Reply to: Cruise Control

[darmstadt]

I had one of these that had cruise control, bloody lethal in town if you accidentally put it on...

[DannyF1966]

On my commute to work I only use it through motorway roadworks and a dual carriageway where the limit is 50mph. The rest of the time the traffic is changing speed too much to make it worthwhile. Although I did drive from Manchester to Scotland last year and was able to use it a lot more on the outward and return journeys. I'd miss it if my next car didn't have it.

[Cirrus]

Agree completely apart from what I tend to find is if I leave adaptive cruise on most BMW drivers mistake the appropriate gap it leaves for an excuse to cut in which makes my car slow down to reset the distance

Actually that is a minor drawback of ACC - normally if you are overtaking a line of traffic and a car inside approaches a slower moving vehicle you might ease off slightly to make space for him to cut in. For me, with my ACC on, I'm thinking "Well if you pull out, my ACC will pull back and let you in. It's not my fault if you can't be more assertive". It's not as polite as I would ideally like.

[d000hg]

At 110 you don't have a lot of time to spot them

[SueEllen]

Mate's wife got done at 110MPH in his M3 and is going to court this week. She obviously doesn't know how to use cruise control or speed limiters.

Or to look out for the police even in unmarked cars.

[ChimpMaster]

Mate's wife got done at 110MPH in his M3 and is going to court this week. She obviously doesn't know how to use cruise control or speed limiters.

[LondonManc]

And presumably unless they have really good brakes and slam them on, it's totally safe because the reaction time is virtually zero?
One example why car trains are so great

I can see a future in the outside lane of motorways becoming 100mph car trains that charge your car as well. Potentially you'll just have to set which junction you want to leave the motorway at and it'll drop you out of the lane at a convenient point in advance of said junction.

Anything to give me hope that the M6 won't always be this tulip.

[d000hg]

The other option is the freak out mode where you set the distance as close as possible to the car in front as the system allows.

I did that once on a country lane after someone overtook me at an insane place. Don't think he will do it again in a hurry...

And presumably unless they have really good brakes and slam them on, it's totally safe because the reaction time is virtually zero?
One example why car trains are so great

[eek]

Therein lies your problem. Also applies to A4 Repmobiles too.

The other option is the freak out mode where you set the distance as close as possible to the car in front as the system allows.

I did that once on a country lane after someone overtook me at an insane place. Don't think he will do it again in a hurry...

[LondonManc]

Agree completely apart from what I tend to find is if I leave adaptive cruise on most BMW drivers mistake the appropriate gap it leaves for an excuse to cut in which makes my car slow down to reset the distance

Therein lies your problem. Also applies to A4 Repmobiles too.

[d000hg]

By contrast, driving along the I95 in Florida, you'd think it was a mannequin challenge. Everyone is on cruise control and its almost like all the cars are parked whilst the road is moving at 75 mph. You go for minutes on end and everyone keeps the same relative position or they slowly and smoothly inch past each other.

Stress free. Why not?

And mathematically proven to reduce overall travel time even if you travel at a relatively sedate speed like 70 rather than trying to do 80.

Agree completely apart from what I tend to find is if I leave adaptive cruise on most BMW drivers mistake the appropriate gap it leaves for an excuse to cut in which makes my car slow down to reset the distance

Can't you adjust the distance? The VW one he said you measure it in seconds and can set it as low as .5s "which is terrifying"

[bobspud]

Adaptive is the difference between me using cruise control and not using cruise control and to be blunt its brilliant. The fact I can set it to 70 and not worry about traffic slowing down in front of me makes for a far less stressful journey...

Agree completely apart from what I tend to find is if I leave adaptive cruise on most BMW drivers mistake the appropriate gap it leaves for an excuse to cut in which makes my car slow down to reset the distance

[Cirrus]

Cruise control would be far better if more people would use it.

By contrast, driving along the I95 in Florida, you'd think it was a mannequin challenge. Everyone is on cruise control and its almost like all the cars are parked whilst the road is moving at 75 mph. You go for minutes on end and everyone keeps the same relative position or they slowly and smoothly inch past each other.

Stress free. Why not?

[Mordac]

It'll buff out. No problem

Look on the bright side, the airbags worked...

[SeededLoaf]

Cruise control would be far better if more people would use it. Instead I slap it on then having to keep re-adjusting because the car in front fluctuates their speed. Those that have it on become my 'travel buddy'

Motorway lane rules:
Slow lane = lorries and people with panic disorder
Middle lane = cruise control @ 80mph
Fast lane = Autobahn. Fill yer boots but try not to kill the rest of us