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Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Topic started by: Sootchucker on 07 October 2015, 08:01
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Bit of a strange title I know, but since having the GTD (over 2 years now - wow doesn't time fly), I've just taken having ACC for granted. I've never really done any really long journeys in the car, so have only really dabbled.
Well, on Saturday last, we took the car (with a brimmed full tank of fuel) from home to my father in laws home in Scotland (as he's quite ill at the moment). A door to door distance (according to the trip meter) of 237 miles. I joined the motorway (M6) about 3 miles from where I live, and used motorway to within 6 miles of my father in laws place (M6, M74, M73, M80, M876), so about 228 miles of pure motorway, and for the whole distance I had ACC set to on (set at 75 mph). I used the speed adjust feature where I had to for roadworks and 50mph average speed cameras etc, but never once took it off.
Now from near Wigan all the way up to nearly Hamilton, it was thick fog (and going though the lakes - pea soup), this coupled with drivers shooting past at 80+ mph with no lights on, made it rather hairy. Well, here's where the ACC came into it's own, I set the distance to a medium (3 up from shortest), and the radar was picking up cars and trucks ahead of me (indicated on the dash)and slowing me down no problem in the fog even though I couldn't actually see them until about 50-75 meters ahead ! As a safety feature this was incredible.
Another side affect was after almost exactly 4 hours of non stop driving, I got out of the car fresh as a daisy, with no leg or back ache at all (these really are terrific long distance cruisers). On returning home, having clocked up 532 miles since refuelling (with an indicated 105 miles left), I returned to the garage to refuel. Two clicks of the pump cut out (as usual) and it was full. 42.13 litres (9.268 gallons), which was a real 57.4 mpg - and the killer - the fuel computer showed 57.8 ! Not too shabby.
I think we all take this tech for granted now, but I for one will be making sure my next car has this on it when the GTD eventually goes in a few years time, and I guess the technology would even have moved o0n from where we are now.
Now ACC with heads up display - that would be cool.....
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Yes!
It is incredible just as you describe and its not about convenience - the getting there non-frazzled and ready to do stuff thing is most important.
I had a hire car the other week in Sweden, without ACC.... it was meh!
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Bit of a strange title I know, but since having the GTD (over 2 years now - wow doesn't time fly), I've just taken having ACC for granted.
Really strange title sootchucker :grin: :grin: :wink:
I'm the same as you. I have hardly ever used the ACC up until recently when average speed cameras appeared on the M74 due to works on the Raith interchange. It is a fantastic piece of technology, I just set it at 50 when I hit the cameras and then just cruise along. It's incredibly relaxing with the only exception being when a vehicle comes in right in front of you and then it slams on the brakes. The car behind me must be thinking what the hell is he doing.
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I haven't yet tried it yet. On my first 'road trip' last weekend, decided better to get to know the car a bit first before trying it out just in case I had any of the slamming brakes on suddenly incidents. But very keen to use it and really good to hear positive reviews about it.
Off up to Yorkshire in Feb so that will be the first real test. Agree with the comments about it making the long journey stress free (well from a driving point of view) and arriving fresh after hours at the wheel. That will be very welcome.
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I like the technology and use it whenever, used it last weekend cruising up and down to the Lake District with the suspension set to comfy and the engine to Eco :embarrassed: it was very relaxing.
Still wish i could shorten the distance - still feels a big gap even when I set it to the shortest gap - it works very well with DSG
(http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt60/gpe/IMG_2555_zpsukaorvcs.jpg) (http://s597.photobucket.com/user/gpe/media/IMG_2555_zpsukaorvcs.jpg.html)
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Lovely photo Eccie, I haven't been up to thr Lake District for years, never seem to be able to get past Yorkshire (nothing to do with all the fantastic beer of course).
I haven't yet dabbled with the ACC yet, it might be a gadget too far but will give it a go. On my recent trip to Yorkshire I used the digital speed display to assist me through the 50mph roadworks and found that very useful (still can't understand how so many drivers manage to go so much faster than me, are they all getting booked?). Will try it out at some point but will need to have a better glance at the manual first.
Booth, don't go to Yorkshire on a Friday, the traffic is always atrocious! Unless you go in the evening. Took me 7.25 hours during the day last time!
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Hands down my favourite feature on the Golf! Especially with DSG as you literally don't need to touch the pedals even in traffic, i would never use it on normal roads but motorways and A roads it's superb! :afro:
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I didn't think you'd be able to acheive good MPG with it on (as I'm under the assumption that cruise control is really bad for MPG) so I haven't used it as much as I should.
Might give it a go next time.
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Can't say I notice any significant impact to MPG on a like for like speed on the motorway.
The aircon has a minor MPG impact, but the main killers (on my GTD) are ambient temperature above/below about 10 degress, stop start traffic and hilly terrain. If all of those things are good, then I can easily get 50+ mpg on a 15 mile plus run.
Whether its much better without ACC, if it is, then its not much.
I'm a fuel miser but I don't fear switching it on, much like the aircon!
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This is the #1 thing I miss when driving my other car.
On long main road trips, it really does ease the pain of the driving on today's congested roads.
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Bit of a strange title I know...
You're not wrong there!
