and set the distance to furthest.... adaptive cruise would detect the car infront before I could see it making me feel MUCH safer driving at that speed in the fog.

Maybe I was stupid.... but I did trust it and felt confident with it in the fog.

 

[Karen O']

Alot of mixed thoughts on the ACC . I have specced it on my car, it was a bit of a "will i, wont i" moment for me

I use standard CC on my current car (not an audi) all the time as i do alot of long distance driving and im on motorways alot so i hope its of good use to me

 

[sukrw]

Alot of mixed thoughts on the ACC . I have specced it on my car, it was a bit of a "will i, wont i" moment for me

I use standard CC on my current car (not an audi) all the time as i do alot of long distance driving and im on motorways alot so i hope its of good use to me

I think if you currently use CC you will love ACC!!

 

[Karen O']

I hope so only time will tell. If the car would move its rear end and get here quicker lol

 

[testcard]

I think if you currently use CC you will love ACC!!

Agreed. I had ACC on a previous Golf GTD, and now on my A3, and I'd never go back to to CC.

 

[Karen O']

Glad to hear so many people like it

 

[mistac]

Although I am a soon to be A3 owner with ACC (and bundled pre sense front) I also keep an eye on the A4 forum as some of the technology on the A4 seems to be filtering down to the A3!
I am a little puzzled though about the differences between pre sense city and pre sense front - I have read that on the A4 that pre sense city was a more advanced version of pre sense front and that city uses radar sensors and a camera located in the front view mirror, so this would seem to make sense. However, I have also read that pre sense front extends the functions of pre sense city seeming to indicate that front is better than city? Does anyone know the precise differences between the two versions and whether perhaps the A4 pre sense versions are different to the A3 pre sense versions?

 

[S3 Turbo]

Alot of mixed thoughts on the ACC . I have specced it on my car, it was a bit of a "will i, wont i" moment for me

I use standard CC on my current car (not an audi) all the time as i do alot of long distance driving and im on motorways alot so i hope its of good use to me

If you do a lot of highway driving the acc is indeed quite helpful.

Some of us think that acc is not worth the cost with the driving habits we have, but that does not mean that the feature is crap....

 

[mistac]

Alot of mixed thoughts on the ACC . I have specced it on my car, it was a bit of a "will i, wont i" moment for me

I use standard CC on my current car (not an audi) all the time as i do alot of long distance driving and im on motorways alot so i hope its of good use to me

how you getting on with your ACC? - I am getting to grips with it slowly - pretty mazing really! Sometimes the automatic go function automatically kicks in if the stop is only for a few seconds but today I noticed that after the ACC brought me to a halt in traffic, the stop/start cut in as expected as the delay was more than a few seconds. Then after the car in front started to pull away, the stop start kicked back in without me touching any pedals (presumably the radar picked up the vehicle in front had started to move) so all I had to do was pull on the ACC stalk to manually activate the automatic go function.

 

[weymouthfox]

I love the adaptive cruise, works really well and so nice to use on the motorway…will definitely spec it again on future cars.

 

[Karen O']

how you getting on with your ACC? - I am getting to grips with it slowly - pretty mazing really! Sometimes the automatic go function automatically kicks in if the stop is only for a few seconds but today I noticed that after the ACC brought me to a halt in traffic, the stop/start cut in as expected as the delay was more than a few seconds. Then after the car in front started to pull away, the stop start kicked back in without me touching any pedals (presumably the radar picked up the vehicle in front had started to move) so all I had to do was pull on the ACC stalk to manually activate the automatic go function.

I have only used it a couple of times so far but i havnt had to come to a halt yet with it. Im a little scared if i do say so lol i should really just trust it lol im doing an hr ish motorway journey later today so might just try it out to its fullest.

 

[Karen O']

But what im wondering is... sometimes the car slows down at quite a rate, do the brake lights come on while its doing it?

 

[Twizzler]

Brake lights are a legal requirement....

 

[Karen O']

Well done you.........

 

[h5djr]

I tend to use my ACC mainly when I'm in a queue of traffic and I've noticed my brake lights coming on when it brings me to a halt and being reflected in the following car's headlights.

 

[Ormesome]

This, along with Apple Car Play is one thing i would love. i drive alot of miles around Europe in my A3 so cruise is great but so many drivers just pull out so the Adaptive cruise control wouldl be perfect. Had it in a Golf GTD hire car recently and it was amazing. Strange someone said its not a popular option as it would be in my top 3.

 

[allanmb]

As I have specced this on my order (but understand it is not one of the most popular options) I was eager to see what it looked like in the flesh. Surprisingly, I found one in a dealer showroom today, so heres the pictures if anyone is interested! One thing that I believe is different now is that the distance rocker switch is on the front face of the cruise control stalk as opposed to older versions being on the top edge of the stalk (I believe)

I might have been tempted by ACC but I thought it was a major eyesore and ruins the grille. That and I wasn't willing to pay that much for it ;-)

 

[musicegbdf]

Maybe this is interesting for this thread
About a year ago a friend rear ended a slow moving car with a trailer and no lights at the back. It wrote his merc off. No one was hurt , but it was down to him by the insurance companies.
A couple of weeks ago i was on a fairly empty unlit motorway with ACC switched on. In the murky distance i thought that is a van with no lights. Before i could brake the ACC had aleady seen it and slowed to keep pace with the van.
As to the emergency thingy , my wife said she was driving a week earlier and some one braked hard in front ( ACC off) , and the car reacted faster than she could. Warning light/ bleep noise and car was braking before she could.
So twice in a short time the tech prooved useful. Ok in both instances think we would have reacted in time , but shows it has more uses than convenience.
The only down side for any cruise is it uses more gas than i do....