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I love the adaptive cruise control and it was a big selling for me on the Mk7 Golf over an Audi A3 or BMW 1-series. I do a 95 mile round trip to work daily on the M25/ M4 and it makes the journey significantly more relaxed having the adaptive cruise. Works especially well with the DSG since it can bring the car to a full stop if needed.
Makes you laugh that bigger and more expensive executive cars don't get this standard, but all Golfs apart from the S do!
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Hands down my most favourite and most used feature in the car. I'm glad it's there as standard as I would never have thought to add it if it were an option. Will need this in all of my cars going forward :smiley:
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Yes it is excellent and smooth I had it on my 535d but it was rough and ready and very abrupt so never really used it the golf acc on the other hand is used even on my short trip to work of 14 miles :whistle:
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I did have a similar experience in bad visibility the ACC braking. Its is rather good with a DSG in stop/start traffic it brought me to a halt and started me moving again, without any operator input.
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60 miles of motorway this morning in my GTD... ACC on, 50-60mph pretty much most of the way in heavy but flowing traffic. 61mpg.... just a shade under my best figure ever.
No it doesn't effect fuel economy :)
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Like most I don't use it but dsg coupled with this it's great used it all the way from Birmingham to Marseille (motorways and a roads) was a peach. Fresh as a daisy at every rest stop.
On the way back I did the journey in 21/22 hours door to door. Was great when it was pouring it down through France and then again in bumper to bumper traffic on m1.
It would have been a tedious drive without it with a few pulled muscles :wink:
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Have I told you about my mate who works in R+D at Honda?
Like many cars, the CRV has a lane departure warning. If it detects that the car has drifted over the white line without any steering wheel input, it will automatically steer the car back between the white lines whist it beeps and bongs to wake you up. Normally the steering takes over for around a second, but during testing, they set the time to always on. With the ACC set, they car drove itself for mile after mile down the M4, staying in it's lane with no driver input at all. I'm told if they were stupid enough, they could have got in the back and carried on.
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It is very useful. The only problem I have with it is it doesn't recognise the middle lane morons. When correctly pulling back into the left hand lane after overtaking a slower vehicle, it will accelerate again to the set speed which means you will soon be undertaking the these highway code deniers. Maybe a future upgrade will include a "motorway mode" that has a secondary beam for detecting them
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I didn't think you'd be able to acheive good MPG with it on (as I'm under the assumption that cruise control is really bad for MPG) so I haven't used it as much as I should.
Might give it a go next time.
It makes a slight difference depending on how you drive as if you are a driver that looks ahead and eases off when needed you will save fuel as the cruise control will keep going until the radar senses something in front.
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It is very useful. The only problem I have with it is it doesn't recognise the middle lane morons. When correctly pulling back into the left hand lane after overtaking a slower vehicle, it will accelerate again to the set speed which means you will soon be undertaking the these highway code deniers. Maybe a future upgrade will include a "motorway mode" that has a secondary beam for detecting them
Yeah that is a good point. It always catches me out although I really enjoy using it.
@Booth11 can't believe you won't be testing it till February!!! Are you mad :whistle:
@dubber the Golf has lane assist as an option which I believe will also drive between the lines without driver intervention.
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Does lane assist stop it undertaking???
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I do a fair few motorway miles in my job and being 6ft plus my legs have always ached after a long journey even when my cars had dsg or auto box, however since I've had my golf with adaptive cruise control I get no pains or aches, you set your speed adjust for the 50mph zones with buttons and that's it, what a brill feature you can go hundreds of miles without touching the pedals, love it :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:
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@Booth11 can't believe you won't be testing it till February!!! Are you mad :whistle:
Some would say so. :laugh:
There's no rush. Do you rip open all your presents instantly on Christmas Day?. :wink:
As it happens, I've now got two work meetings next week, other side of Kent, so that's the time to try. Also someone suggested it was great in slow moving traffic, like getting an invisible tow. Well as I seem to spend a large chunk of my life in slow moving city traffic, I'll try it out in that too. What's the min/max speed limit settings on it?
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No but then again I don't leave a present until 4 months later :grin:
You're denying yourself 4 months use of a great feature. I bet you wouldn't keep your Head Unit / DynAudio switched off for 4 months :whistle: or not put the foot down for 4 months!!
It works at all speeds. That's the beauty of it. With yours being a DSG it will bring the car to a halt if the car in front stops. To get it going again just give the accelerator pedal a little blip and it then springs it back into life building back up to speed keeping to a constant distance between the car in front. Its not just for motorway driving.
You know you want to :laugh:
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No but then again I don't leave a present until 4 months later :grin:
You're denying yourself 4 months use of a great feature. I bet you wouldn't keep your Head Unit / DynAudio switched off for 4 months :whistle: or not put the foot down for 4 months!!
It works at all speeds. That's the beauty of it. With yours being a DSG it will bring the car to a halt if the car in front stops. To get it going again just give the accelerator pedal a little blip and it then springs it back into life building back up to speed keeping to a constant distance between the car in front. Its not just for motorway driving.
You know you want to :laugh:
:grin:
You got me! Next Tuesday it is then. I will report back hopefully extolling it's virtues.
I haven't put my foot down yet. :whistle:
Now, isn't it time you swapped that GTD for a lovely R. :evil: